1934 British Empire Games

II British Empire Games
Host city London, England
Nations 17
Athletes 500
Events 68
Opening 4 August 1934
Closing 11 August 1934
Opened by George V
Athlete's Oath Robert Howland
Main venue White City Stadium

The 1934 British Empire Games was the second edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, held in England, from 4–11 August 1934. The host city was London, with the main venue at Wembley Park, although the track cycling events were in Manchester. Seventeen national teams took part, including the Irish Free State (the only Games in which they participated, although an all-Ireland team competed at the 1930 Games).

The 1934 Games had been originally awarded to Johannesburg, South Africa, but the change of venue to London was made due to concerns regarding the treatment of black and Asian athletes by South African officials and fans.

Six sports were featured in the Games: athletics in White City Stadium; boxing, wrestling, and aquatics (swimming and diving) in the Empire Pool and Arena, Wembley; cycling in Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester; and lawn bowls at Paddington and Temple. Events for women athletes included a debut in athletics; the previous games had women's events only in swimming and diving.

Participating teams

Countries that participated

(Teams participating for the first time in bold).

*The affiliation of Irish athletes at these games is unclear, see Ireland at the British Empire Games § 1934 games

Medals by country

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  England* 29 20 24 73
2  Canada 17 25 9 51
3  Australia 8 4 2 14
4  South Africa 7 10 5 22
5  Scotland 5 4 17 26
6  New Zealand 1 0 2 3
7  British Guiana 1 0 0 1
8  Wales 0 3 3 6
9  Northern Ireland 0 1 2 3
10  Jamaica 0 1 1 2
11  Southern Rhodesia 0 0 2 2
12  India 0 0 1 1
Totals (12 entries) 68 68 68 204

Medals by event

Athletics

Boxing

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Flyweight Pat Palmer (ENG) Maxie Berger (CAN) Jackie Pottinger (WAL)
Bantamweight Eddie Ryan (ENG) Albert Barnes (WAL) Thomas Wells (SCO)
Featherweight Charles Catterall (SAF) J. D. Jones (WAL) William Fulton (RHO)
Lightweight Leonard Cook (AUS) Frank Taylor (WAL) Harry Moy (ENG)
Welterweight Dave McCleave (ENG) Dick Barton (SAF) William Duncan (NIR)
Middleweight Alf Shawyer (ENG) Leonard Wadsworth (CAN) Jimmy Magill (NIR)
Light heavyweight George Brennan (ENG) George Holton (SCO) Robey Leibbrandt (SAF)
Heavyweight Pat Floyd (ENG) Jan van Rensburg (SAF) David Douglas-Hamilton (SCO)

Cycling

Track

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Time Trial Dunc Gray (AUS) 1:16.4 Bob McLeod (CAN) 1:18.0 Ted Clayton (SAF) 1:18.4
Sprint 1000 yd Ernest Higgins (ENG) Horace Pethybridge (AUS) Ted Clayton (SAF)
10 mile Scratch Bob McLeod (CAN) 24:26.2 Ted Clayton (SAF) William Harvell (ENG)

Diving

Men's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
3 m springboard John Brisco Ray (ENG) 117.12 Doug Tomalin (ENG) 110.50 Harry Class (CAN) 106.57
10 m platform Tommy Mather (ENG) 83.83 Doug Tomalin (ENG) 83.63 Louis Marchant (ENG) 70.64

Women's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
3 m springboard Judith Moss (CAN) 62.27 Lesley Thompson (AUS) 60.49 Doris Ogilvie (CAN) 57.00
10 m platform Dot Macready (ENG) 30.74 Lesley Thompson (AUS) 27.64 Cecily Cousens (ENG) 27.36

Lawn bowls

All events were for men only.

