George Thorne

So who is George Thorne? We wish we were more certain. Thorne played in the 1900 Olympic golf tournament, representing the Weston-super-Mare Club in Weston-super-Mare, England. At that club, he won four monthly medals between 1900-03, off handicaps starting around 13 and ending at a 9. He also played in several club matches against other clubs.

The identity of this athlete has been difficult. After checking many sources, and following a thread on the athlete, we are fairly certain he was an Australian who moved to England. However, there are two possible George Thorne’s from that area that fit the description, and there is a third, more remote possibility, that he was George Robson Thorne of the Midlothian Club in Chicago, who was the President of the Western Golf Association in 1900. Although he was in Europe in the summer of 1900, he was back in Chicago by mid-September, and marshalled at the US Open in 1900 at Chicago Golf Club, so this golfer is not the Chicagoan George Thorne.

The Australian George Thorne is noted to have returned to Weston-super-Mare only three months before his death. However, there is also evidence that he was in Weston-super-Mare in 1900-01 from evidence concerning his daughter.