Venturing to the Blackfen end of Eltham High street I found another of Eltham’s commemorative benches (see also https://petesfavouritethings.blog/2021/09/07/john-of-eltham/). This one was to Eric Liddell.
Eric Liddell was born in China in1902 to Scottish parents who were missionaries. In 1908 he was sent to board at Eltham College. He excelled at sport whilst at school, winning the Blackheath Cup for best all-round athlete and representing the school at cricket and rugby. On leaving Eltham he went to Edinburgh University where he studied science, combining that with continued sporting success.
In 1922 he represented Scotland in the Five Nations Rugby Championship and in 1923 he won the 100yds and 220 yds titles at the AAA championships and was considered a favourite to make the GB team at 100m at the following year’s Olympics in Paris. However a problem arose when the timetable was published. Liddell, a devout Christian, found that the heats of the 100m were on a Sunday and decided he would not compete. Instead he switched his attention to the 400m and won the 1924 AAA title at that distance before going onto win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics in a world record time. This story was later told in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’
In 1925 he followed in his parent’s footsteps and went to China as a missionary, teaching at the Anglo-Chinese school and in 1932 he was ordained as a minister in the Scottish Congregational Church, continuing his work in China.
In 1943 following the Japanese incursions into China during the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) he was interned by the Japanese along with many missionaries and ministers from the allied nations. Here he continued to be a leader and model to all the internees. There is one story that a group of interned businessmen managed to arrange for the smuggling of food into the camp. Initially they had planned to keep it just for themselves, but Liddell’s intervention and influence convinced them to share their food with other people. Eric Liddell died of a brain tumour and malnourishment in February 1945, just a few months before the camp was liberated.
He was buried behind in the camp cemetery behind the officers mess and following the war, the grave site became lost until it was found again in 1989 in what is now the grounds of a school, following examination of maps drawn by the inmates of the camp. It is now marked by a simple cross.. Today there is a museum at the site of the camp and a statue of Liddell stands at the entrance. In 2002, Liddell was the one of the first inductees into the the Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held on the 100th anniversary of his first cap for Scotland at Rugby Union.
Eltham College honoured it’s famous student when it named its new sports centre ‘The Eric Liddell Centre’, which is used both by the school and, outside of school hours, by the local community. In 2024, to mark the 100th anniversary of Liddell’s Gold medal run in the Olympics, a group of students ran the 680 miles from Paris to St Andrews, raising £25,000 for charity.
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