The Wirral, for a relatively small place, has produced its fair share of successful sportspeople.
Cricketer Ian Botham, cyclist Chris Boardman and England Lioness Jodie Taylor were all born on the peninsula. Yet, one family produced arguably the Wirral’s greatest ever sporting superstars.
The Dod family are thought to have descended from Anthony Dod of Edge, who fought at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and was knighted by Henry V following the English Army’s victory.
Henry’s defeat of the numerically superior French owed much to the effectiveness of his archers and their use of the longbow.
Several hundred years later, and Dod’s relatives were taking up archery once again, though purely for sport in this instance.
Born in Bebington in 1867, William enjoyed the perks of a privileged upbringing. His father had made his fortune in the cotton trade, and was able to support his children financially, meaning that they did not have to work.
His proficiency with a bow led to him being selected to represent Great Britain at the 1908 Olympics, held in London.
Competing in the men’s double York round, William won the gold medal, ahead of his compatriot, Reginald Brooks-King.
Following on from his Olympic success, he won the Grand National Archery title in 1909 and 1911.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, William enlisted in the sportsman’s battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, serving in the trenches at the age of 47.
He subsequently applied for a transfer to the Navy, and joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1915.
If having a gold medal winning Olympian in the family wasn’t enough, William’s younger sister, Lottie, became arguably one of the most versatile and successful female athletes in history.
The Guinness Book of Records declared Lottie to be such, alongside another sporting polymath, Babe Zaharias.
Lottie entered her first tennis tournament aged 11 and by 15 was competing at Wimbledon.
Having won a number of local tournaments by this point, Lottie added the All England Club’s ladies’ singles title to her collection of accolades. She remains the youngest ever winner of the title.
She defended her crown the following year, then added a further three Wimbledon championships to take her collection to five.
Not content with such a staggering level of success, Lottie took up a vast array of other sports, including mountaineering, figure skating, tobogganing. She would become the only woman to win both British tennis and golf championships, following her triumph in 1904.
Lottie would also go on to secure a silver medal at the 1908 London Olympics, narrowly missing out on matching William in the men’s event.
Like her brother, she volunteered for service during the First World War. She became a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in a hospital in Chelsea. Sciatica prevented her from serving overseas.
William and Lottie never married. They retired to Westward Ho! in Devon together. William died in 1954. Lottie was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983, and even had a pub in Moreton on the Wirral named after her in 2024.
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