2-889-552 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Athletic Games at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich [in south London] - Running High Jump, 1850. '...the Gentlemen Cadets at Woolwich amused themselves and a large party of their friends, by contending in various athletic exercises and feats of strength on the ground in front of their barracks. The sports consisted of foot-racing, hurdle-racing, the long and high leap, vaulting, putting iron shot, chopping pigs (of lead) in two, &c., for prizes. These were of many grades, from a "Blaine's Encyclopedia" downwards, but were all competed for with equal spirit. The leaping was first-rate, and the "vaulting ambition" of one gentleman, who cleared the bar at an elevation an inch or so above his own height, gained great applause'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.