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Later life, Legacy and Death
George Dockrell is considered as one of Irelands greatest ever swimmers to participate in the sport .As George is one of Irelands most celebrated swimmers the legacy he has left behind him vast. He offered prominence and dignity to Irish swimming according and Irish times news article written about him .George dockrell was the cause for great popularity around the sport of swimming in Ireland. Dockrell travelled to America which is where he met C.M Daniels who at the time was the world sprint champion when returning home after two years, Dockrell introduced the “crawl” stroke into Irish swimming cementing his legacy into Irish swimming history. He confirmed his legacy by being the only Irish swimmer to win the Irish 220-yard championship 6 times in succession, no other Irish swimmer has gone on to do better than this. He also won the 440-yard championship 5 times one after another, again no one has gone on to achieve anything better than this. Dockrell set a new Irish record of 58.6 seconds in a 100-yard championship dash in 1911, he then retired where his legacy of winning of 20 of the 27 championships he entered remains. )..After his retirement, in his later life Dockrell continued his greatness by serving a major in the Army in the first world war. In 1914 in the month of December Dockrell volunteered for the service with the Rifle brigade. .He served as a 2cd lieutenant, where he served in the 9th battalion. Later on he was promoted to a lieutenant in 1915 he improved rank once more and was promoted to a captain in 1918 and finally to a major in 1918. He fought the battle of Flanders, France in 1915. .this is where he received wounds that proved fatal to his life. While serving, Dockrell was wounded due to shrapnel which affected his back. Because of this he received an OBE for his bravery.(Trever west, the bold collegians: the development of sport in Trinity College, Dublin, 1991: Fyffe’s: Fergus Barron, swimming for a century,1993)..On the 23rd of December 1924 Dockrell died at the officer’s hospital in Richmond surrey due to the wounds he received combating with the rifle brigade in France in 1915.