John Frederick Cornes also known as Jerry Cornes (23 March 1910 – 19 June 2001) was an English

middle distance runner Middle Distance Runner was an American indie rock band from Washington, D.C. Middle Distance Runner was founded in 1998, but the band didn't play a live show until 2005, shortly before the release of their debut album. The group was an early succ ...

, colonial officer, and schoolmaster. He was born in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Early life

The son of a judge in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

, Cornes was educated at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

and won a scholarship to

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, where he read history. He stayed at Oxford for an extra year, studying one of the languages of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and learning how to work in the colonies. He left Oxford in 1932, when he competed in the Olympics at Los Angeles.

Career

After the 1932 Olympic Games, Cornes was posted to Nigeria as a civil servant. He stayed there for five years, during which time he was given leave to attend the 1936 Games in Berlin. He only decided to go for the '36 Olympics a year before, so he did no intensive training in between, but during that time he raced a local Nigerian around the walls of Katsima and lost. In 1937, Cornes returned from Nigeria and on 12 June he married Rachael Addis in

Frant Frant is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, on the Kentish border about three miles (5 km) south of Royal Tunbridge Wells. When the iron industry was at its height, much of the village was owned by ...

, Sussex. Their marriage was extremely happy. In 1997, they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. Also in 1937, he went to work for the civil service in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, as assistant district officer of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

, in

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

. He also worked in

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

and

Safad Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...

. His three elder sons, Nick, Colin and John were born in Palestine. He was working at the King David Hotel at the time of the

King David Hotel bombing The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on 22 July 1946, by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization I ...

. He was curious when he heard a small explosive blast in the street outside the hotel, which had been set off by terrorists to keep passers-by away from the area. He went outside to investigate, and while he was outside a bomb inside the hotel was detonated, killing everyone on his floor. Cornes left Palestine in 1947. Returning home, he worked for the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

and taught colonial service students at Oxford until 1953. His youngest son, Andrew, was born during this period. In 1953, he came into an inheritance and bought

West Downs School West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988. History Founding The school was founded by Lionel Helbert (1870–1919), with help from hi ...

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, where he taught history, Religious Studies and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, as well as being headmaster. He retired in 1988 and the school was closed down.

Athlete

Cornes first became interested in running at Clifton, where he won the seven-mile cross-country 'Long Pen Pole' race, as his father had done twice before him. When the

Achilles Club The Achilles Club is a track and field by and for the past and present representatives of the University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge Universities. As of 2025, members have won 19 Olympic Games, Olympic gold medals a ...

from Oxford and Cambridge came for a match against Clifton, he beat, on handicap, Douglas Lowe, who was an Olympic champion. At Oxford, he won the Freshman cross-country race. Shortly before the

1930 British Empire Games The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, and was held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 16 to 23 August 1930. The event was organized by '' Hamilton Spectator'' sportswriter Bobby Robinso ...

in Canada, Cornes finished second behind Reg Thomas in the 1 mile event at the

1930 AAA Championships The 1930 AAA Championships was the 1930 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 4 to 5 July 1930 at Stamford Bridge in London, England. The Championships c ...

. At the

he won the bronze medal in the 1 mile event. Four years later at the 1934 Empire Games he won again the bronze medal in the 1 mile competition. Cornes became the national 1 mile champion after winning the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title at the 1932 AAA Championships. Shortly afterwards he was selected to represent

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in the 1500 metres, where he won the silver medal. His time was 3 minutes 52 seconds. He then competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

in Berlin, gaining sixth place in the 1500 metres event but running his personal best time of 3 minutes 51.4 seconds. The race was exceptional because the first two runners broke World Records and the first five, Olympic Records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornes, Jerry 1910 births 2001 deaths People from Darjeeling English male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1930 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford People educated at Clifton College Heads of schools in England Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) British people in colonial India Medallists at the 1930 British Empire Games Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games 20th-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics