Bunny Franklin was a member of the Northampton Polytechnic Institute team that dominated gymnastics in the years leading up to World War I, and then throughout the 1920s. He was in their winning Adams Shield team at the 1913 British National Team Championships, and then the War intervened and his career was put on hold. Franklin served with the Royal Fusiliers during the hostilities and, after two tours of duty, was awarded both the British War, and Victory Medals.
In 1912 Franklin not only won a team bronze medal at the Stockholm Olympics, but was also that year elected onto the committee of the Amateur Gymnastics Association. He competed at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics, but the British team finished a disappointing fifth and last. Two years later, despite performing under par, Franklin managed to finish third in the individual national championships, won for the first time by Stanley Leigh. Franklin was by then an experienced gymnastics judge, with a technical knowledge that was probably the best in Britain in the 1920s. He also had an expert eye for spotting talent that eventually got selected for future Olympics. Franklin died at the young age of 47 following a bout of influenza.
Great Britain