HISTORY OF BRITISH GYMNASTICS

German Carl Voelker sets up an outdoor gymnastic school near Regents Park London. Unfortunately, it does not survive beyond 1830, but the later formed Primrose Hill Gymnasium supported by the Ministry of Parks has better success.

Above - The Primrose Hill 'Gymnasium' circa 1825

Doctors De Betou and Ehrenhoof advocate gymnastics as physical medicine and set themselves up as 'gymnastics practitioners' in London.

Uppingham School in Rutland is the first public school to have a purpose-built gymnasium.

Above - The Uppingham School Gymnasium in 1859

Archibald Maclaren, a pupil of European gymnastics, starts to teach gymnastics at the newly completed indoor gymnasium at Oxford. Twelve British soldiers are sent to Oxford University to learn the art of gymnastics, including the horizontal bar and parallel bars, under the direction of Maclaren. The twelve 'apostles', as they are known, were there to teach gymnastics to the army. Later, many army instructors found their way to the public schools where gymnastics became part of the curriculum. It was about this time that the Army Gymnastics Staff was established.

Above - The Oxford Gymnasium in the Illustrated London News circa 1860

The German Gymnastics Society is established in London.

The Northampton & County Amateur Athletics Club is formed. This is the oldest gymnastics club in Great Britain and is still operating today.

The German Gymnasium, the home of the German Gymnastics Society, opened in January 1865 at a cost of £6000.

Above - The German Gymnasium when it opened in 1865

The first-ever National Olympian Games are held at the German Gymnasium at St Pancras. John Hulley, along with Dr William Penny Brookes and Ernest George Ravenstein, were instrumental in setting up these games. Hulley's plaque can be seen near Albert Dock, Liverpool. The gymnasium hosted rope climb, fencing and other gymnastics for the Games.

The Birmingham Athletic Club, with a gymnastic group, is also formed this year.

Above - John Hulley (1832-1875) plaque

There is evidence of women taking part in gymnastics in the UK, shown by an engraving of a class at the German Gymnasium in 1870.

The Orion Gym Club, established in 1868, holds its first annual display.

Above - Women's class at the German Gymnasium, 1870

The Birmingham Athletic Institute (B.A.I.) sends a team of men to the German Turnfest in Frankfurt am Main. They claim to have taught the German athletes the use of Indian clubs and the art of boxing.

Austin Fleming Jenkin wins the German Gymnastics Society Championships, an open event considered at the time to be the National Championships, prior to the AGA Championships. He would win the championships again in 1888 and 1898.

The Amateur Gymnastic Association is formed (this is an English Gymnastic Association). The inaugural meeting is held at the German Gymnasium. Four London clubs set up the meeting: the German Gymnastic Society, the Orion Gymnastic Society, St James Athletic Club and Stepney Gymnasium. Northampton Athletic Club (still in existence) was invited to the meeting, though no other clubs are known to have attended.

Not long after the founding of the association, some fencing clubs requested affiliation and persuaded the AGA to become the Amateur Gymnastic and Fencing Association.

Above - Letter to Northampton from the German Gymnastic Society, 1888

The Scottish Amateur Gymnastic Association is formed.

Austin Fleming Jenkin writes 'Gymnastics', a book that provides gymnastic terminology for the nation. This would prove to be a must-have for coaches until the 1930s. Jenkin must have had considerable influence in these times; he became President of the AGA from 1892 to 1903, and it is reported that thanks to Jenkin, the AGA Championships for men were inaugurated a few years later.

The National Physical Recreation Society holds the first National Team Challenge Shield, the first national gymnastic trophy within the British Isles. The NPRS sends a message of supremacy to the AGA, creating a 10-year rivalry between the two associations.

The first edition of The Gymnast magazine is published in October, subtitled 'A Monthly Journal for Gymnastics and Athletics'. By 1893, it was called The Gymnast and Athletic Review.

Above - AF Jenkin, 1890

The Open Scottish Individual Championships for men, the first national championships in the British Isles, takes place for the first time along with the club team event for men, contested for the Scottish Shield.

Above - The Scottish Shield

The Birmingham Athletic Institute gymnasium on John Bright Street is opened.

Frederick J Harvey's London gymnastics team competes in the National Physical Recreation Society's Challenge Shield, coming 2nd to Aberdeen. A year later, Harvey represented England internationally. He was director of the Exeter Hall Gymnasium in London and author of numerous books on gymnastics.

Above - The BAI gymnasium in John Bright Street, 1892

Volume 11, no. 29 of The Gymnast magazine is on sale. Publication ceased a few years later.

Above - The Gymnast, 1 January 1894, page 1

The Irish Amateur Gymnastics Association is formed in Dublin. National competitions take place: the City of Dublin GC wins the Irish Challenge Shield, while the Ulster AGA holds its team championships with Montpottinger YMCA GC taking the title.

The first English Championships for Men's Artistic Gymnastics is held, open to all amateurs. The prize, the Challenge Cup, costing £28.15 shillings (about £16,300 in 2023's money), is still the trophy for today's Men's Artistic British Championships. Mr T M Gardiner of Hoddesdon was commissioned to manufacture the apparatus. Henry Cain, of the Orion Gym Club, Bethnal Green, is the winner.

Above - Harry Leon Cain, 1896

The first Olympic Games is held in Athens. Launceston Elliott from Great Britain takes part in the rope climb, one of the 11 gymnastics events. The Athens organisers are disappointed that Great Britain did not put its full support behind the games; any representation was left to the individual, and so Launceston Elliott alone took part, in the rope climb.

AGA headquarters move from London to Birmingham. Lawrence Levy becomes the new honorary secretary, taking over from Londoner Mr W P Kirton. Levy was the English weightlifting champion in 1891 and a member of the International Jury at the 1896 Olympic Games. In 1908 he went on to become a member of the Council for the British Olympic Association, while continuing his gymnastic responsibilities. He wrote The Autobiography of an Athlete, recording in it:

Birmingham gives its first mass open-air display at Villa Park.

Take, for instance, when we negotiated, or rather intended to negotiate, the AGA individual Championships at Leeds. It was the Albert Hall, I think, a hall of no very great capacity, but quite big enough to hold the numbers who turned up in hope of witnessing the contest. Trouble came as soon as we began the horizontal bar. The first man who tried the long swings wrenched the supports out of the ground. The apparatus completely collapsed.

Above - Edward Lawrence Levy, 1897

Frederick J Harvey competes in the 9th Deutsch Turnfest, held in Hamburg. He comes back with a medal which is still part of his family's archive.

The Gymnast & Athletic Review carries notice of the 3rd National Championships. At this time the AGA is still the AG&FA, as the advert in The Gymnast & Athletic Review testifies. Some time later, the association with fencing was dropped.

Above - The Gymnast & Athletic Review notice of the 3rd National Championships, 1898

The first British international is held in Dublin, with England, Scotland and Ireland competing under the auspices of the Amateur Gymnastic Federation. This event continued until at least 1911; Scotland and England each went on to win 6 times. Councillor Adams from Birmingham, present at the event, donates a shield ready for the next year's international. This becomes the Adams Shield, one of the most historic and coveted prizes in Artistic Gymnastics, still contested by British clubs today.

Above - The original Adams Shield, before the bands were added