Jennie Fletcher became Britain’s first female Olympic swimming medallist when she won an individual bronze in the 1912 100 metres freestyle final behind two Australians (Fanny Durack, who was using the then brand-new ‘Australian Crawl’ technique, and Mina (Wilhelmina) Wylie). In the relay event gold went to the British team of Bella Moore, Jennie, Annie Speirs and Irene Steer ahead of West Germany and Austria. Jennie swam an outstanding second leg to help earn the British girls a World Record as well as Olympic victory.
Born on 19 March, 1890 in Leicester, the seventh of nine children in a family of five girls and four boys, Jennie Fletcher attended Mellow Street Board School and participated as often as possible in swimming competitions and exercises. She later wrote: “Swimming to me was my greatest pleasure and no encouragement was needed for me to compete in polo, diving or swimming. There was no mixed swimming in those days but with special permission my brother Ben was allowed to pace me.”
From the age of 11 she was coached at Leicester’s Cossington Street Baths by the celebrated Jack Jarvis, whose characteristic freestyle employing the ‘Jarvis-Nuttall Kick’ had already brought him numerous awards (including two Olympic gold medals for the 1,000 and 4,000 metre open water races swum in the River Seine, Paris, in 1900). Jennie recalled: “Most of the early swimming was single arm and trudgen with the scissors kick going to the crawl in the latter stages. My training was not regimented but consisted of long walks, [and] skipping accompanied by deep breathing exercises.” In 1906, at the age of 34, Jarvis added a silver and two bronze medals to his own Olympic tally in the interim Athens Games, by which time Jennie was challenging for her first British record for the Ladies’ 100 yards freestyle. She went on to win 6 Amateur Swimming Association titles for the distance before 1912, setting a new world record in 1909. Working long hours with her father, who nevertheless gave her great support and encouragement as an amateur, she succeeded in winning numerous trophies and awards. She retained the Dewar Shield after winning it three years in succession, broke her own record on 11 occasions, and became British champion 6 times.
At the London Olympics of 1908 it was decided, after much deliberation, that swimming competition for Ladies would be permitted; however uncertainty and a late decision meant that in the event there were too few entries to proceed. At the time this must have come as a huge disappointment for Jennie, whose parents had recently declined on her behalf the opportunity of a professional tour of America with the celebrated Annette Kellerman. At Stockholm in 1912, however, there was a strong British Ladies’ contingent, chaperoned by Jack Jarvis’s sister. Jennie later said: “The crowning moment of my career was when King Gustav of Sweden placed the classic laurel wreath on my head, put the gold medal round my neck, and said, ‘Well done, England!’”.
In 1917 Jennie married Henry Hill Hyslop and the couple settled in Canada, where they farmed and had six children. Jennie died in 1968. Provenance:
Bequeathed by the recipient Jennie Hyslop, née Fletcher, to her son Henry Irving Hyslop (1920-2000); bequeathed in turn by H.I. Hyslop to his daughter (and Jennie’s granddaughter) Heather, on behalf of whom it is now offered for sale.
A copy of H.I. Hyslop’s Will, including codicil dated 1994 specifying the bequest to Heather of “… my mother’s gold medal from the 1912 Olympics… “ is included in the lot, together with a contemporary portrait postcard captioned ‘Jennie Fletcher Worlds 100 yds Champion’, showing Jennie wearing Leicester Ladies’ Swimming Club costume and a championship medal (see illustration). Copies of other relating documents, including a letter written by Jennie in 1965 to the compiler of a sports encyclopedia, are also offered with the lot. Other items of memorabilia relating to Jennie’s swimming career, including her Olympic laurel wreath, were donated by her daughter to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. £4,000 - 6,000
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