George Butterfield (athlete)

British middle-distance runner

George Butterfield

Personal information

Born| April 1879
Stockton-on-Tees, England
Died| 24 September 1917 (aged 38)
near Ieper (Ypres), West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Sport
Sport| Athletics
Event| middle-distance
Club| Darlington Harriers

George Butterfield (April 1879 – 24 September 1917) was a British athlete running for Darlington Harriers. He ran the world's fastest mile in 1906 and competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.[1]

## Biography

[edit]

Born in Stockton on Tees,[2] Butterfield became the National mile champion after winning the AAA Championships title at the 1905 AAA Championships.[3][4] He went on to successfully defend the title in both 1906[5] and 1907.[6][7][8]

Butterfield came in second in his semi-final heat in the 800 metres at the 1908 Olympic Games, with a time of 1:58.9.[9] His finish, while behind Ödön Bodor's, was ahead of defending champion James Lightbody's. Butterfield did not advance to the final.[10]

At the same Olympics, he also competed in the 1500 metres, placing third in his initial semifinal heat and not advancing to the final. Butterfield's time was 4:11.8; Mel Sheppard had set a new Olympic record at 4:05.0 in winning the heat and eliminating Butterfield and the other five runners.

Butterfield was killed in action during the First World War,[11] serving as a private with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was buried in the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery.[12]

His obituary in the Northern Despatch recorded that he had once raced against a greyhound. The dog came second.[9]

## See also

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* List of Olympians killed in World War I

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2016.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. ^ George Butterfield Archived 1 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-01-19.
3. ^ "Amateur Athletic Championships". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 3 July 1905. Retrieved 19 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. ^ "The Amateur Championships". Daily News (London). 4 July 1904. Retrieved 17 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. ^ "Amateur Championships". Bristol Times and Mirror. 9 July 1906. Retrieved 20 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. ^ "Champion athletes". Daily Record. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. ^ "AAA Championships". Sporting Life. 8 July 1907. Retrieved 22 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
9. ^ a b "Archive news from the Northern Echo".
10. ^ "George Butterfield". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
11. ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 7 November 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
12. ^ Butterfield, G, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Retrieved 28 September 2008

## External links

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* Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
* De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2006.
* Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2006.
* George Butterfield at Olympedia

Authority control databases: People |

* Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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