John_Elliott_(British_boxer)

John Elliott (British boxer)

John Elliott (British boxer)

British boxer and war correspondent

John Elliott (12 October 1901 – 3 July 1945) was a British middleweight boxer who competed in the 1920s.[1]

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Biography

Elliott won a silver medal in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, losing against the successful British boxer Harry Mallin in the final bout. He won the Amateur Boxing Association 1924[2] and 1925[3] middleweight title, when boxing out of the Polytechnic Boxing Club.[4]

At some point following his Olympic appearance, Elliott emigrated to Australia. On 8 April 1941, a year-and-a-half after the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the Australian Army in Paddington, New South Wales, giving his residence as Sydney.[5] He was discharged as a staff sergeant in 1943 and became a war correspondent.[5] On 3 July 1945, while covering the invasion of Balikpapan with fellow journalist William Smith, Elliott went ahead of the advancing Australian troops; a Bren gunner, believing them to be Japanese troops, shot and killed them both.[6][7]

References

  1. [1]
    "John Elliott". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Amateur Association Championships". Northern Whig. 10 April 1924. Retrieved 29 December 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. [3]
    "Amateur Boxing Championships". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 2 April 1925. Retrieved 31 December 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. [4]
    "Roll of Honour". England Boxing. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  5. [5]
    "World War Two Service". Australian Government. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  6. [6]
    Long, Gavin (1963). The Final Campaigns. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial. p. 524.
  7. [7]
    "John Elliott – WAR CORRESPONDENT – 1901-1945". ABC. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
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