Audrey Kathleen Court, 1913-2005, (nee Brown), UoB student; Olympic athlete; Family Planning reformer, (USS22), Cadbury Research Library
Audrey Kathleen Court, 1913-2005, (nee Brown), UoB student; Olympic athlete; Family Planning reformer. Audrey Brown was born in India to Methodist missionary parents. She was educated in Birmingham from the age of nine, and studied Social and Political Science at the University of Birmingham from 1932, qualifying with a BA degree in 1936. She developed her interest in running while at the University, and was coached by W. W. Alexander of the Birchfield Harriers. She developed her ability as a sprinter, winning various university sports medals, and taking part in the World Student Games in Turin in 1933 as a member of the inter-university team. She was the first female member of the Birchfield Harriers club to compete at the Olympics, where, in Berlin in 1936, she won a silver medal for the 4 x 400 metres. Her four brothers were also athletes, and her brother Godfrey won gold at the 1936 Olympics for the 4 x 400 metres, as well as silver for the individual 400 metres. Audrey Brown gave up competitive running in 1938. She married her former tutor from the University of Birmingham, William Henry Bassano Court, on 30 March 1940. Audrey worked for the Birmingham Family Planning Association (FPA), and became chairman in 1961. She was actively involved in promoting the birth control pill and the right to abortion, and worked in particular with new ethnic minority communities and unmarried women. In 1991, she was appointed MBE for service to family planning in Birmingham.
Text by Helen Fisher, University Archivist, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.
USS22, Cadbury Research Library
Audrey Kathleen Court, 1913-2005, (nee Brown), UoB student; Olympic athlete; Family Planning reformer, (USS22), Cadbury Research Library
Audrey Kathleen Court, 1913-2005, (nee Brown), UoB student; Olympic athlete; Family Planning reformer. Audrey Brown was born in India to Methodist missionary parents. She was educated in Birmingham from the age of nine, and studied Social and Political Science at the University of Birmingham from 1932, qualifying with a BA degree in 1936. She developed her interest in running while at the University, and was coached by W. W. Alexander of the Birchfield Harriers. She developed her ability as a sprinter, winning various university sports medals, and taking part in the World Student Games in Turin in 1933 as a member of the inter-university team. She was the first female member of the Birchfield Harriers club to compete at the Olympics, where, in Berlin in 1936, she won a silver medal for the 4 x 400 metres. Her four brothers were also athletes, and her brother Godfrey won gold at the 1936 Olympics for the 4 x 400 metres, as well as silver for the individual 400 metres. Audrey Brown gave up competitive running in 1938. She married her former tutor from the University of Birmingham, William Henry Bassano Court, on 30 March 1940. Audrey worked for the Birmingham Family Planning Association (FPA), and became chairman in 1961. She was actively involved in promoting the birth control pill and the right to abortion, and worked in particular with new ethnic minority communities and unmarried women. In 1991, she was appointed MBE for service to family planning in Birmingham.
Text by Helen Fisher, University Archivist, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.
USS22, Cadbury Research Library