Cyril Mackworth-Praed

Cyril Mackworth-Praed

Personal information
Born	(1891-09-21)21 September 1891 Dorking, England
Died	30 June 1974(1974-06-30) (aged 82) Ringwood, Hampshire, England
Sport
Sport	Sports shooting
Medal record Men's shooting Representing United Kingdom Olympic Games 1924 Paris Team running deer, double shots 1924 Paris running deer, single shots 1924 Paris running deer, double shots

Cyril Winthrop Mackworth-Praed (21 September 1891 – 30 June 1974) was a British sport shooter who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was also a naturalist and ornithologist who specialized on the birds of Africa.

Life and work

Mackworth-Praed was born in Herefordshire to Robert Herbert and Mary Josephine Jolliffe. where he became interested in shooting and natural history which was also encouraged at school in Sandroyd. After studying at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he settled in East Africa as a farmer. In 1919 he married, Edith Mary Henrietta, the daughter of Stephenson Robert Clarke and began to help identify African birds in his father-in-law's collection. This brought him to the bird room of the British Museum. He later joined the Scots Guards and served in World War II, rising to the rank of Major in 1941. He returned to live in Castletop, Burley, Hampshire. In the 1930s he began a collaboration with Claude H. B. Grant to produce a 6 volume work on the birds of Africa. In 1958, Grant died and only two volumes were produced. The remainder, completed in 1973, was written by Mackworth-Praed.

He had a parallel career as a sport shooter. In 1924 he won the gold medal as member of the British team in the team running deer, double shots event. He also won two silver medals in the running deer, single shots and double shots competition. In the 1924 Summer Olympics he also participated in the following events:

• Team 100 metre running deer, single shots - fourth place
• Team clay pigeons - eighth place
• individual trap - result unknown

He also competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics.

He was appointed OBE in 1964.

External links

• Cyril Mackworth-Praed at databaseOlympics.com
• Duck-ringing at Orielton Decoy Pond (1938), film made by Mackworth-Praed