(Kenneth Powell (1885-1915), Olympian & Wibledon tennis comp...

Hammer

£40

(Kenneth Powell (1885-1915), Olympian & Wibledon tennis competitor.) 'The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights. Compiled and Arranged by James Knowles', L, Warne, 1895, 8th edition, original cloth gilt. Pen & ink ownership signature on half title of Kenneth Powell (1885-1915), British athlete and tennis player who competed in the 1908 and the 1912 Summer Olympics as well as at the Wimbledon Championships. Educated at Rugby School, Kenneth Powell was a fine all-round sportsman. He was honoured with the Victor Ludorum two years in succession for his athletic skills. He was captain of the rugby XV, a member of the school gymnastics team and reached the final of the public schools rackets competition in 1903. After going to King’s College Cambridge he became an athletics Blue (1905-08), and won the 120y hurdles vs. Oxford in 1907-08 and a Blue for lawn tennis (1905-07). A fellow member of the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club in 1905 was Wimbledon Champion, and fellow Olympian, Tony Wilding. In 1908 he won the singles title at the Queen's Club Championships, also winning the Covered Court Championships in Sweden that year. Between 1905 and 1913 Powell competed in eight editions of the Wimbledon Championships, making the singles quarter finals in 1913 and the doubles semi final in 1909 and final in 1910. At the 1908 Olympic Games in London he competed in the outdoor tennis singles event but lost his first round match to Otto Froitzheim. In the outdoor tennis doubles he and his partner Walter Crawley were eliminated in the quarterfinals. In the 1908 London Olympic Games he also participated in the 110 metre hurdles competition but was eliminated in the first round. Four years later at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he finished fifth in the 110 metre hurdles competition. On 18 February 1915 Powell was killed in action during the First World War, serving as a private with the Honourable Artillery Company, when he was struck by a bullet near Ypres.[7] He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section of the churchyard at Loker.