ABSTRACT
As Wharton became more successful, the focus of increasing public interest, some close to him who saw themselves as promoting his cause claimed him as European. At the annual dinner of the Darlington Cricket and Football Club, 23 December 1886, at which Arthur's colleagues sang his praises, club official Mr T. Watson in a toast to the new AAA sprint champion, reminded the gathering that Arthur was one of their own, 'of north country extraction, his ancestors having sprung from Stockton'1 (-on-Tees near Middlesbrough). This contrasted with the tone of the majority of the metropolitan press and national sports papers and some local and regional newspapers which frequently referred to Arthur's African inheritance. His public identity as he sought to define it and as others competed to construct it, became a contested area. This was especially noteworthy after his Stamford Bridge triumph. The new sprint champion was 'by no means a representative Englishman in appearance ... [He was] a brunette of pronounced complexion'.
