Lifestyle | 27 February 2024

Celebrating the Olympic legacy of our clients

As we launch our group partnership with Team GB ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, we celebrate former clients who have represented the Olympic legacy on the podium and beyond. 

John Jacob Astor

John Jacob Astor was a Coutts client from 1906 and was the son of the 1st Viscount Astor. He represented Great Britain in the racquets event at the London 1908 Olympics, winning gold in the doubles and bronze in the singles. He later lost a leg in the First World War but continued to compete and won the Parliamentary squash racquets championship in 1926 and 1927. He also served as an MP and was chief proprietor of The Times.

Sir Frederick Freake

Sir Frederick Freake, 3rd Bt., was a Coutts client from 1906. He played in the British polo teams in the Paris 1900 Olympics and in the London 1908 Olympics; winning silver on both occasions. Noted as a hard-working and industrious player, he also represented England and played in America as part of an international tour.

William Grenfell

William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough, was a Coutts client from 1882 and was appointed as the first Chairman of the British Olympic Association. He was an excellent sportsman and at the age of fifty competed in the Athens 1906 Olympic Games in the team fencing épée event, winning silver. He was the first person to carry the flag for Britain in the parade of nations and Grenfell subsequently served as President of the London 1908 Organising Committee. In his spare time, he played cricket and rowed, swam the pool below Niagara Falls twice and climbed the Matterhorn three times.

James Alexander MacNabb

James Alexander MacNabb, a Coutts client from 1920, won gold in the rowing coxless fours at the Paris 1924 Olympics. He continued his interest in rowing beyond his Olympic success, coaching both the Oxford and Cambridge crews, as well as serving as an officer of the prestigious Leander Club, the Amateur Rowing Association and Henley Regatta. Away from rowing MacNabb commanded an artillery regiment in Burma during the Second World War and served the cause of charitable housing for many years, being awarded an OBE for his work with the Peabody Trust in 1972.

Sir Charles Howard Vincent

Sir Charles Howard Vincent was a Coutts client from 1878. He was a soldier, barrister and the first head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). He became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1901, and in 1905 chaired the meeting which led to the founding of the British Olympic Association.

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