Bertie Stell

The son of a Yorkshire farmer, Bertie Stell was one of two members of the Luddendenfoot Congregational Gymnastics Club in the Great Britain team at the 1908 London Olympics, the other being Mellor Clay. Stell represented Luddendenfoot in local Yorkshire team competitions, and also competed in the Yorkshire Gymnastics Championship (Huddersfield District). After finishing second to Irven Robertshaw of Brighouse in 1908, Stell turned the tables the following year and captured the title.

When he left school, Stell worked in a woollen mill before joining the First Volunteer Battalion of the West Yorkshire Reigiment in 1902. He accepted a job as a physical education teacher with the Hebden Bridge Education Committee in 1909, and this led to him being suspended by the Yorkshire Gymnastics Association (YGA), as it breached amateur rules. He was later re-instated and became a YGA judge.

Stell moved to Liverpool in 1915 when he was appointed the physical training instructor at the Liverpool Institute, a post he held for 35 years. Stell also devoted a lot of his time working with a local Liverpool Boy’s Club, and was an active member of the Liverpool YMCA.