Harry Edward

Personal life Born in Berlin, Vincent Franz Harry Edward, called Harry, was the only son of a Dominican father and German mother, a piano teacher. As a youth, his father had left the poverty of the colony of Dominica by working as a ship's cabin boy and crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He stayed in Germany, where he first worked in a circus. Later he was a maitre d' in various Berlin restaurants.

Because of the father's birth in Dominica, he and his children were considered British subjects. Prussia did not have a process of naturalization for immigrants. When the First World War started, from 1915 the younger Edward was classified as a British enemy alien and detained with other civilians at Ruhleben internment camp in Germany for the majority of the war. Most of the thousands of internees were British subjects, and Edward made friends that carried over when he went to England.

Initially Edward could participate in sports days and made lasting friendships. An extensive community with different cultural events developed in the camp: theatre, music, a branch of the Royal Horticultural Society and other organizations. Especially during the end of the war as Germany's losses accumulated, conditions became poor in the camp. The food was worse, as was the attitude of the Germans to the prisoners. The following year he successfully defended both of his titles at the 1921 AAA Championships and then remarkably added the 440 yards AAA title to a third successive 100 and 220 yards title at the 1922 AAA Championships. King George V personally congratulated him for his success.