# James Cormack > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Cormack > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Cormack.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cormack > Source revision: 1352819131 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British athlete}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use British English|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = James Cormack | image = | caption = | nationality = British (Scottish) | sport = [Athletics](/source/Sport_of_athletics) | event = long-distance/marathon | club = [London Athletic Club](/source/London_Athletic_Club)
[Edinburgh Harriers](/source/Edinburgh_Athletic_Club)
Pretoria Harriers
Transvaal Athletic Association | birth_date = 28 January 1877 | birth_place = [Ayr](/source/Ayr), Scotland | death_date = 22 January 1965 (aged 87) | death_place = [Kingswood, Surrey](/source/Kingswood%2C_Surrey), England | height = | weight = }} '''James Noble Cormack''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|RIBA}} (28 January 1877 – 22 January 1965) was a Scottish architect and [track and field athlete](/source/Track_and_field) who competed at the [1906 Olympic Games](/source/1906_Olympic_Games).{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79612 |title=James Cormack |work=Olympedia |access-date=10 April 2025}} ==Biography== James Cormack was born in [Ayr](/source/Ayr), a small town near [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh), Scotland. No definitive information is available about his family. He was educated at [Ayr Academy](/source/Ayr_Academy) and the [Edinburgh Institution for Languages and Mathematics](/source/Stewart's_Melville_College).{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001876/19010419/075/0004 |title=Eastern Athletic Notes |work=Scottish Referee |date=19 April 1901 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=10 April 2025}} In 1902, he took the position of [draughtsman](/source/architectural_drawing) at the [Public Works](/source/Public_Works) Department of [Cradock](/source/Nxuba), South Africa. Later that year, he transferred to the Public Works Department of the [Transvaal](/source/Transvaal_(province)) in [Pretoria](/source/Pretoria) and, in 1910, became Inspector of Works. He was a member of the [South African Institute of Architects](/source/South_African_Institute_of_Architects) and received his [RIBA](/source/Royal_Institute_of_British_Architects) membership in 1911. In 1912, he became the Transvaal Public Works Department’s Assistant Engineer.{{cite web|url=https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=11640 |title=View entry James Cormack |website=Europeans In East Africa |access-date=10 April 2025}} With the outbreak of [World War I](/source/World_War_I), Cormack enlisted in the [Cape Town Highlanders](/source/Cape_Town_Highlanders) and was commissioned with the rank of [Major](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom)). It is not known if he fought in the regiment’s [African campaign](/source/Senussi_campaign), or its battles in [France](/source/Battle_of_Delville_Wood), but he may have been injured, as the Public Works Department listed him as being ‘On Leave’ in 1919.{{cite web |title=CORMACK, James Noble |url=https://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=304 |website=artefacts.co.za |publisher=Artefacts |access-date=9 April 2026}} In 1924, he went to work for the [Imperial War Graves Commission](/source/Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission), which named him Deputy Director of Works in [East Africa](/source/East_Africa),{{cite web |title=REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW HISTORICAL INEQUALITIES IN COMMEMORATION, p 47 |url=https://www.cwgc.org/media/noantj4i/report-of-the-special-committee-to-review-historical-inequalities-in-commemoration.pdf |website=cwgc.org |publisher=COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION |access-date=8 April 2026}} and then he became the commission’s Director of Works in [South West Africa](/source/South_West_Africa). Cormack retired in 1931 and with his wife Mary, whom he had married in 1924, moved to [Tanganyika](/source/Tanganyika_Territory), where they bought a 400-acre farm which Cormack named 'Ailsa', after the Scottish island [Ailsa Craig](/source/Ailsa_Craig). The property had been a German pig farm which was surrendered to the British after the [Armistice](/source/Armistice_of_11_November_1918); the Cormacks turned it into a self-sustaining hotel and their sons, Keith and David, became professional hunting guides.{{cite web |title=The Challenge of Africa |url=https://www.chimalamission.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Vol-1-No-9-10-Sept-Oct-Newsletter-2019-1.pdf |website=chimalamission.com |publisher=DALRAIDA CHURCH OF CHRIST CHIMALA MISSION |access-date=8 April 2026}} In 1962, the Cormacks sold Aisla to missionaries and moved to England, where Cormack died in 1965.{{cite web |title=1969 Tanzania Safari, #64 |url=https://www.africahunting.com/threads/1969-tanzania-safari.15853/page-4 |website=africahunting.com |publisher=Africa Hunting |access-date=8 April 2026}} === Athletic Career === Cormack was a distance runner and a member of the [Edinburgh Harriers](/source/Edinburgh_Athletic_Club) and the [London Athletic Club](/source/London_Athletic_Club). In the [Amateur Athletic Association of England](/source/Amateur_Athletic_Association_of_England)’s [AAA Championships](/source/AAA_Championships) in Scotland in 1901, he ran the 880-yard race and placed fourth. In 1902, he won the 440-yard race. Also in 1902, in the AAA Scotland vs Ireland event in Dublin, he finished second in the 880-yard race.{{cite web |title=Track Championships 1900 – 1909 |url=http://www.anentscottishrunning.com/track-championships-1900-1909/ |website=anentscottishrunning.com |publisher=Anent Scottish Running |access-date=8 April 2026}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000452/19010622/062/0003 |title=The Scottish Athletic Championships |work=Edinburgh Evening News |date=22 June 1901 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=10 April 2025}} In South Africa, he was a member of the Transvaal Athletic Association and captain of the Pretoria Harriers; he won the club’s cross-country championship in 1904. That year, he won the 25-mile South African cross-country championship and, in 1906, ran for Britain at the [Olympics](/source/1906_Intercalated_Games) in [Athens](/source/Athens), where he placed 14th (3-35:00) and became the first British subject to finish an Olympic marathon.{{cite web |title=Marathon, Men |url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/56213 |website=olympedia.org |publisher=Olympedia |access-date=8 April 2026}} == References == {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Cormack, James}} Category:1877 births Category:1965 deaths Category:People educated at Ayr Academy Category:People educated at Stewart's Melville College Category:Sportspeople from Ayr Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1906 Intercalated Games Category:Scottish men marathon runners Category:British men marathon runners Category:Scottish men long-distance runners Category:British men long-distance runners Category:19th-century Scottish sportsmen Category:20th-century Scottish sportsmen Category:Black Watch soldiers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Military personnel from South Ayrshire Category:British expatriate sportspeople in South Africa --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Cormack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cormack) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cormack?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.