Delaval Astley

Major Delaval Graham L'Estrange Astley, CB, DL (7 December 1868 – 17 May 1951) was a Major in the British Army. He has been claimed to have won a medals at the 1924 Winter Olympics for both the British and Swedish Curling teams. Despite being on the reserve British team, he made no appearances for either team during the Olympics and therefore was not eligible for a medal.

Major Delaval Astley CB DL
Born	Delaval Graham L'Estrange Astley (1868-12-07)7 December 1868
Died	17 May 1951(1951-05-17) (aged 82)
Nationality	British
Other names	D. G. Astley
Spouse	Kate Clark (1897-1951)
Children	Joan Doreen Astley Betty L'Estrange Astley
Parent(s)	Frederic Astley Emma Screiber

Early life

Delaval Astley was born in Aylsham, Norfolk,^[1] on 7 December 1868 to Frederic Astley and Emma Schreiber.^[2]

He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Welch Regiment, and after he retired from the regular army was appointed a captain in the North Somerset Yeomanry on 11 July 1895. He later served as aide-de-camp to Colonel Boyle, Commander of the West Counties Brigade Volunteer Infantry.^[3]

Sporting career

Curling

Curling made its first appearance at an Olympic Games at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.^[4] Four teams took part, one from Great Britain, one from France and two teams from Sweden.^[5] Astley appeared on the reserve team for the British. It was claimed that Astley had played at some point for the British team thus becoming eligible, and also playing for Sweden in a playoff match with the French team. This would have meant that Astley won both a gold and silver medal for different countries in the same sport - the only time this would have occurred. However, Astley actually made no appearances during the 1924 Winter Olympics for any teams and was not eligible for medals of any type.^[5][6][7]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Delaval Graham L'Estrange Astley". The Peerage. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
3. Hart′s Army list, 1901
4. "Curling: Equipment and History". Olympic.org. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
5. Weeks, Bob (2008). Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game. J. Wiley & Sons Canada: Mississauga, Ont. p. 108. ISBN 9780470156131.
6. Gillon, Doug (23 January 2006). "The Herald sweeps Britain to curling gold medal Doug Gillon explains how a team of Scots have finally been honoured . . . 82 years on". The Herald. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
7. Cowan, Bob (6 November 2013). "Curling at the 1924 Winter Olympics: Part 1 - The GB Curlers". Retrieved 22 February 2014.