Thomas Horspool (born 22 May 1830) was a British runner who set several world records in the mile soon after relatively precise running tracks and accurate timing devices came into use in the mid-19th century. Born in Liverpool, but living in Basford, Horspool was a glove-knitter by trade. He won the 1853 mile championship in Sheffield, won it again in 1854 with a time of 4:29, and defeated main rival

John Saville John Saville (born Orestis Stamatopoulos; 2 April 1916 – 13 June 2009) was a Greek-British Marxist historian, long associated with the University of Hull. He was an influential writer on British labour history in the second half of the twen ...

twice in 1856. Their most famous race took place on 28 September 1857 at the Copenhagen Grounds in Manchester. There, Horspool defeated Saville by four yards and equaled the mile world record of 4:28 set by

Charles Westhall Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

in 1852. Tommy Hayes, himself once a champion runner and now proprietor of the Copenhagen Grounds, declared Horspool "English champion," at a time when no governing body existed to establish titles or championships. Horspool returned to the track in 1858 where, on 12 July, he lived up to his title by defeating Manchester professional Job Smith by 10 yards in a new world record of 4:23. His time was called "an unsurpassed display of celerity."Running Through the Ages, Edward Seldon Sears, McFarland, 2001, , , p.111 Horspool retired as undefeated champion soon afterwards and became a

publican The (Latin ; Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'') were public contractors in the Roman Republic and Empire. In their official capacity, they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw pub ...

References

British male middle-distance runners 1830 births Year of death unknown English male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Nottinghamshire {{England-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub