Alfie's Trophy's and Medals  ›  Horsham Display

Alfred Shrubb

During the hot summer of 2005, Horsham Museum received a telephone call from a lady in Canada. She was in the process of ‘downsizing’ her home and had some trophies and other items of memorabilia relating to her father, Alfred Shrubb. She wanted to know if we would be interested in obtaining these items; naturally the Museum jumped at the chance. Why?

Alfred Shrubb was the greatest runner the world had seen, and possibly the greatest runner ever in the history of athletics. He was born in December 1879 at Slinfold and later moved to Trafalgar Road, Horsham. It was from there that he went to work on the construction of Christ’s Hospital School after he left school. In June of 1899, a fire at a Southwater farm led Shrubb, who was 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighed less than nine stone, to run to see the blaze, covering three miles in 20 minutes. From then on Shrubb joined the Horsham Blue Star Harriers and never looked back.

In 1904, he broke seven world records in one night, and by 1912 his name had entered the English language when in his novel, The Lost World, Conan Doyle referred to ‘a perfect Shrubb’. In 1905, at the height of his amateur fame, he was banned for life for breaking the amateur code by accepting money as winnings. He turned professional becoming a trainer and coach for Harvard and Oxford universities. Later he went to the United States and Canada where he was feted for his athletic prowess, and where he was to eventually settle with his large collection of trophies and awards. However, back in Horsham he was forgotten by all except those who pursue running as a hobby and sport. Horsham Museum had a small collection of photographs including one of the race against a horse named Kitty which Shrubb lost, but not enough material to do justice to a permanent display about such a sporting legend. When Broadbridge Heath Sport Centre opened, a mural to Shrubb was unveiled, but otherwise within the town and district where he was born, Shrubb remained an unknown sporting legend. Now, with his daughter, Norah Allen’s donation, the Museum will be able to mount a display worthy of his achievements.

Among the trophies given to us, there is a ten mile steeplechase cup won in 62 minutes 8 seconds on 12th January 1901, and a cup for a 1.5 mile world record run by Shrubb in 1902. In order to make a living Shrubb toured America running against local opposition. At Lawrence, Massachusetts he was presented with a silver three handled loving cup in August 1908 and this magnificent presentation has now been given to the Museum. Along with the silverware, Norah Allen has also donated a pair of his running shoes and some family photographs.

The awards will be held in store before being put on public display in a secure cabinet. Whilst the silverware might be valuable, the true value lies in the fact that Horsham Museum can now mount a display worthy of an outstanding athlete whose life story has only recently been told for the first time in a book by Rob Hadgraft called The Little Wonder. Without Rob’s suggestion to Norah Allen that Horsham Museum would be interested in such an acquisition, we may never have received that fateful telephone call.