Charlie McNeill

Charles Arthur Henry McNeill, known as Charlie McNeill, lived from 1888 to 1974 and was an Australian lawn bowls international who competed at the 1938 British Empire Games. He joined the Hamilton Bowls Club in New South Wales in 1919 and won 18 club singles titles between 1921 and 1964. At the 1938 Games he won the bronze medal in the rinks, or fours, event alongside Aub Murray, Harold Murray and Tom Kinder. The same four won the 1938 Australian National Bowls Championships rinks title, and McNeill added the 1955 national singles title. He was state champion in 1934 and 1951, and the fours team was known in Australia as the Big Four because they also won four state titles; McNeill himself took four state pairs and three state singles titles. Outside bowls he worked as a grocer at Ballina and later as an insurance representative, and he was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1973. Hamilton Bowls Club named a green after him in 1976 and a trophy in 1993.