Stephen Carnelly

After winning a cross-country blue in 1905, when he finished fourth, Stephen Carnelly made his only appearance in the University match on the track the following year when he finished third in the 3 miles. Sadly, he failed to win a second cross-country blue due to an attack of dysentery that ruled him out of the 1906 race. Four of Britain’s six entries in the 5 miles at the 1906 Olympic Games were University blues with Cantabs Arnold Churchill, Francis Edwards, and Henry Weber joining Carnelly, who was the sole Oxford representative. None of the British University runners finished in the first six.

From Rugby, Carnelly went up to Exeter College, Oxford, but left without taking a degree. He later qualified as a solicitor and joined the Colonial Service serving in the Federated Malay States and the Gold Coast before becoming a senior resident magistrate in Kenya. He served in the East African Protectorate Force (1915-18) and was known to be still with the Colonial Service in Kenya in 1935. His death was somewhat a mystery but the Colonial Office was originally of the opinion that he had died in Kenya circa 1936, although this was later shown to be incorrect. Carnelly was elected a member of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom in 1918.