British Fencing received an email from Carolyne Redmayne about a set of around 30 glass plates from the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, which show the British fencing team in action and at rest. We have reproduced a selection of the 30 images below, with some of the team identified where possible (with thanks to Malcolm Fare.)
The 1912 fencing competition saw individual and team events for both epee and sabre, along with an individual foil event. A total of 184 fencers from 16 nations competed – all men. Women would not be admitted to the event until 1924, and it would be many decades before they participated in anything other than foil.
These slides, shot by an unknown photographer (or photographers) were inherited from Ms. Redmayne’s father, who collected them at an unknown date – and not much else is known about them, but they appear to focus on the fencing team, who may have been involved in several other sports. The GBR team took a silver medal in the team epee competition on July 10th, 1912, held at the Ostermalm Athletic Grounds.
Carolyne added: “There are some cricket ones amongst them but I don’t think it was an Olympic event so may be the fencing team as well. There are photos of some athletics events – possibly the modern pentathlon which had its first outing at Stockholm – Douglas Godfree was a fencer and pentathlete (as well as having been awarded the Military Cross in 1918) so maybe the photographer was trying to capture him running as well. They were clearly a team of incredibly talented and illustrious individuals.
Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about their provenance – they were a box of glass slides found when clearing my father’s home after he died a few years ago. He was a keen photographer so they would have been something he would have picked up somewhere because they were interesting.”
Fencing in Stockholm included foil again after the weapon was not contested in the 1908 Games. More widely, the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm introduced several significant advancements and milestones in the history of the modern Games.
They were also the first to include athletes from all five continents, showcasing a broader international participation. The event marked the debut of the decathlon and pentathlon, with Jim Thorpe famously winning both. Additionally, the 1912 Olympics were pioneering in their use of electronic timing systems.
If you know anything about the images or the individuals within, please get in touch: [email protected] ⚔️
Wikipedia: Fencing at the 1912 Summer Olympics (click on ‘details’ under each event for much more).
2nd from left – Paul Anspach (BEL – 1912 Olympic epee champion), 3rd from left – P le Hardy de Beaulieu (BEL – epee bronze medallist)
With thanks to Carolyne Redmayne