THE National Olympic Association, the forerunner of the British Olympic Association, was founded at a meeting in the newly-relocated headquarters of the Liverpool Gymnasium in November 1865.

Elected on to the committee – as the representative for the northern counties – was William Mitchell, of Fearns Hall, Stacksteads.

William was the eldest of three brothers involved in manufacturing and dying felt products at the Albert Works, in Whitewell Bottom, though they were originally from Goldshaw Booth, at Fence, where their father had been a successful worsted spinner.

As a youngster, William attended Burnley Grammar School, which involved a walk of 10 miles to the school and back each day.

He believed this to be the reason why he enjoyed such ‘robust health’ throughout his life.

The headmaster, the Rev Dr James Butler, was a keen advocate of ‘muscular Christianity’ and he believed that physical exercise played a vital role in the overall development of the boys in his care – ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ – a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Around 1850, William enrolled at the Liverpool Collegiate Institution.

At the time the city was one of the leading centres in the country in its provision of facilities for exercise and fitness and a gymnasium had been opened as early as 1844.

After completing his education, William and his brother Thomas, attended a meeting in Rossendale in 1859, which established a local Rifle Volunteer Corps.

At this time there was a real fear of a French military invasion, especially given the poor showing of the British Army in the Crimean War.

While there was a very serious side to the ‘Vols’, it was also a good opportunity for men of all classes to participate in challenging physical exercise, particularly while away at the many camps they were required to attend.

Meanwhile, the Liverpool Athletic Club went from strength to strength and a first outdoor Olympic Festival was organised in 1862.

William made an appearance the following year, easily distinguished in his blue and white cap and won the gold Champion Medal – presented to the most successful athlete at the event.

The Illustrated London News for December 12, 1863 gave a brief description of the proceedings, mentioned Mitchell by name and published an engraving of the medal he received.

The following year he repeated his triumph, but it was his brother Thomas who won the hearts and applause of the crowd with his capacity to join in with the amusement caused by his ungainly style in the high jump.

Thomas had the last laugh though, as he won the event with a world best of 5ft 7 ¼ in.

Buoyed by this success he then won the Champion Medal at the first amateur athletics meeting held in Manchester, which took place on the racecourse at Old Trafford in 1864.

For the next few years William and Thomas, and later accompanied by younger brother Robert John Chadwick Mitchell, accumulated track titles and records, leading to one journalist writing ‘in several classes the brothers fairly outstripped all competitors’.

They were also largely responsible for the establishment of both the Bacup Gymnasium and the Rossendale Athletics Club, with William as honorary secretary of both organisations.

The brothers endeavoured to make the facilities available to all classes and so the membership fee was set at a level equivalent to that charged by the Mechanics Institute.

William also took to travelling around the region delivering lectures on his favourite topic ‘Mental and Physical Health’ .

He was modern enough in his thinking to believe that exercise should be available to women as well as men and said as much in his many addresses.

The National Olympic Association held its first festival in the summer of 1866 with the swimming events taking place on the River Thames above Teddington Lock on the last day of July.

The following day the athletics took place on the Crystal Palace Cricket Ground, where Dr WG Grace – fresh from scoring 224 not out for England at the Oval – made an appearance and won the 440-yard hurdle race.

n Picturesque Rossendale landmark Fearns Hall, on the boundary between the old boroughs of Rawtenstall and Bacup, is said to date from 1557, but the earliest visible date stone over the porch of the building is from 1696.

The inscription above the door reads ‘George Ashworth Cobham, great-grandson of George and Susannah Ashworth de Fearns and Catherine his wife ended this wing in the year 1830 on the site of that part of the old Mansion House which was built in the year 1557’.

The mansion contained 16 rooms and cellars, and nine bells for summoning servants hung near the kitchen.

Later it became Fearns Hall Farmhouse, and later still it was divided into two residences.

It was renovated in 1975.

Albert works was demolished in the 1980s, when the River Whitewell was uncovered and a number of houses built on the site n Pic of Mitchell’s Waterfoot dye works, courtesy of Springhills webpage.