The question arises, should Billy Howes have been made a Centurion? By virtue of that performance, the answer would be Yes; but Billy Howes was a professional, so the answer is No. In completely different circumstances , there were at least two great amateur events, one was a 100 mile match, in which Mr. Fowler-Dixon “walked an opponent off his legs” and made a record or 20 hours or so. (see above) In fact, Fowler-Dixon beat his opponent, E.M.R. Dundas, by about 2 miles; and both broke the previous record. The other being a 24 hour event held in 1881, when Archie Sinclair reached 100 miles in 19 hours 41 minutes 50 seconds and continued on to 120 miles in 23 hours 53 minutes 3 seconds. These events took place at the old Lillie Bridge ground in Fulham. So the question again arises, should these 3 walkers have been made Centurions? To date, nothing has been discovered about Dundas, and it is assumed that he died before the turn of the century. Of Sinclair, all that is known is that he died prior to 1907. As for Fowler-Dixon, he lived to the grand age of 93, his death was reported in the press in October 1943. All three were paced to their performances, (something that would not be allowed in modern times) but pacing may have been within the rules in those days, so Fowler-Dixon, as the only one alive when the Centurions were formed, would be the only one of these three to be “qualified”. More than 100 years have passed since Teddy Knott first broke the nine hour barrier on the Brighton Road, an achievement that has been bettered many times by many great walkers. In those days over 100 years ago, no one could have known how important this stretch of road, between London and the South Coast, would become to walkers of all abilities, and especially to Centurions. Knott was a great lover of the sport of walking and, being a very modest man, was convinced that there were others to be found who could beat his time; so he, in association with fellow members of the South London Harriers, in 1899, founded The Surrey Walking Club. Later, in 1903, this time with fellow members of The Surrey Walking Club, he founded the Garratt Walking Club which later became the London Vidarians Walking Club; a friendly rivalry exists to this day between these old clubs. Later still, in 1907, he assisted in the formation of The Road Walking Association, and was made its first president. The Surrey Walking Club (S.W.C.) for the first two years of its existence had only a handful of members, but, in the early part of the 20th century young walkers entered its fold and soon it became the premier road walking club of the world. A scheme of trials was drawn up which provided that any member walking from London to Brighton and Back (a distance of 104 miles 1130 yards) within 24 hours should receive a gold medal. On October 31st – November 1st 1902, E.H. Neville, on behalf of the S.W.C., promoted the first London to Brighton and Back time trial.


created the first authentic record for the double journey of 104 miles, by accomplishing the distance in 21 hours 36 minutes 27 seconds. Unfortunately, it seems that, in these early days little or no consideration was given to times at the 100 mile point. It is also possible that the precise position of the 100 mile point was not considered important! In the 1902 time trial G.H. Schofield and W.J. Taylor also completed the double journey within 24 hours. Of the 9 who started out, 6 failed to finish, one of them being the promoter, E.H. Neville. There were now two important events being held on the Brighton Road: the double journey time trial and the single journey which, since the first official walking record of 10 hours 56 minutes by B. Trench in 1868, had now become an annual event being staged in alternate years by The Polytechnic Harriers and Surrey Walking Club. In 1903 a third event, The Stock Exchange London to Brighton walk, was started. The race (one of the few remaining “closed” races) was won by E.F. Broad. In 1903 H.W. Horton, F.J. Wakefield and E.H. Neville all broke Jack Butler’s record. E. Ion-Pool and E.C. Wray also completed the double journey within 24 hours.


In this race against the clock, Jack Butler 6


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