George Marshall

In the program for the 1896 Olympics, the affiliation for George Marshall is shown as “Oxford” against his entry for the 800, but “University” is not specifically mentioned. For the 100, 400, and 1,500, his affiliation is shown simply as “London”. His entry for the lawn tennis events, in which he did not actually play, is shown as being from the Panathinaikos Club of Patras, which implied that he was a British resident in Greece and further research in British consular records has indeed revealed him to be the son of a British merchant and shipping agent who appears to have spent his entire life in Patras and was Honorary Consul for Spain there from 1875-1910. His mother, though born in Australia, was of Scottish heritage. Marshall spent part of his childhood in Scotland, at a boarding school in Edinburgh where he played for the school rugby team, and later had some local success as an athlete around his birthplace of Patras but was eliminated in the heats of the 100m and 800 m, the only two events in which he took to the track, in Athens. His later life remains a mystery although there is a brief reference in his family history to him having worked in a bank in Athens after his Olympic adventure.

Personal Bests: 100 – unknown; 800 – unknown.