Ernest Latimer Stones (October 1865 – 20 October 1927) was an English amateur

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, who broke the world record for the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

(known as the pole jump at the time) at the Northern Counties Championships at

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in June 1888. He cleared 11 feet 7 inches (3.53m) to beat by three-eighths of an inch the record then held by Thomas Ray of Ulverston. The record lasted for three years and one month until Richard Dickinson cleared 11 feet 9 inches (3.58m) at Kidderminster in July 1891.

Biography

Born in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in October 1865, after moving to

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Stones tied for the pole jump title becoming British champion at the 1888 AAA Championships and then won it outright at the 1889 AAA Championships. He won the Scottish Championships three times in succession,

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

1888 Events January * January 3 – The great telescope (with an objective lens of diameter) at Lick Observatory in California is first used. * January 12 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits Dakota Territory and the states of Montana, M ...

, and 1889. In the latter year, he set a Scottish National record that was not beaten until 1930. He won the Canadian and Irish Championships both once, and is the only Briton ever to win a United States pole vault title, winning the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

Championship at Travers Island, New York in September 1889.United States Championships (Men)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-01. He died on 20 October 1927, aged 62, at 267 Knowsley Road,

. His wife of 35 years, Mary Elizabeth (née Goodall) survived him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latimer Stones, Ernest 1865 births 1927 deaths Sportspeople from Bootle British male pole vaulters English male pole vaulters