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Singles (details) Robert Sprot (SCO) William McDonald (CAN) Charles Abbott (SAF)
Pairs (details) Tommy Hills
and George Wright (ENG)
William Hutchinson
and Alfred Langford (CAN)
Thomas Davies
and Stan Weaver (WAL)
Rinks (details) England
Fred Biggin
Ernie Gudgeon
Percy Tomlinson
Robert Slater
Northern Ireland
Percy Watson
Charlie Clawson
George Watson
Cecil Curran
Scotland
William Lowe
Charles Tait
James Morrison
James Brown

Swimming

Men's

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 yd freestyle George Burleigh (CAN) 55.0 George Larson (CAN) 55.6 Noel Crump (NZL) 56.2
440 yd freestyle Noel Ryan (AUS) 5:03.0 Norman Wainwright (ENG) 5:07.8 Bob Pirie (CAN) 5:14.8
1500 yd freestyle Noel Ryan (AUS) 18:25.4 Bob Pirie (CAN) 18:28.4 Norman Wainwright (ENG) 18:33.2
100 yd backstroke Willie Francis (SCO) 01:05.2 John Besford (ENG) 1:05.6 Ben Gazell (CAN) 1:06.6
200 yd breaststroke Norman Hamilton (SCO) 2:41.4 William McCarty (JAM) 2:42.4 Bill Puddy (CAN) 2:42.8
4×200 yd freestyle relay Canada
George Larson
George Burleigh
Robert Hooper
Bob Pirie
8:40.6 England
Mostyn Ffrench-Williams
Norman Wainwright
Reginald Sutton
Bob Leivers
8:52.8 Scotland
George Anderson
Henry Cunningham
Merilees Chassels
William Burns
9:23.4
3×110 yd medley relay Canada
Ben Gazell
George Burleigh
Albert Puddy
3:11.2 Scotland
Merilees Chassels
Norman Hamilton
Willie Francis
3:15.2 England
Arthur Summers
John Besford
Mostyn Ffrench-Williams
3:16.0

Women's

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 yd freestyle Phyllis Dewar (CAN) 1:03.0 Irene Pirie (CAN) 1:03.6 Jean McDowell (SCO) 1:05.8
440 yd freestyle Phyllis Dewar (CAN) 5:45.6 Jenny Maakal (SAF) 5:53.0 Irene Pirie (CAN) 5:54.4
100 yd backstroke Phyllis Harding (ENG) 1:13.8 Margot Hamilton (SCO) 1:15.0 Valerie Davies (WAL) 1:18.2
200 yd breaststroke Clare Dennis (AUS) 2:50.2 Phyllis Haslam (CAN) 2:55.4 Margery Hinton (ENG) 2:58.6
4×110 yd freestyle relay Canada
Phyllis Dewar
Florence Humble
Margaret Hutton
Irene Pirie
4:21.8 South Africa
Jenny Maakal
Enid Hayward
Kathleen Russell
Molly Ryde
4:34.0 England
Edna Hughes
Beatrice Wolstenholme
Olive Bartle
Margery Hinton
4:34.4
3×110 yd medley relay Canada
Margaret Hutton
Phyllis Haslam
Phyllis Dewar
3:42.0 England
Phyllis Harding
Vera Kingston
Edna Hughes
3:43.0 Scotland
Jean McDowell
Margot Hamilton
Margaret McCullum
3:50.0

Wrestling

All events were for men only.

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Bantamweight Edward Melrose (SCO) Ted McKinley (CAN) Joseph Reid (ENG)
Featherweight Robert McNab (CAN) Joe Nelson (ENG) Murdoch White (SCO)
Lightweight Dick Garrard (AUS) G. E. North (ENG) Howard Thomas (CAN)
Welterweight Joe Schleimer (CAN) William Fox (ENG) Rashid Anwar (IND)
Middleweight Terry Evans (CAN) Stanley Bissell (ENG) Robert Harcus (SCO)
Light heavyweight Mick Cubbin (SAF) Bernard Rowe (ENG) Alex Watt (CAN)
Heavyweight Jack Knight (AUS) Pat Meehan (CAN) Archie Dudgeon (SCO)