William T. Britton (12 October 1890 – 15 February 1965) was an Irish

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

Early life

Britton was born near

Mullinahone Mullinahone () is a village located in the barony of Slievardagh, County Tipperary in Ireland. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. , the village population was 499. Location and access Mullinahone is situa ...

to a farming family. He attended

Coláiste Éamann Rís ''(Edmund Rice College)'' was a Christian Brothers secondary school for boys located in Callan, County Kilkenny, in Ireland. The college was built in the hometown of Edmund Ignatius Rice, the founder of the Irish Christian Brothers, the Pre ...

in Callan and worked as a bank clerk in the Munster and Leinster Bank.

Career

Britton excelled in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, 120 yd hurdles,

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

and

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

, winning

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

National Athletic and Cycling Association The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicyc ...

and Amateur Athletic Association of England titles. The high point of Britton's career was representing

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at the

1930 British Empire Games The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what now is known as the Commonwealth Games, and were held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 16 to 23 August 1930. The games were organized by ''Hamilton Spectator'' sportswriter Bobby Robinso ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, Canada, where he won silver in the hammer throw with a throw of 153′ 10″ (46.89 m).

References

1890 births 1965 deaths Irish male hammer throwers Irish male long jumpers Irish male high jumpers Irish male hurdlers Irish male sprinters Sportspeople from County Tipperary Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1930 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists Medallists at the 1930 British Empire Games {{Ireland-athletics-bio-stub