Dr William Penny Brookes

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bgcolor="#000000"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/img/c-tleft.gif" width="22" height="22"></td> <td height="22" bgcolor="#FFFFD7"> </td> <td bgcolor="#000000"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/img/c-tright.gif" width="22" height="22"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="22" bgcolor="#FFFFD7"> </td> <td height="450" valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFD7"> <table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5"> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"> <tr> <td> <h1> Dr William Penny Brookes </h1></td> <td> <div align="right"> <div class="bmw_pageContent"> <div align="right"><a href="/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/de/de-wpb.shtml"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/img/flag-de.gif" alt="Deutch - German Version" border="0"></a></div> </div> </div></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <hr size="1" noshade></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">  <div class="bmw_pageContent"> <div class="bmc_rightContentImage bmc_image"> <div style="text-align:center"> <a href="javascript:void(null)" title="javascript:void(null)"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/bm~pix/william-penny-brookes-02.gif" alt="William Penny Brookes"/></a> </div> <div class="bmc_caption"> </div> </div> <h1>Much Wenlock & The Olympian Connection</h1> <p>William Penny Brookes was born in Much Wenlock, in 1809, where his father was one of the local doctors.</p> <p>The family house is situated in Wilmore Street opposite the Parish Church. He left Much Wenlock to study at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital in London. Later he travelled to Italy with his brother John to study at Padua, a renowned school of medicine attached to the University. The medieval botanical gardens at Padua could also have been an attraction to the young doctor.</p> <p>In 1830, Penny Brookes was in Paris to further his education in medicine when he learnt that his father had died of typhoid. After qualifying (M.R.C.S and L.S.A.), in 1831, he returned to Much Wenlock to take over his father's practice.</p> <p>On becoming a JP in 1841 he remained an active magistrate for nearly 40 years. He would regularly have been confronted with cases of petty crime, drunkenness and theft in the local community, this would no doubt have influenced his desire to develop the need for structured physical exercise and education for the working classes.</p> <p>Penny Brookes, again in 1841, founded the Agricultural Reading Society. This early kind of lending library was established ' for the promotion and diffusion of useful information '. He wrote to many titled and famous people, such as the Duke of Wellington and Abraham Darby, most of whom responded by sending donations and books.</p> <p>From the society evolved various classes including the Art, Philharmonic and Botany classes.</p> <p>In 1850 he formed the Wenlock Olympian Class.</p> <h3>More Information </h3> <p>Click on the links below for more about William Penny Brookes</p> </div>  <br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top">  <div class="bmw_links"> <div class="bmw_link bma_page4842"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/first-olympian-games.shtml" class="bma_head" title="The First Wenlock Olympian Games" rel="bookmark">The First Wenlock Olympian Games</a><br/>The first Games, held in October 1850, were a mixture of athletics and also traditional country sports such as quoits, football and cricket. </div> <div class="bmw_link bma_page4844"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/olympic-games-rebirth.shtml" class="bma_head" title="Re-birth of the modern Olympic Games" rel="bookmark">Re-birth of the modern Olympic Games</a><br/>In response to the National Olympian Association Festival, the Amateur Athletic Club, later to become the Amateur Athletics Association and now Britain's ruling athletics body, was hastily formed by an elite who were determined that British sport should be restricted to "amateurs and gentlemen", in other words athletes from the public schools and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and should be under their control with its base in London. The NOA faced powerful opposition but by its very existence, forced the AAA to open its doors to 'every grade of man'. </div> <div class="bmw_link bma_page4846"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/wpb-life.shtml" class="bma_head" title="Dr William Penny Bookes - Life Interests" rel="bookmark">Dr William Penny Bookes - Life Interests</a><br/>Penny Brookes was heavily involved in local affairs. The following summaries reflect this involvement. </div> <div class="bmw_link bma_page4847"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/agricultural-reading-society.shtml" class="bma_head" title="The Agricultual Reading Society at Much Wenlock" rel="bookmark">The Agricultual Reading Society at Much Wenlock</a><br/>After the successful opening of the Agricultural Reading rooms at the Corn Exchange in 1852 and the increase in subscriptions to the Societies libraries it was decided to expand the Corn Exchange building to include new rooms and facilities. Supporters of the Society set about raising funds for this project. </div> <div class="bmw_link bma_page4848"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/wpb-book.shtml" class="bma_head" title="The Book" rel="bookmark">The Book</a><br/><strong>William Penny Brookes and the Olympic Connection</strong><br/> These web pages contain extracts from a book written by Wenlock Olympian Society Archivists. </div> </div>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <div align="right">  <div class="bmw_pagetools"> <span class="bmw_emailpage"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/index~email.shtml"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/bm~assets/emailicon_blue.gif" alt=""/></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/index~email.shtml">E-mail this Page</a> </span> <span class="bmw_printpage"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/index~print.shtml"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/bm~assets/printicon_color.gif" alt=""/></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/william-penny-brookes/index~print.shtml">Print Friendly Page</a> </span> </div>  </div></td> </tr> </table></td> <td width="22" bgcolor="#FFFFD7"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="22" bgcolor="#000000"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/img/c-bleft.gif" width="22" height="22"></td> <td height="22" bgcolor="#FFFFD7"> </td> <td width="22"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803im_/http://www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk/img/c-bright.gif" width="22" height="22"></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"><font size="1">  <div class="bmw_footer"> <table width="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td width="50%">Copyright © Wenlock Olympian Society</td> <td width="50%"> <div align="right"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090123183803/http://www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk/" target="_blank">Web Design by www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk</a></p> </div></td> </tr> </table> </div>  </font></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>

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Dr William Penny Brookes