Henry Alan LEEKE

Henry Leeke was the son of one of the pioneers of British hammer throwing, also Henry Leeke. His father had been the AAC Champion three times (1868, 1870, 1872), and was the winner for Cambridge vs. Oxford in 1868. Henry, Jr. was educated at Leamington College and Corpus Christi, Cambridge, and was a fine all-round thrower, winning the AAA hammer in 1906 and placing second in the shot three times (1903, 1906, 1910). He won his Blue (1901-03) in the shot and hammer and won both events against Oxford in 1903. He was one of the first British athletes to take up the discus and set a British record in 1908. At the 1908 Olympic Trials, Leeke won the freestyle javelin with a throw of 135-8½ (41.37), but as the method used is not known, this mark was never recognized as a UK record. Leeke competed in six different throwing events at the 1908 Olympics, but did not reach the final in any of them.

Leeke was commissioned into the 9th battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment in September 1914 and became a machine gun officer but, while serving in France, he was taken ill and returned to England where he died of fever in the Military Isolation Hospital in Aldershot. Leeke’s grandfather, the Reverand William Leeke, was a famous Battle of Waterloo historian and he was, at 17, the youngest ensign at Waterloo and carried the colours of the 52nd Light Infantry throughout the battle.

Personal Bests: SP – 12.57 (1910); DT – 33.08 (108-6½) (1908); HT – 39.62 (130-0) (1911); JT – 41.37u (1908).