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It has today been confirmed that South-African double-amputee Oscar Pistorius will be competing at the London2012 Olympic Games in the 4x400 metre relay and the individual 400m, alongside able-bodied competitors.  This is greeted by many as a welcome development in attitudes to amputees competing in the Games - besides being an astonishing achievement.  

But the record of such encounters stretches back further than you may think.

The Victorians are often portrayed as particularly guilty of shutting away from view those with mental or physical disabilities.  Yet at the Wenlock Olympian Games of 1870, William Rowlands, a one-armed, one-eyed labourer not only competed in but won the quarter-mile handicap, beating six others.  

'Roly' as he is affectionately remembered by his great-grandaughter Linda West, was described by contermporary newspaper reports of his victory as 'one-armed'.

In researching for my book, I double-checked the census of 1871, where he was described as 'blind in one eye not from birth'.  The latter seemed more likely as his occupation was given as 'land drainer', for which digging trenches across fields was essential.  In writing up the episode, I hedged my bets, mentioning both.

When Born out of Wenlock was published, I was contacted by Linda who described herself as 'pleasantly astounded to see his name in print'.  She confirmed that her great-grandfather was in fact one-eyed and one-armed.

It transpired that Roly lost an eye aged about seven years old, when a cannon exploded at Homer (Shropshire) wakes in 1857 (the annual church event - like a small fair in the churchyard).  He lost his arm about five years later, after it became entangled in a wheel when working with a threshing machine.  The arm being 'frightfully mangled' before the machine could be stopped, the local surgeon, William Penny Brookes was obliged to amputate it close to the shoulder. (Salopian Journal)

The surgeon was the same Dr W P Brookes who had founded the Wenlock Olympian Games in 1850 for the labouring classes of Wenlock borough.  It seems highly likely that Brookes was responsible for encouraging Roly to participate in the running at the Wenlock Olympian Games.  The races were usually handicapped - ie runners were started at different points around the track depending on their known ability.  In the 1872 quarter-mile race, there were seven competitors and Roly was given a fifty-yard start. The Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News of June 11th recorded that what ensued was a 'capital race', with Roly coming home first.

Roly went on to marry local girl Emma Hill and to have at least 8 children.  He was widowed though by 1891.  One of his sons, David, aged twenty-one, died in 1901 of enteric fever (like so many) in the Boer War . He is buried in a mass grave in Bloemfontein, South Africa.  David's name is recorded on the Boer War memorial of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry at the Quarry (Gardens) in central Shrewsbury.

So when the Blade-Runner takes to the track during the Olympics, spare a thought for William 'Roly' Rowlands amazing the 10,000 strong crowds at Much Wenlock 142 years ago.