Jack Hatfield

Jack Hatfield

John Gatenby "Jack" Hatfield (15 August 1893–30 March 1965) was a competitive swimmer, who won medals for Great Britain in the early Olympic Games.

Jack Hatfield, one of the best known British swimmers in history, was born in Great Ayton in 1893. He started swimming at the age of five, by the age of 12 he had won his first title, Senior Champion of Middlesbrough and was considered a child prodigy. At 16 he won the Yorkshire Quarter Mile, knocking 11 seconds off the previous best time. By 17 he had stamped his mark indelibly on the world of international swimming.

It is no coincidence that he was born to the superintendent of Middlesbrough Baths. It was in that modest swimming pool that a champion was moulded. He was also known to train in the River Tees, Smith’s Dock, a flooded quarry in Great Ayton and the boating lake in Albert Park. At the height of his fame it was not uncommon for crowds of two to three thousand people to come and watch him train, not unsurprising when he brought worldwide sporting acclaim to Middlesbrough.

In 1912, yet to win a British National Championship, the North of England swimmer was chosen for the Stockholm Olympic Games. In each of the 400 and 1500 metre events, including the preliminaries, he broke the world’s record – only to see his triumph snatched away in a fleeting touch by the international water champion, G. R. Hodgson of Canada.

He returned home with two silver medals and a bronze (won in the freestyle relay race) to a hero’s welcome. He was greeted at Darlington Railway Station by a crowd of 20,000 people whilst a band played ‘Hail the Conquering Hero’.

No other British swimmer succeeded in winning an Olympic medal until the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo when Bobby McGregor won the silver.

In the two-year period following the 1912 Olympics, Jack won ten English Championships and broke five world records with the then revolutionary Trudgen Crawl (front crawl).

The outbreak of World War I meant that all championships were suspended for seven years, including the 1916 Olympics. Jack became Gunner Hatfield in the Royal Artillery and spent four years in the trenches in France, only to be brought back for the Army Navy Championship, which he won in 1915.

After the war his swimming career continued, appearing in a further three Olympic Games, Antwerp in 1920, Paris in 1924 and Amsterdam in 1928. He also took part in the European Games in Budapest in 1929. In 1930 he was asked to captain the English team in the Empire Games (the first ever Commonwealth Games) held in Hamilton, Canada, at the age of 37.

Jack led Middlesbrough’s water polo team to victory and as England’s centre forward he played against every country in Europe between 1920 and 1932. His swimming career spanned two decades, during which time he won every title from the 300 yards to the five-mile Championships held in the River Thames - 42 titles in total. An Olympic swimming star before World War II he broke more local, national, international and world records in swimming than any other man until the arrival of Johnny Weissmuller (otherwise known as the original Tarzan).

His aquatic achievements placed him amongst the country’s foremost sporting personalities, his name echoed round swimming pools in the capitals of the world. He will also be remembered for his encouragement and coaching of thousands of young swimmers in Cleveland.

His name and achievements have been honoured in a number of ways, the greatest of this being his inclusion in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale. More locally, Jack Hatfield Square was opened on Fry Street in Middlesbrough 15 years after his death. In attendance were the town’s civic dignitaries and other guests. A service of dedication was held accompanied by the Middlesbrough Sea Cadet Corps on pipes and drums.

34 years after his death a special plaque in commemoration was unveiled in Captain Cook’s Square, fittingly the site of the former Middlesbrough Swimming Baths.

An exhibition was held to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth at the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough which included the display of the ‘Illuminated Address’ given to Jack by the people of Middlesbrough in 1924 in recognition of his swimming achievements. His medals were also put on display in a fundraising exhibition at the Marton Country Club Hotel to raise money for the Olympic Appeal Fund.

As well as his swimming credits, Jack was a keen all-round sportsman and a respected local businessman. Following the 1912 Olympics his father set him up as the proprietor of a sports shop on Newton Street in Middlesbrough. The ‘Jack Hatfield Swimming Costume’ found an international market and made his 12 ft by 13 ft shop known to many of the big names in the swimming world. The costume was the first for men to be made without sleeves and legs.

From humble beginnings the shop grew to take in two neighbouring shops before it moved premises to Borough Road when Newton Street was redeveloped. Very much a family run business, Jack’s sister ran the shop whilst he was away and following Jack’s death in 1965, three of his four sons took over the ownership of the shop having worked there all their adult lives.

One of the longest running local businesses, the shop stills stands today although the brothers have now gone into retirement. The 50th, 75th and 85th anniversaries were celebrated as well as the retirement of the brothers from the firm. A tribute in the Evening Gazette was published saying: “It’s sad to see the end of an era as the name Hatfield meant a lot to people in this part of the country, so good luck and good health to the family, you served your town well.”

The shop had a reputation for outstanding personal service with the approach, service before profit. Jack ensured that he always had a large amount of stock which covered the needs of almost every athletic sport, and he could offer sound and expert advice in any of these areas.

They offered a service whereby they would blow up customer’s footballs for them and every weekend the shelves would be over-flowing with footballs waiting to be inflated. Sometimes the queues would be so long that other customers were unable to gain access into the shop.

Jack was also closely connected with Middlesbrough Football Club all his life. As a result of this, the shop supplied the Club with all their sporting equipment. Jack Hatfield’s was visited by scores of professional and amateur footballers over the years and Jack counted the likes of Sir Matt Busby and Brian Clough as personal friends. Jack was made one of the eight Directors of Middlesbrough Football Club in 1952.As well as bringing many top name players to Middlesbrough, he also played an instrumental part in bringing three World Cup Games to Ayresome Park in 1966 even though they were played a year after his death.

He died at the age of 71. In his obituaries he was remembered as “possibly the most popular man on Teesside”. A legend in his own time, Jack Hatfield goes down as one of Teesside’s most famous sons - a legacy the Hatfield family are extremely proud of.

Article written by one of Jack's six granddaughters whilst at university.

Jack Hatfield's eldest of four sons, also called Jack, was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Middlesbrough in 2009.