Horsham’s Olympic gold medal water polo hero

As the 2024 Olympics swing into action in France, it’s a good time to look back at Horsham’s own local heroes.

We’ve had a few notable successes, such as 400m hurdler Sally Gunnell, from Steyning, who took gold in 1992, and Fiona Bigwood from Horsham’s Bourne Hill Dressage who took silver in 2016.

Amazingly the town’s most notable athlete, Alfred Shrubb, didn’t get chance to even compete at an Olympics. Great Britain didn’t send a team to St Louis, Missouri, for the 1904 competition when the runner was at his height and by the next Olympics he’d been banned as an amateur athlete.

However, there is a former Horsham resident who did pick up gold, but who is sadly forgotten for the most part.

Arthur Edwin Hill had a strong link with the town, running a couple of the pubs and teaching pupils to swim.

He was, though, born in Birmingham, in 1888, where he soon discovered a passion for swimming and water polo, picking up awards for his skills in the pool.

He was so good at water polo that at the tender age of 20 he was chosen as a reserve for the Olympic water polo team. At this time GB had become the dominant force in the sport, so it was quite an achievement!

Standing over six foot and weighing in at around 17 stone, Hill was a big presence in the water and he made the team for the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, picking up the coveted gold medal.

He moved to Canada before the First World War to work on the railroad but joined the Canadian Army during the conflict, after which he returned to become a policeman.

By 1922 Hill was player-coach for the prestigious New York Athletic Club’s water polo team which won the American national championships.

His next move was back the England to become a publican, as his father had been.

He ran the Fox and Hounds, in Worthing Road, which is now the Boar’s Head Tavern, but found time to play in goal for Horsham Trinity Football Club.

Hill took a keen interest when there was a plan to re-open the old baths in Worthing Road, although nothing came of this.

However, he did teach Christ’s Hospital School pupils how to swim.

He moved to London to look after another pub, along with his wife Marjorie, and joined the local water polo team, but after some success, aged 42, he decided it was time to retire from the sport.

He moved to South Africa for a few years after the Second World War, having been landlord of the Bridge House Hotel, which was in Horsham’s East Street.

When he returned he lived in Cricketfield Road and was made a vice-president of Horsham Amateur Swimming Club.

He died in 1966, aged 78.