Louis Charles Baillon (5 August 1881 – 2 September 1965) was a Falkland Islanderfield hockey player and businessman. Born in the Islands, he would eventually move to England with his family in 1888 and settle in Church Brampton. There, he was active in sports such as playing football for Wandsworth AFC and lawn tennis for Northamptonshire's team.
Louis Charles Baillon was born to father Louis Augustin Baillon, who was from Nottingham and emigrated to the Falkland Islands in the mid-1800s to work as a sheep farmer.[1] He married there in 1876,[2] and Louis Charles was later born on 5 August 1881 in Fox Bay, Falkland Islands,[3] at the house of his grandmother, Julia Williams. He was the second of five children,[2] and was baptised at St. Mary's Church on 30 January 1883. In 1888, the family moved back to England, settling in Church Brampton, Northamptonshire.[1]
Sports career
He started playing field hockey as a full-back for Northampton's team, and then went on to earn nine caps as a member of the England men's national field hockey team in the same position.[4] Three of those appearances were at the 1908 Summer Olympics that were held in London. In the field hockey competition held at White City Stadium from 29 to 31 October, England went unbeaten, and won the gold medal in the event,[a][5] making Baillon the only Falkland Islander to have won a gold medal at the Olympic Games as of June 2025.[1]
Outside of field hockey, he was active in other sports. In football, he was a player for Wandsworth AFC. While in lawn tennis, he was still a member of Northamptonshire's county team at 50 years of age.[4]
Later years and personal life
Baillon married Mildred Isobel Green (1881–1949) in Bedford in 1910; Green was also a field hockey player and competed as part of the England women's national field hockey team. Together they had five children: Paul Abbott (1914–1940), Mark Rodney (1916–1940), Louis Brabazon (1911–1991), Richard Obre (1912–2003), and Mildred Anne (1917–2003). All four of his sons played for Northamptonshire's county tennis team. Baillon joined the Royal Army Service Corps in 1914, and saw service in France as a lieutenant before leaving the service in 1920. While in the military, he continued to play field hockey.[1]
↑ The Irish, Scottish, Welsh national teams competed in the competition and medaled as well, though they are all credited as contemporary medalists for Great Britain.[5]
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