John Frederick Cornes also known as Jerry Cornes was an English middle distance runner, colonial officer, and schoolmaster. He was born in Darjeeling, British India.
Occupation
athletics competitor
Position held
head teacher
Citizenship
United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
John Frederick "Jerry" Cornes (23 March 1910 – 19 June 2001) was an English middle distance runner, colonial officer, and schoolmaster. He was born in Darjeeling, British India.
Early life
The son of a judge in the Indian Civil Service, Cornes was educated at Clifton College and won a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read history. He stayed at Oxford for an extra year, studying one of the languages of Nigeria and learning how to work in the colonies. He left Oxford in 1932, when he competed in the Olympics at Los Angeles.
Career
After the 1932 Olympic Games, Cornes was posted to Nigeria as a civil servant. He stayed there for five years, during which time he was given leave to attend the 1936 Games in Berlin. He only decided to go for the '36 Olympics a year before, so he did no intensive training in between, but during that time he raced a local Nigerian around the walls of Katsima and lost.
In 1937, Cornes returned from Nigeria and on 12 June he married Rachael Addis in Frant, Sussex. Their marriage was extremely happy. In 1997, they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.
