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| John Hulley line drawing by Ray Hulley |
When the Olympic Torch was carried through Liverpool, past
Mount Vernon Green, on June 12 2012, it was 1,655 miles from where it first
sparked into life. To many, though, the Torch was simply returning to its
spiritual home. For Mount Vernon Green was the stage for the first Grand
Olympic Festival, staged some 30 years before Baron de Coubertin’s enduring
creation opened in Athens. Curiously the Torch arrived in Liverpool just two days short
of the 150th anniversary of the original Mersey Olympics of June 14, 1862.
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| Liverpool Collegiate School |
John Hulley, Liverpools Olympic founder, was born in Liverpool on the 19th of February
1832, son of John Nevitt Hulley and Elizabeth (nee Speed). He was baptised on
19th July 1832 at St David's church, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool by the Revd.
Robert Davies. From an early age John Hulley had a keen interest in physical
activities, education and fitness. He was taught by Louis Huguenin, a famous
Swiss gymnast who had settled in Liverpool in 1844 as a teacher of Gymnastics.
John attended Huguenin’s school in Victoria Buildings, Moorfields, between 1845
and 1850 and matriculated from the Collegiate Institute, Shaw Street Liverpool
in 1850.
He followed up his interest in physical well-being by
becoming the honorary secretary of the Liverpool Athletic Club – and publicly
displayed his enthusiasm for the benefits of physical activity by organising an
‘Assault-at-Arms’ at the Theatre Royal, Williamson Square, on April 25, 1861.
Appetite whetted, he embarked upon organising The 1st Grand Olympic Festival in
Liverpool, held on 14th June 1862 at the Mount Vernon Parade Ground.
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| Mount Vernon Green |
It proved so successful that a 2nd Grand Olympic Festival
was staged the following year, on Saturday 15 June 1863, again at the Mount
Vernon Parade Ground.
The Zoological Gardens on West Derby Road was the stage for
the Third Festival on July 9, 1864, with Hulley now the Vice-President of the
Athletic Society.
The Rotunda Gymnasium, Bold Street Liverpool
This opened on Monday 6th October 1862 with John Hulley as
its Director. The Gymnasium was a quasi-partnership between Samuel Wylde
Ackerley and John Hulley, the former supplying the funds in terms of purchase
and fitting-out costs to launch the gymnasium; the latter giving practical
experience in the gymnasium.
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| Rotunda,
gymnasium, Bold-Street |
In spite of Hulley’s success with the Liverpool Olympic
Festivals, all was not right at the Rotunda Gymnasium. Imagine John Hulley’s
surprise and dismay when the following notices appeared in the Liverpool
Mercury of 26th December 1863 and 1st January 1864:
Rotunda, gymnasium, Bold-Street, No annual subscriptions can
be received for the
year 1864, Mr Hulley will cease to have any share in the
Direction of the
Establishment, and from the 31st instant, pursuant to notice
from the undersigned.
26 December, 1863 S. W. Ackerley, Proprietor.
The second ran thus –
The Rotunda Gymnasium, Bold-Street. Notice is hereby given
that the Partnership, if any, hitherto or lately subsisting
between the undersigned,
Samuel Wylde Ackerley and John Hulley, was and is Dissolved
on and from This Day
(Friday), first of January, 1864 by Mr Samuel Wylde
Ackerley. S. W. Ackerley,
Proprietor. N. B. The Gymnasium will be Open to Subscribers
as hitherto.
Subscriptions for the quarter ending the 31st of March will
be received by the
undersigned. S. W. Ackerley, Proprietor
Clearly John Hulley was stung by this underhand treatment
and replied to it through the columns of the Mercury. However, thanks to the
support of Mr. C.P. Melly, a Liverpool philanthropist, he was soon back in the
physical education arena. Mr. Melly and 10 other eminent Liverpudlians with the
Mayor as President formed a company to purchase premises in the town centre
suitable as a gymnasium.
Liverpool Mercury of 19 March 1864 reported as follows:
The prime object of the company is to erect in a suitable place
a gymnasium, such as shall fairly express the devotion to physical education,
which has happily become so common in Liverpool, chiefly through the exertions
of its most eminent and spirited apostle, Mr John Hulley, and such as to spread
widely around the conviction of the necessity and the appreciation of its
enjoyments. We believe the directors have selected a site which will admirably
meet the requirements of the case; and they have done still better in securing
the services of Mr Hulley, without whom any athletic undertaking would lack a
great prerequisite and assurance of success. The commercial illegibility of the
enterprise is self-evident. By originating this institution and gathering
around it the influence and support of his friends Mr Melly has added largely
to the already deep obligations under which he has placed his town and his
country; and by placing the management of the institution in the hands of Mr
Hulley, who is second to no man in Europe as a practical and thoroughly skilled
gymnastic preceptor, the board have proved that they are working in Mr Melly's
spirit, and likely to enjoy the tangible success which has hitherto been the
reward of Mr Melly’s philanthropic labours.
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The Liverpool Gymnasium, Myrtle Street
Myrtle st North side looking West on 16.05.66 with the Gym shown on the right
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John Hulley’s prowess in the field of physical education was
formally recognised by the Wenlock Olympian Society on 20th October 1864 when
they elected him to honorary membership and awarded him a silver medal in
appreciation of his valuable services in the cause of physical education. The
medal was re-discovered in 2008 in an attic in Wallasey by a descendant of
Georgiana nee Bolton, the wife of John Hulley.
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Up to 10,000 people watched the first Liverpool Olympic
Festival
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The following information regarding the above etching has
been provided by Daz from 'My Liverpool' Forum
who says :
The religious looking building on the print was Mount Vernon
Convent on Mount Vernon Street. I've highlighted in red the same features on
the print and on the photo. The print is looking westwards.
I also discounted Sacred Heart Church, as it only opened in
1886 and this event took place in 1862.
Same Building (within the red box):
1848 map. This is where I think the event took place. It may
have been in the other field - to the right of Hall Lane? Although the
grandstand looks closer to the convent buildings so it's probably the one
highlighted.
The Revd Graham Murphy (second from left) holds up the
Olympic flag with Played in Liverpool author Ray Physick after the unveiling of
John Hulley’s refurbished gravestone in Toxteth Park cemetery, Liverpool. Also
in attendance was Ray Hulley, founder of the memorial fund (right) and Olympic
historian Don Athony (left), whose 2001 article inspired Ray Hulley’s effort.
On 14th June 2019 HRH Princess Anne who is President of the British Olympic Association visited Liverpool and unveiled a sculpture of John Hulley by Liverpool,Sculptor Tom Murphy.
By Robert F Edwards
Sources
Central Library
Ray Hulley Website
My Liverpool Forum (Daz)
LRO (Photographs)
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