James Williams (1966 - 2024) & Victoria Carson (1994 - 2024)

James Williams (1966 - 2024) & Victoria Carson (1994 - 2024)

James Williams, 57, represented Great Britain in fencing at three Olympic games - in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney - after taking up the sport during his 10 years of military service.

After retiring from the sport as an athlete, he stayed in the world of fencing and was a very popular,energetic and loved person in the Great Britain and international fencing community. He was a British Fencing Board Member, Olympic Team Manager and GBR Sabre Coach.

Outside of fencing, James was a major figure in local government as the Director of Public Health for Medway Council in Kent, playing an instrumental role in tackling the Covid pandemic in Medway.

He had a strong link with Brentwood School fencing and coached here during multiple periods in his career but due to his role as Director of Public Health, he stopped coaching during games time in 2017. In order to keep the momentum with the Brentwood School Sabre fencers going, he then became the lead coach for the Wednesday evening academy club Sabre session taking place in the Brentwood Fencing Salle up until the moment of his passing.

In his role as coach he inspired colleagues and his students. He taught them humility, discipline and responsibility in an infectiously enthusiastic way.


Victoria Carson was a wonderful and kind person and sadly died recently at the age of 29. She represented Scotland and Great Britain at multiple international events as a Youth International Sabre Fencer.

Victoria’s link with Brentwood School fencing was also strong. Born in Essex, and close to the School, she trained at Brentwood School Fencing Club during her time as a youth performance Fencer.

She joined the Brentwood School Fencing Coaching team as a Coach in 2017 for a period of one and a half years. In her short time here at the School, she had a very positive impact upon the level of participation in the schools’ fencing programme, particularly with the girls side of the sport.

Vicky was energetic, caring and very inclusive in her coaching. She made her students feel valued. James and Vicky knew each other well, and were a great team. Brentwood School Fencing will miss these two fantastic team members, but we feel very grateful for the time they were here. We aim to keep alive their legacy of having a positive mindset and trying to be the best possible version of yourself.


Christiaan Galesloot
Head of Fencing at Brentwood School