By Elaine K Howley
When Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel in August 1875, he perhaps unwittingly set off a worldwide obsession that carries on to this day. Since then, thousands of swimmers have attempted to swim the channel, and about 2,000 have been successful.
Among the aspirants was Frederick Cavill. Born in Kensington in 1839, Cavill had served in the Royal Navy in the Baltic under Sir Charles Napier during the Crimean War. He also earned a medal for meritorious services in India. Aft er leaving the Navy in the 1870s, Cavill opened a swimming school in London. Among his students was the future Queen Mary, and Cavill became one of a small group of “esteemed professors” of swimming that helped develop the sport of swimming during Victorian times.