W. G. Merrifield took up gymnastics at the Kilburn Lane Council Gymnastics Club. He went on to become a member of the Great Britain all-round team at the 1908 London Olympics. He later became captain of the St. Paul’s Gymnastics Club in Paddington, London, and in 1911 finished fifth in the individual competition in the Metropolitan and Southern Counties Championships at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute. Merrifield went on to become a gymnastics instructor after World War I, working closely with local scouts and boy’s brigades.