Sports and sporting achievements

‘Barchams’ have been involved in sports both as professionals and amateurs: athletics, boxing, cricket, football, sailing and mountaineering.

Reginald Barcham

Reginald Norman Barcham (b.1905, d.2002) a descendant of Alice (Ball) and Samuel Barcham of Catford, was a prominent athlete in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s.

Reg was Paddling Dominion Champions in Montreal, Quebec, May 1922, when his team won all three categories in one day: Junior, Intermediate and Senior representing Humber Bay Canoe Club in Toronto. He was Welterweight Wrestling Dominion Champion on 2 May 1927, in Winnipeg Manitoba, and Welterweight British Empire Games Champion (Gold Medal see photo) on 23 August 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Reg missed going to the 1928 Olympics ‘due to an injury’ when in reality his parents Fred and Amy simply could not afford to send him overseas (in a time before sponsorships) so the ‘injury’ was a cover story to avoid him embarrassment. He did injure himself prior to the Olympics but it was not severe enough to stop him from going as played up in the media. He was selected for the 1932 Olympics, held in Los Angeles, but again could not afford to go.

 

Reg Barcham (front row, second left) with the 1928 Olympics Wrestling team