Ernest Latimer Stones (1865–1927) was an English amateur track and field athlete, who broke the world record for the pole vault at the Northern Counties Championships at Southport in June 1888. He cleared 11 feet 7 inches (3.53m) to beat by three-eighths of an inch the record then held by Thomas Ray of Ulverston. The record lasted for three years and one month until Richard Dickinson cleared 11 feet 9 inches (3.58m) at Kidderminster in July 1891.^[1]

Born in Ulverston, Lancashire in 1865, after moving to Bootle, Liverpool, Stones tied the AAA championship in 1888 and won it outright in 1889. He won the Scottish Championships three times in succession, 1887, 1888, and 1889. In the latter year, he set a Scottish National record that was not beaten until 1930.^[2] He won the Canadian and Irish Championships both once,^[3] and is the only Briton ever to win a United States pole vault title, winning the Amateur Athletic Union Championship at Travers Island, New York in September 1889.^[4] He died on 20 Oct 1927 at 267 Knowsley Road, Bootle. His wife of 35 years, Mary Elizabeth (née Goodall) survived him.