Lilian Harrison: : the making of a pioneering swimmer, 1904-1923

Lilian Harrison was a pioneering South American swimmer who established new records for open water distance swimming, and time spent swimming, in December 1923, as she became the first person to swim across the Rio de la Plata, from Uruguay to Argentina. Until now, her achievements have been remembered and studied as a South American history, from Harrison’s birth in Quilmes to her training in Tigre, to the tumultuous reception she received when returning to Buenos Aires after her successful swim. In this article, we situate Harrison’s achievement within the historical context of her early life and education, which was spent in an idealistic and pioneering school in Letchworth Garden City, in England. We argue that Harrison’s English schooling was a vital ingredient in her 1923 success that was generally overlooked in the press reports. Using existing newspaper sources as well as privately-held family papers which we have been fortunate to consult, we look at Harrison’s education at school, in the pool and her family upbringing. The article concludes with some reflections on the nature of global sporting histories in the early twentieth century.