Boy Browning and the Olympic Games
General Browning in 1955
With all the excitement of the Olympic Games in Paris at the moment, we have been thinking about General Frederick Browning, known as Boy or Tommy. He was married to Daphne du Maurier and lived at Menabilly when he was not called away from home, first by his military career and then by his work for the Royal Family. He was an excellent sportsman, particularly during the period between the two World Wars, and he even took part in the Olympic Games.
As a military man, Browning, who was known to his colleagues as Boy, was particularly concerned with the importance of turning young, untrained civilians into first-class Guardsmen. Discipline, obedience and smartness were, in his view, the most important rules to learn in order to produce the finest soldiers in the world. This included developing their physical fitness, something that he applied to himself as well.
Boy Browing in training for the British hurdling team
Boy's military training had already made him a good horseman and an excellent shot. He was also an enthusiastic runner. However, after WWI, he took on three more sports to improve his own self-discipline and overall fitness: archery, athletics and bobsleigh. Despite these sports being unusual choices for an army officer, Boy went on to compete at the highest level in both athletics and bobsleigh. Archery was a sport that he continued to enjoy for the rest of his life.
In athletics, Boy took part in the high jump and long jump, but he excelled as a hurdler, a sport that he had been pretty successful at during his school days. At the time that Boy was competing, hurdles races were run over three distances – 120 yards, 220 yards and 440 yards, and two heights, known as low hurdles and high hurdles. Boy Browning competed in all of them. He was unlucky to be competing at a time when there were a lot of exceptional British athletes, and he just missed out on a place in the 1924 Olympic squad. However, he found success in 1925, when he came third in the Kinnaird Trophy and second at the English AAA Championships.
In bobsleigh, Boy was part of one of the two five-man British teams that gained a place at the first-ever Winter Olympics at Chamonix in 1924. However, disaster struck, and two teams, the British team Boy was in and the Belgian team, had terrible accidents during practice. Boy's team was the first to try the new course, and at one of the turns, the sleigh ran off and capsized. Boy was badly injured.
A newspaper report at the time said:
Captain F Browning, a Guards officer, was picked up unconscious with both legs broken, and his fellow competitors were badly bruised. Examination by X-ray showed that Captain Browning's injuries included splintered bones.
A newspaper report of the bobsleigh accident on a training session at the 2024 Winter Olympic Games, fortunately Boy's injuries were not as bad as stated here
Thankfully, Boy's injuries were not as severe as had been reported. A few weeks later, his parents placed a notice in The Times thanking everyone for enquiring about Boy's health and saying that reports had been exaggerated and that he had a wound to his knee that, it was hoped, would cause no long-term problems.
The remaining British bobsleigh team raced but were unplaced.
However, in the 1928 Winter Olympics in St Moritz, Switzerland, two British five-man bobsleigh teams took part, Boy was part of the team called Great Britain II, and this time they came tenth.
Boy's other sporting love was sailing, a passion he shared with Prince Philip and which he continued to take part in for many years.
Boy Browning's interest in sport and the Olympic Games did not end when he stopped competing. In 1948, Boy's military career came to an end, and he was appointed Comptroller and Treasurer to Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth, making him head of the Princess' staff. Soon after this appointment, he also took on the role of Deputy Chairman of the British Olympic Association and Commandant of the British team for the 1948 Olympic Games, which was to take place in London.
That London hosted the 1948 Olympic Games at all is remarkable, and the event is often referred to as the 'Austerity Games'. So soon after WWII, Britain was still virtually bankrupt, and food rationing continued to be necessary. Circumstances dictated that the Games would need to be organised on a 'shoestring'. Existing facilities were used, the main one being the Empire Stadium at Wembley, where both the opening and closing ceremonies were held and the athletics events took place. Fifty-nine countries took part, although Germany and Japan were not invited. The USSR was invited, but it declined. There was no Olympic Village; competitors were housed in redundant army and RAF camps or in tents. Competitors even had to provide their own shorts, which could be bought or home-made!
Great Britain attained 23 medals, of which 3 were gold, and came 12th on the medals table. This was not a particularly good result for a host country, but the overall opinion was that the London Olympic Games had been a success, and at least the Games were back after a long gap, two having been cancelled because of the war.
Life was changing for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip because in February 1952, somewhat unexpectedly, King George VI died, and Elizabeth became our Queen. This necessitated a move into Buckingham Palace and a change of staff and the roles those close to them played. Boy was appointed as Treasurer to the Duke of Edinburgh, and his employer's activities drove his role from then on. These were difficult days for the Duke, and he will have been glad to have the familiar support of Boy Browning as he adjusted to life as consort to the Queen.
The 1952 Olympic Games took place in Helsinki in July and early August, and The Duke of Edinburgh attended. The Duke had become President of the British Amateur Athletics Board, and as such, he travelled to Helsinki for the opening ceremony. Boy Browning flew to Helsinki six days later with the Duke of Kent and stayed to watch the remainder of the Games. This time, the results for Great Britain were poor, with a total of only eight medals, including one gold, and the British team coming 18th on the medals table.
The 1956 Olympic Games took place in Melbourne, and once again, the Duke of Edinburgh was able to go to them. He was aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia on an extended tour of the Commonwealth, which included a stop in Melbourne so that he could visit the Olympic Games. Boy was needed in London, so on this occasion, he had no part in the Games.
Boy's time working for the Royal Family was drawing to a close. Early in July 1957, just before he and Daphne were due to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, Boy collapsed with severe nervous exhaustion. He was admitted to a London clinic and looked after by the Queen's Physician, Lord Evans. After some weeks in hospital, he came home to Menabilly to complete his recovery. In the autumn, he returned to his work at the Palace, but in 1958, he realised that the time had come for him to retire, and so, with reluctance from both the Duke and himself, he completed his final duties at the Palace and retired to life at Menabilly.
Troys preparing to race in Fowey Harbour - date unknown
Boy's love of sport never left him, and he continued to enjoy archery and sailing. During his adult life, Boy owned a number of different sailing vessels, and his love of this sport probably surpassed all his other sporting ventures. He was elected as an Out Port member of the Yacht Club in Fowey in 1935 and was Commodore from 1944 until 1966. He owned one of the first Troy Class Boats, which are unique to Fowey. His Troy was T4, Shimmer, which had belonged to Colonel E. Treffry of Place from 1930 until Boy took her over in 1946. Troys were small yachts designed to be able to race in Fowey Harbour. Racing continues to take place on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons during the season to this day. Boy's love of sailing was something he shared with the Duke of Edinburgh over the many years that he worked for the Royal family.
As we watch the Olypmic Games and think back over the history of the Games, it is interesting to consider the role General Browning played, as both a competetor and as an administrator.
Sources of information:
• Traces of War – Frederick Browning -
https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/7431/Frederick-Browning.htm
• Olympedia – Frederick Browning - https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/84406 (this link is very slow)
• British Heritage – Frederick Browning - https://britishheritage.org/frederick-browning
• General Boy: The Life of Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning by Richard Mead, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2011.
• A Fowey Jigsaw: The History of the Royal Fowey Yacht Club by Joan Coombs, R.F.Y.C. Books, 2000.
• The Troy Boats of Fowey by Michael Graham, pub. by Windjammer Publishing, 1996.
© Ann Willmore July 2024.