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Vera Searle

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Vera Searle
née Palmer
Personal information
Born(1901-08-25)25 August 1901
Leytonstone, London, England
Died12 December 1998(1998-12-12) (aged 97)
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Sport
SportAthletics
EventSprints
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • 250 m: 35.4 (1923, WR)
  • 250 m: 33.8 (1925, WR)
Medal record
Representing  United Kingdom
Women's World Games
Silver medal – second place 1926 Gothenburg 250 metres

Vera Maud Searle OBE (née Palmer; 25 August 1901 – 12 September 1998) was a British sprinter and athletics administrator.

Biography

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Palmer was born in Leytonstone, London, on 25 August 1901 [1] to Albert Palmer (1878–1935), assistant secretary of Chelsea Football Club,[2] and Maud Mary Palmer (1879–1946). She was the eldest of four children.

In 1923 she co-founded the Middlesex Ladies Athletics Club, now the Ealing Southall & Middlesex Athletics Club. Later the same year, she participated at the first WAAA Championships taking bronze medal behind Eileen Edwards in the 220 yards.[3][4] The following year Palmer became the national 440 yards champion at the 1924 WAAA Championships.[5][6]

Competing as Vera Palmer, she set a world record at 250 metres of 35.4 seconds in 1923 Paris and in 1925, again set a world record at 250 metres of 33.8 seconds at Stamford Bridge.[7] In 1924 she participated at the 1924 Women's Olympiad and won the silver medal in running 250 m and the gold medal in the relay 4 x 220 yards.

In August 1926, she won silver (to compatriot Eileen Edwards) in the 250m at the 1926 Women's World Games, held at the Slottsskogsvallen Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden.[7]

In October 1926, she married Wilfred Edwin Searle, and they had two daughters together; Brenda born 1928 and Angela born 1935.[1]

She was honorary secretary of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) from 1930 to 1933, vice-chairman from 1959 to 1973, chairman from 1973 to 1981, and later president until the WAAA merged with the Amateur Athletic Association in 1991.[7] She received the OBE in 1979 for services to athletics.[7]

She died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 12 September 1998.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Adam Szreter (8 October 1998). "Obituary: Vera Searle | Culture". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  2. ^ Williams, Jean (2014). A Contemporary History of Women's Sport, Part One: Sporting Women, 1850-1960. Routledge. p. 134.
  3. ^ "Women First A.A.A. Meeting". Sunday Express. 19 August 1923. Retrieved 8 December 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Women's Sports". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 20 August 1923. Retrieved 8 December 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Record Performances by Women". The Scotsman. 30 June 1924. Retrieved 8 December 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Watman, Mel (May 2012). "Women athletes between the world wars (act. 1919–1939) : Vera Maud Palmer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 October 2017.