Arthur Mears

Arthur Mears took up gymnastics after joining the German Gymnastic Society in 1890 and later became their secretary. He was appointed chairman of the executive committee of the Amateur Gymnastics Association (AGA) in 1910 and served them for 24 years until his retirement, upon which he was unanimously appointed a vice-president. Mears was also the chairman of the Metropolitan and Southern Counties AGA for more than 20 years, and a vice-president of the St James’ Gymnasium Society.

Having been on the gymnastics organising committee for the 1908 London Olympics, Mears was a judge at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. He was elected to the Council of the International Gymnastic Association in 1932. Mears encouraged London’s youths to take up gymnastics because as he pointed out in a letter to The Guardian newspaper in 1903, they were overweight (he used the word “flabby”) and that physical strength was what the future of the nation depended. More than 100 years later his words were not heeded, not just in London, but across Britain.