Tom Parkin

Tom Parkin was one of the many Yorkshire gymnasts on the Great Britain team at the 1908 Olympics. He was captain of the Lingard’s Wood Bottom Gymnastics Club at Marsden, near Huddersfield. It was a short-lived club, being formed in 1902 and surviving just eight years, but they soon established a reputation in the local area of being invincible and their rope climbing team, of which Parkin was a member, was the best in the area. Individually, Parkin finished second in the high jump competition at the Huddersfield District Athletics and Gymnastics Championship in 1907.

Parkin was a wool mill weaver, and also part-time instructor at the Marsden Evening School. Sadly, World War I brought an end to his gymnastics career as he was killed in action in 1917 while serving as a private with the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment. Parkin is buried in the Nine Elms British Cemetery at Poperinge, Belgium.