Arthur Wharton Mural - Darlington, England. - Murals on Waymarking.com

This is a mural of Arthur Wharton the first black professional footballer in history. He played in goal for Darlington football club. As well as playing for the local team he also played for Preston North End, Rotherham United and Sheffield United.He was also a notable runner, cyclist and played professional cricket and rugby.

In 1886 Mr Wharton won the national athletics amateur 100 yards championship, becoming the fastest man in the world. Running the 100 yards( now meters) in 10 seconds. This was a world record and stood for 30 years. He would go on to retain the title in 1887.

Arthur died on the 13th of December 1930. He died penniless and was buried in a paupers grave.

The mural was officially revealed to the public on the 28th of October 2020, on the 155th anniversary of his birth.

The mural was commissioned by BT sport. It is mostly in black and white representing the colour of the towns football team which he represented. It is also fused with the colours of the Ghanaian flag. It also features two awards the athlete won. The Prince Hassan challenge trophy he won for the 100 yard challenge and the Cleveland Challenge cup which he won in 1887 with Darlington Football Club. The mural was painted over three days by Spanish graffiti artist Jay Kaes. The name Kwame was painted by a seperate Darlington artist named Nick Raine. Kwame was Mr Wharton's birthname and means boy born on a Saturday in Ghanain where mr Wharton was born. He was born in what was then called Jamestown but is now Accra. He moved to the North East of England at the age of 19 with the intention of training to become a methodist preacher. The mural appears on the side of a residential house on Drury St in Darlington. The House backs on the the Arthur Wharton Foundation building which itself is actually on Widdowfield St and it is from there the mural is best accessed.

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City: DARLINGTON Location Name: Arthur Wharton Foundation Artist: Jay Kaes Date: 20th october 2020 Media: Paint on Brick Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/26/2021 cmiller38 visited it