Beatrice Hill-Lowe

Beatrice Geraldine Hill-Lowe (26 January 1869 – 2 July 1951) was an Irish archer who represented Britain. She was born in County Louth, Ireland. She was the first Irishwomen to win an Olympic medal. She won a bronze medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

Early life and career
Hill-Lowe was born in Ardee House in County Louth, Ireland (then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) on 26 January 1869. Her parents were William Ruxton, a landowner and vice-lieutenant for County Louth and Caroline Diana (née Vernon). She had five older sisters and 3 older brothers. She married Arthur Hill-Lowe, who had been married once before and had a daughter called Ada, on 15 July 1891 and she moved to Tenbury Wells, England. They had two children, Arthur Noel Vernon, born in 1892, and Sibyl, born 1897.

She began competing in local archery competitions from 1894. In 1908 Archery was the only sport available to women, in which they could take part in the Olympic games because it involved no running, enabling women to be fully clothed while partaking. It was a sport which involved costly equipment and access to private land in which would enable them to practise on. In 1908 Olympics Ireland was still under British rule, meaning there was no Irish team to exist, and any athletes wishing to partake were obliged to compete under the Union Jack flag.

Hill-Lowe was the first Irish woman to win an Olympic medal. Hill-Lowe competed in the Double national round, which entailed of 25 competitors, all being British or Irish. The double national round was one of three archery events taking place. In this event each round contained 48 arrows shot at 60 yards, and 24 arrows shot at 50 yards (Olympian., 2019). Both rounds were held on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 July 1908, where a total of 144 arrows were shot over 2 rounds. On the first day Lottie Dodd was in the lead with a total of 348 points and 66 hits, and Queenie Newall with a score of 338 points. The second day Newall scored a total of 350 points and Lottie Dodd with 294. Beatrice-Hill Lowe fell into third place with a total score of 618 points (DOD et al., 2019 leaving her 70 points short of the winner Newall, whom was 54 years old at the time. (Olympian., 2019) After her Olympic career Beatrice Hill-Lowe continued on to a quiet life, where she moved to Shropshire in England.

Her husband died on 17 April 1910. She married Lieutenant-Colonel Roland Wycliffe Thompson on 29 June 1911 in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The lived between Penally in Pembrokeshire and Newbridge Lodge in County Kildare, Ireland before moving to 12 Queen's Parade in Tenby, Pembrokeshire where Thompson died on 15 April 1940. During the Second World War she worked with the British Legion women's committee and was in charge of the Tenby Rectory Depot. She died at 12 Queen's Parade on 2 July 1951.

The County Museum Dundalk featured Hill-Lowe in an exhibition in 2012.