Joseph Laycock

Sir Joseph Frederick Laycock KCMG , DSO (born June 12, 1867 in Newcastle upon Tyne , † January 10, 1952 in Wiseton in Nottinghamshire ) was a British motorboat driver .

Laycock took part in the 1908 Olympic Games in London about 40 nautical miles in the A-class part. He was a crew member on the Wolseley-Siddeley boat owned by Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster . Together with him and George Clowes he started in a duel against the rival boat Dylan with Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden , and Alfred Fentiman . However, the Dylan had to leave the race after the first lap and, as bad weather hindered Grosvenor's remaining boat shortly afterwards, the race was postponed to the next day. In the second attempt, George H. Atkinson was used instead of Joseph Laycock. Now the competitor was the French Émile Thubron on the Camille , the only non-British competitor in the field. The Wolseley-Siddeley ran aground after taking the lead and had to give up the competition. Thubrons was the only one to cross the finish line after 2:26:53 hours and won the gold medal.

The boat Wolseley-Siddeley was named after the built-in car engines and had even reached a speed of up to 56 km / h in previous races.

After 1908, motor boating never became an Olympic discipline, so Joseph Laycock was one of probably only 13 or 14 participants who have ever started in Olympic motor boating competitions.

Joseph Laycock was Colonel for the Nottinghamshire Battery Royal Horse Artillery . During World War I he served in the Middle East in the Duke of Westminster's unit, which was equipped with Rolls-Royce armored cars . The association was used against the Senussi in Libya . His son, Sir Robert Laycock , was an officer in the British Army during World War II .

Web links

• Joseph Laycock in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )