Sir Arthur Marshall’s medals presented to the Hawks’ Club

The collection covers every aspect of Sir Arthur's sporting career, from a prize for second place in the open quarter mile at Tonbridge School, to a medal given to the 1600m relay team in the 1924 'Chariots of Fire' Olympics.

Club President Mike Collins, a decathlete at Trinity College, and Club trustees Christopher Pratt and Sir Roger Tomkys were there to receive the medals.

Presenting the collection to the Club, Sir Michael said: “The family is delighted that memories of Sir Arthur's sporting prowess live on in the Hawks' Club. He would be particularly pleased with the idea that his successes will inspire our young athletes to even greater things.”

Receiving the medals on the Club's behalf, Christopher Pratt said: “It is a special honour to have so great a sportsman as Sir Arthur commemorated here, and especially fitting when we have an athlete as Hawks' Club President for the first time in many years.”

Sir Arthur was one of Britain's aviation pioneers, with his Cambridge-based aircraft engineering and automotive business a major force in the UK Aerospace industry and one of the largest privately-owned companies in the country.

He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge where he gained a First Class Degree in Engineering. Whilst at Cambridge he gained a Running Blue for the quarter mile and was subsequently selected as a member of the British team at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.

He obtained his pilot's license in 1928, going on to give lessons in his spare time. Sir Arthur's training methods resulted in the Company's Elementary Flying Training Schools being the most productive in the country. His scheme was eventually adopted across the RAF, with Marshall Flying Schools training more than 20,000 pilots and instructors during the Second World War.

On his father's death in 1942, he became Chairman of the Company and remained in this position for the next 48 years, until his retirement in 1989.

He maintained a close relationship with Cambridge and with Jesus College, which elected him as an Honorary Fellow in 1990. In 1996, he received an Honorary Law Degree from the University and performed the official opening of the Arthur Marshall Room in the new Pavilion at the University Athletics Grounds on the same day.

Since 2001, the Sir Arthur Marshall Institute of Aeronautics has formed part of University's Engineering Department.

The Hawks' Club was formed in 1872 as a University-wide equivalent to the St John's College Eagles, a cricket club. Its membership is generally restricted to those who have earned blues or half-blues.