Eric Seward

Although he was born in Australia the son of a wine merchant, Eric Seward was of Irish descent. As a youngster he suffered from double pneumonia and on the advice of a Harley Street doctor the family moved to the bracing air of Hastings on England’s south coast. He started swimming at Hastings baths at the age of 13 and within three years was a top class swimmer, diver and water polo player and in 1908 he scored 20 of the 37 goals scored by the Hastings junior team. In addition, he tried his hand at rowing and was a cox at the local rowing club.

A proficient backstroke swimmer Seward was chosen for the 1908 London Olympics and when he entered the pool for his opening heat of the 100 metres it was just ten days after his 17th birthday, making him the youngest British competitor at the Games. Sadly, he failed to qualify and was eliminated after just one race. His swimming career suffered a severe blow in 1912 when his lungs were badly damaged following a motor car accident. He tried to join the Army but was unsuccessful so he took up flying, obtained his flying licence in 1915, and was accepted into the Royal Flying Corps. He served in Palestine and following an accident in 1917 that saw his plane ditch in the sea, he swam four miles to the shore before walking about 25 miles to safety. A picture of him, entitled “The Seward Exploit,” hung in the Imperial War Museum from 1920-39 and showed a crashed plane in the Red Sea with its pilot (Seward) swimming away from it under a hail of gunfire. He was awarded the Military Cross before retiring form the RAF in 1921 and then enjoyed a successful business career.