British Empire Games Rowing in 1950

The combination of oarsmen from Leander and Thames RC represented England at the rowing regatta at the 1950 Empire Games: bow A.S.F. Butcher (Thames RC), 2. P.A de Giles (Leander), 3. W.A.D. Windham (Leander), 4. H.W. Rushmere (Thames RC), 5. R.D. Burnell (Leander), 6. P.C. Kirkpatrick (Thames RC), 7. M.C. Lapage (Leander), stroke P. Bradley (Leander) and cox J.P. Dearlove. Photograph by G.F. Louden (in Dickie Burnell's Swing Togther).

On 31 August, Tim Koch wrote on HTBS about Jack Dearlove, ‘The Indefatigable Jack Dearlove’. Jack, who had lost a leg in an accident, showed the same fighting spirit as today’s rowers at the Paralympic Games in London. Jack coxed the Great Britain eight to an Olympic silver medal in 1948 and a bronze medal at the Empire Games in 1950. This is a short story about the 1950 Empire Games’ rowing regatta on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand.

The first British Empire Games (now called the Commonwealth Games) were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, by, as Hylton Cleaver writes in his A History of Rowing (1957), “a group of keen sportsmen and great believers in the Empire”. That year’s winner of the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley, London RC, beat a strong eight from New Zealand by half a length. Bobby Pearce, then still sculling for Australia, became the first Empire Champion in the single sculls, beating Jack Beresford of Thames RC. There seems to have been an Empire Games in England in 1934, but without rowing! So, at the next Empire Games where rowing was included, in 1938, a combination eight of oarsmen from London, Thames, Oxford and Cambridge overpowered an eight from Australia. And then came the War.

After a successful race in the 1949 Grand Challenge Cup final at Henley Royal Regatta, Leander captain Richard ‘Dickie’ Burnell was asked to gather a crew for the British Empire Games, which were to be held in Auckland, New Zealand, in February 1950. Knowing that not all of the members of the Grand Cup winning Leander crew would be available, Dickie began looking around for other ‘outstanding men elsewhere’, as he writes in “The Empire Games Crew, 1950”, which is a chapter in his book Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing (1952). He did not have to look very far. In 1949, Thames RC had taken the Grand Cup at Henley, and some oarsmen from that crew were eager to swap out the English winter for a much warmer climate on the other side of the world.

In the beginning there had been 17 oarsmen invited to the practise, including also two each from London RC and Kingston RC, but on 23 October, 1949, the selected eight looked as follows:

Bow A.S.F. Butcher (Thames RC)
2. P.A de Giles (Leander)
3. W.A.D. Windham (Leander)
4. H.W. Rushmere (Thames RC)
5. R.D. Burnell (Leander)
6. P.C. Kirkpatrick (Thames RC)
7. M.C. Lapage (Leander)
Stroke P. Bradley (Leander)
Cox J.P. Dearlove (Thames RC)

Added to these nine men were two spare rowers: A.D. Rowe (Leander; who was also in the single sculls) and M.H.N. Plaisted (London RC). Team Manager during the trip was Jack Beresford.

At first, the crew had been coached by Wing Commander Hellyer – of ‘syncopated rowing’ fame – but his doctor put a stop to him participating in winter coaching, and instead ‘Gully’ Nickalls stepped in to coach the eight. Dickie writes that Nickalls’s approach to coaching a crew was, ‘that a crew should first achieve a true rhythm and length in its paddling, and then translate this into its rowing’. However, Dickie states there was not really the time to work this way. He writes:

‘A certain amount of speed has got to be achieved in order to race, and if a crew is held back in order to perfect its length and rhythm in paddling, there is a distinct danger that it will not be ready in time to race. […] When we left England our paddling was really good, and on numerous occasions we disappointed the critics by paddling beautifully and then becoming rushed and scrappy in our rowing.’

The 1950 Great Britain Empire Game crew. Dickie Burnell, sixth from left in a dark scarf, kept a ‘captain’s log’ during the crew's practise in England and later on Lake Karapiro. Picture © John Dearlove.

Dickie kept a ‘captain’s log’ during the crew’s practise at Henley, the trip to New Zealand and the practise there, and parts of it are published in “The Empire Games Crew, 1950”. The team left England on 23 January, 1950, and when they arrived they heard that their boat had not arrived yet, so they had to borrow an old Sims. The long trip took its toll on the English crew, who also had problems with the diet. Eventually, their own boat arrived and also the riggers. But at the race, on 6 February, it did not really help, ‘the race was naturally a bitter disappointment to us all’ Dickie states. The Aussies won – ‘they were strong and well together, and rowed in something very like our own English Fairbairn style’, Dickie writes.

In the Australian boat rowed: bow R.N. Tinning, 2. P.A. Cayzer, 3. A.P. Holmes, 4. B.H. Goswell, 5. R.L. Selman, 6. E.O. Longley, 7. E.O. Pain, stroke A.W. Brown and cox J.E. Barnes. New Zealand’s crew was young, a little inexperienced, but ‘exceptionally tough’ and had rowed on Lake Karapiro for several weeks. They raced hard and almost overcame the Aussies. New Zealand’s crew: bow E. Smith, 2. B. Culpan, 3. D. Rowlands, 4. G. Jarratt, 5. M. Ashby, 6. W. Tinnock, 7. K. Ashby, stroke T.C. Engel and cox D. Adams. English sculler A.D. Rowe came in second after M. Wood, the reigning Olympic Champion from Australia. The bronze in the single sculls was taken by I.R.G. Steven of South Africa. T. Hegglum of New Zealand came in fourth.

There were some lessons to be learned after the Englishmen’s trip to New Zealand, which Dickie also recognises in a follow-up chapter in his Swing Together.

More about the British Empire Games Rowing tomorrow, 7 September.

Glorious Gloriana

The silver and the grey. Former Olympians sit behind the Henley Trophies.

HTBS’s Tim Koch saw the marvellous barge Gloriana at Henley Royal Regatta. Tim writes,

HTBS has previously reported on the Gloriana, the 18-oared, 88 foot / 27 metre ‘rowbarge’  produced for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. While it looks magnificent from a distance, it is only close up that one can fully appreciate how it cost £500 000 / $785 000 and why £4000 / $6300 was spent on gold leaf. At this year’s Henley Royal Regatta, the Gloriana was moored at the pontoon and boat tent area for everyone to see.

On the day of the finals it was rowed over the course by 18 British rowing Olympians dating from the 1948 to the 2008 Games. They were part of a remarkable gathering of 170 men and women who have rowed for Britain in past Olympic Regattas. Their number included Paul Bircher and Michael Lapage from the 1948 GB Eight. At the prize giving ceremony this exclusive group sat behind the trophies, adding even more lustre to the occasion.

Lord Stirling, who underwrote the cost of the Gloriana project, has said that the craft will be around for ‘a couple of hundred years’. See it in close up and you can only agree.

Gloriana moored by the boat tent area at Henley.

 Gloriana oars

Gloriana Royal Arms

Gloriana Rudder

Gloriana seat

Gloriana stern

 Gloriana window

Gloriana Jack Staff

(Photograph & copyright: Tim Koch)

Tim Koch: 2012 Henley Royal Regatta – The Winners

Tim Koch reports from England:

Uniquely in the international rowing scene, Henley Royal Regatta does not operate under the rules of the international governing body, FISA, or of the British governing body, British Rowing, as it existed long before these young upstarts came into being. Thus, in an Olympic year, it finds itself outside of the run up to the big event. ‘The Royal’ is not especially put out by this and strives to put on the best show it can. Thus, 2012 saw a large turnout of Under 23s, lightweights, development crews and those who had missed Olympic selection, many aware that this could be their best chance of winning at such a prestigious regatta. There was only one crew competing that was bound for the Olympics, the German Women’s Eight.

The very strong stream caused by the land water from recent heavy rain and frequent headwinds gave the lightweight rowers and scullers and the new junior women’s quad event a hard time and no course records were broken. More importantly the stream made things very difficult for those on the ‘Bucks’ (town side) station in the later stages of the race. For the spectators the weather conditions were more benign than conditions preceding the Regatta had threatened.

There was an entry of 499 with 133 crews and scullers from overseas. Taking a parochial view of the Regatta, ten of the twenty trophies went abroad. This is no reflection on the state of British rowing. With the old country competing in 13 of the 14 events at Dorney, the cream of British rowing is in pre-Olympic training.

Here is a round up of Sunday’s finals with apologies to those I have not pictured, this is not a reflection of your efforts.

Men’s Open Events

The Grand Challenge Cup (8+): California R.C, U.S.A. beat Brown University, U.S.A., by 1 ¼ lengths.

The Stewards’ Challenge Cup (4-): National Rowing Centre of Excellence ‘A’, Australia, beat Waiariki Rowing Club, New Zealand, by 2/3 length.

The Queen Mother Challenge Cup (4x): N.R.C.E, Australia, beat Victoria City Rowing Club, Canada, by 1 ½ lengths.

The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup (2-): Minola and Lang, France, beat Christomanos and Lampridis, Greece, easily. (Photograph & copyright: Hélène Rémond)

The Double Sculls Challenge Cup (2x): Collins and Sinclair, Leander Club, beat Berntsen and Grepperud, Norway, by 4 ¼ lengths.

The Diamond Challenge Sculls (1x): Lambert, South Africa, beat Collins, Agecroft R.C. by 3 ¼ lengths.

Women’s Open Events

The Remenham Challenge Cup (8+): Western R.C, Canada, beat Dortmund Rowing Center, Germany, by 2 lengths.

The Princess Grace Challenge Cup (4x): N.R.C.E, Australia, beat Hollandia Roeiclub, Holland, easily.

The Princess Royal Challenge Cup (1x): Isolda Penney, Canada, beat Pajusalu, Estonia, easily.

Men’s Intermediate Events

The Ladies’ Challenge Plate (8+): Harvard University, USA, beat Leander Club, by 1 foot.

The 1 Mile marker in the background shows that at that point, Leander had a clear water lead over Harvard. The 1 1/8 Mile marker in the foreground shows that at that point Leander’s lead had been reduced to 1/3 of a length.

Passing the Progress Board. With less than ten strokes to go, