Cyril Winthrop Mackworth-Praed (21 September 1891 – 30 June 1974) was a British sport shooter who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics.[1] He was also a naturalist and ornithologist who specialized on the birds of Africa.
Life and work
Mackworth-Praed was born in Herefordshire to Robert Herbert and Mary Josephine Jolliffe. where he became interested in shooting and natural history which was also encouraged at school in Sandroyd. After studying at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he settled in East Africa as a farmer. In 1919 he married, Edith Mary Henrietta, the daughter of Stephenson Robert Clarke and began to help identify African birds in his father-in-law's collection. This brought him to the bird room of the British Museum. He later joined the Scots Guards and served in World War II, rising to the rank of Major in 1941. He returned to live in Castletop, Burley, Hampshire. In the 1930s he began a collaboration with Claude H. B. Grant to produce a 6 volume work on the birds of Africa. In 1958, Grant died and only two volumes were produced. The remainder, completed in 1973, was written by Mackworth-Praed.[2]
He had a parallel career as a sport shooter. In 1924 he won the gold medal as member of the British team in the team running deer, double shots event. He also won two silver medals in the running deer, single shots and double shots competition. In the 1924 Summer Olympics he also participated in the following events:[3]
