Barbara Cecilia Mary Holliday after marriage Barbara Gray (1908 - 1968) was a British track and field athlete specialized in the long jump and high jump during the 1920s, the early era of women's athletics.[1] In the standing long jump she was world record holder and bronze medalist at the second Women's World Games in 1926.

Barbara Holliday
Personal information
Full nameBarbara Cecilia Mary Holliday
Born1908 (1908)
Died1968(1968-00-00) (aged 59–60)
Sport
CountryUnited Kingdom
SportTrack and field athletics
Event(s)Long jump, high jump, running
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  United Kingdom
Women's World Games
Bronze medal – third place 1926 Gothenburg standing long jump

Biography

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Career

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In June 1921, when she was 14-years old, she competed in Manchester in a 15-mile race walk described as the "girls' first annual walking championship". She finished second in a time of 2 hours 2min and 28sec, behind the 15-year-old Lillian Salkeld.[2]

In 1926 she competed at the 1926 Great Britain Women's World Games trials where she won the high jump event and finished second in the standing long jump. As a result she qualified to represent the United Kingdom at the the 1926 Women's World Games in Gothenburg.[3] She won the bronze medal in the standing long jump event with a jump of 2.37 metres behind Japanese Kinue Hitomi and Czechoslovak Zdena Smolová.[4][5]

On 20 July 1927, she improved the world record in the standing long jump with 2.57 meters during a competition in London.[6]

Personal life

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Holliday was born in 1908 and lived in Moss Side, Manchester.[1][2] She married Scottish general practitioner James Gray and lived in Hayling Island in Hampshire county.[7][8] The couple had 2 children: Nigel Gray and playwright, memoirist and university lecturer Simon Gray (1936–2008).[7][9] Holliday-Gray died in 1968.[10]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 "Daisy Crossley". Brinkster. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "The factory girl who was one of the first British women sprinters of renown". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
  3. "Pour Les Jeux féminins de Gothebourg | L'equipe Anglaise". La Dernière Heure (in French). 10 August 1926. p. 4.
  4. "Les Jeux Mondiaux féminins de Gothebourg". La Dernière Heure (in French). 31 August 1926. p. 4.
  5. Svenska dagbladets Årsbok 1926 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Svenska Dagbladet. 1927. p. 217-218. Retrieved 13 June 2024 – via runeberg.org.
  6. "British World Record breakers". British Athletics. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Simon Gray". simongray.org.uk.
  8. "Simon Gray". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  9. "Simon Gray". Roundabout Theatre Company. Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  10. "Barbara Cecilia Mary Holliday". ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2024.