31/05/2026
128 years ago, 31 May 1898, British Olympian, businessman, and former Harrow School Governor Captain Sir Lancelot Carrington Royle KBE (Church Hill and The Grove 1912³) was born.
A distinguished sportsman at Harrow, Royle played for both the Footer XI and Association XI, as well as cricket and fives, before entering R.M.A. Woolwich in 1917 and serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France during the First World War.
Following the war, he became one of Britain’s leading sprinters, competing alongside Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, and represented Great Britain at the 1924 Paris Olympics as part of the celebrated Chariots of Fire team, winning silver in the 4 x 100 metre relay. He also famously gave up his place in the 200 metres to allow Liddell to compete.
Royle later enjoyed a distinguished business and public career, serving with Unilever, appointed by Winston Churchill (The Head Master's 1888²) to senior wartime roles, including co-chairman of the Macharg/Royle Treasury Committee and later chairman of NAAFI during and after the Second World War, and transforming Home and Colonial Stores into one of Britain’s foremost retail businesses.
In 1944, he was appointed KBE in recognition of his wartime service, and later returned to Harrow as a Governor of the School.
Image 3 - Sir Lancelot Carrington Royle by Walter Bird, bromide print, May 1960, National Portrait Gallery
