Charlotte Radcliffe was one of four Garston Swimming Club members that made up the six-strong women’s Great Britain squad at the 1920 Olympics. Along with fellow club members Grace McKenzie and Hilda James, as well as Nottingham’s Connie Jeans, Radciffe won the 4x100 metres freestyle relay silver medal. Unfortunately, she finished seventh and last in her individual 100 metres freestyle heat.
Radcliffe was one of 12 children, the daughter of railway worker John Radcliffe and his wife Elizabeth. Brought up in the Garston district of Liverpool, she joined the local swimming club, which produced some of the finest male and female swimmers in the post-World War I years and throughout the 1920s. Radcliffe was the Northern Counties 100 yards freestyle champion at the age of 13 in 1916, and the following year was second to Daisy Curwen in the Liverpool and District Championships, before winning the Northern Counties title again 1918. Despite not winning an ASA title, Radcliffe was just 17 when called up for the Antwerpen Olympics. She later became a swimming instructress on Cunard cruise ships and was an inductee into the Liverpool City Region Sport Hall of Fame. Radcliffe never married, but was the grand-aunt of athlete Paula Radcliffe.
Great Britain