John Banwell

John Banwell was born in the Weston-super-Mare hamlet of Milton, and spent nearly all of his life in the Somerset town. He died at the Swan Hotel at the age of 52 in 1912. Banwell ran the hotel with his wife Mary.

Banwell was a distinguished pigeon shooter and won hundreds of prizes including many at the North London shooting ground at Hendon. In his younger days, Banwell was a county hurdler and was captain of the Weston Rugby Club, who once went three seasons without an opponent scoring a try against them. Banwell was also the owner and breeder of some famous greyhounds. Sadly, Banwell was blind for the last three years of his life after losing his sight after a fall while out shooting rabbits.