Eric Henry Liddell

Plaque name: Eric Henry Liddell

 

Location: The Eric Liddell Community, 15 Morningside Rd, Edinburgh EH10 4DP.

 

Plaque awarded: 02/02/2024

 

Reason: Plaque Category – Legend

 

Eric Henry Liddell (16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945)

 

Born in 1902 in the city of Tientsin in north-eastern China, Liddell was the son of missionary parents working for the Church of Scotland.

 

Liddell, who studied in Edinburgh University for a BSc in Pure Science, was a talented rugby player capped seven times for Scotland as a wing three quarter but who ultimately decided to concentrate his leg speed on athletics success.

 

Liddell won five successive Scottish titles in the 100 yards and the 220 yards (1921 to 1925) and took the 440 yards gold twice (1924 and 1925). He demonstrated his Olympic credentials by winning the Amateur Athletics Association Championships in the 100 yards and 220 yards in 1923 and the 440 yards in 1924, the latter his personal trial for Paris.

 

The manner of his Olympic victory in the 400 metres, a few days after he had taken bronze in the 200m, was remarkable. He set out at a devasting pace and, with grit and determination, held on to his lead to win by six metres in an Olympic record of 47.6 seconds.

To put the magnitude of his Olympic performance into perspective, Liddell had travelled to Paris with a personal best of 49.6 seconds, and his winning time a European record remained unbroken until 1936.

 

Liddell continued running in 1925 taking three individual Scottish titles and a relay victory. Later the same year, after graduating from Edinburgh University, he travelled to China to join his father as a missionary where he devoted his life to work for the poor of China.

 

He married Florence Mackenzie, from a Canadian missionary family, in Tianjin in 1934, and the couple had three daughters.

 

In 1943, with the world war intensifying, Liddell’s wife and children followed British government advise to their nationals to leave China, and they settled in Canada with Florence’s family. Liddell stayed on to continue his mission and ultimately gave his life for his faith, dying in a war time internment camp aged 43.