The 2024 Summer Olympics are about to begin in Paris. It’s an appropriate time to recall a member of the Canadian Olympic team who came from Guelph and brought home a medal, back in 1908.
Charles Robert Crowe was born on Oct. 12, 1867, to John and Emma (nee Raymond) Crowe. The Crowes, who resided on Woolwich Street, were a prominent Guelph family. John was the owner of Crowe Iron Works, which Charles inherited when his father retired in 1910. He made it one of Guelph’s largest employers. Emma’s family owned the Raymond Sewing Machine factory. Charles had a brother, Raymond; and two sisters, Ida and Marie.
In 1889 Charles married Edith Skinner, who was also a native of Guelph. She would be the first woman in Ontario to chair a board of education. Charles and Edith would have six children: George Kenneth “Ken," Ernest, Ralph, Greta, Charles Douglas and John.
Charles Crowe was a man of many interests. After graduating high school, he studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music and then under Salomon Jodassohn in Leipzig, Germany. Crowe taught organ, piano and cello. He introduced a music program to the board of education in Guelph and produced a performance of Snow White at Guelph City Hall in which future opera star, seven-year-old Edward Johnson, sang publicly for the first time. He was organist and choirmaster at Guelph’s Congregational Church for two years, and at the Norfolk Street United Church for 13 years.
Crowe was a member of the Guelph Golf and Country Club, and served for a year as its president. He was an ardent curler, and was a member of the Guelph Royal City Curling Club that won the Sleeman Trophy in 1898 and the Ontario Tankard in 1918. However, it was as a marksman with a rifle that Crowe had his greatest athletic success. At the age of twelve he went to England with his father to compete in shooting at Wimbledon.
Like many other young men of his age and social standing, Crowe was active in the local militia. He was eventually promoted to Colonel in Guelph’s regiment, the Wellington Rifles. He spent a lot of time at Guelph’s rifle range, practicing his shooting and coaching younger boys.
In 1890 the village of Bisley, in Surrey, England, replaced Wimbledon as the location for shooting competitions. A complex was constructed with target ranges, clubhouses, spectator stands and support services. Sports shooters from all over the British Empire went there to compete, and Charles Crowe was one of the stars.
Crowe competed at Bisley 11 times. In 1896, he was with the Canadian team that won what might be called the British Empire’s Stanley Cup of shooting, the Rajah of Kolapore’s Challenge Cup. He would be on the winning team for that trophy two more times. He was also runner-up in the Grand Aggregate twice. He made it to the Grand Aggregate 50 and the King’s Prize Final seven times. He was Champion of the Decade for the 1900s and the 1910s. At home in Canada, Crowe won the Governor General’s Cup for rifle shooting. He won the Governor General’s Prize once, and on another occasion came in second. Never a braggart, Crowe always accepted his prizes with humility.
Crowe was a natural choice for the Canadian contingent that went to the 1908 Olympic Games in London. The shooting team was in fact the first “Team Canada” to participate officially in international competition. Crowe was the veteran of the group, and was part of the Military Rifle team along with William Smith, Bertram M. Williams, Dugald McInnis, William M. Eastcott, and S. Harry Kerr.
Among the other Canadians competing in shooting events were Walter Ewing and George Beattie, both from Montreal, and Private A. Steele of Guelph.
The 1908 Olympic Games had originally been slated for Rome, but a devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius had made it necessary to choose a new location. The United Kingdom stepped in. Most of the shooting competitions would be held at Bisley.
On July 13, in spite of rain, a crowd of over 70,000 people watched King Edward VII preside over the opening ceremonies. The Canadian contingent of 87 that paraded past the royal box was small compared to those of the British hosts (676) and the Americans (112), but the Canadians would do well, winning three gold medals, three silver and 10 bronze.
In their respective shooting events, Walter Ewing won a gold and a silver, and George Beattie won two silvers. Charles Crowe’s Military Rifle team won bronze. These were the first Olympic medals for shooting to be won by Canadians.
The king’s consort, Queen Alexandra, awarded the gold medals. The silver and bronze medals were given out by Lady Desborough, the Duchess of Westminster and the Duchess of Rutland. The crowd cheered as the athletes stepped up to receive their prizes.
Weeks later, Crowe was back in Guelph to receive the good wishes of his hometown. Private Steele was with him. With his customary modesty Crowe redirected praise to “the kid,” who hadn’t been in on any of the medal wins but had nonetheless impressed everyone with his shooting.
“Canada made the best showing on the total score this year that she ever made,” Crowe told the Mercury.
For the rest of his life Crowe remained one of Guelph’s most eminent citizens. He was a member of the Guelph General Hospital Board and the Guelph Junction Railway Board. He received an Efficiency Decoration for his long service with the Wellington Rifles.
In 1935, Charles and Edith were awarded King George V Silver Jubilee medals in recognition of their outstanding public service. They lost two of their sons during the Second World War. Captain George “Ken” Crowe of the Royal Canadian Engineers, stationed in Montreal, died in June, 1940, as the result of an accident. Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph M. Crowe of the Royal Canadian Regiment was killed in action in Sicily in the summer of 1943.
Charles Crowe died in Guelph on Sept. 3, 1953, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. He has been inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame and the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association’s Hall of Fame.
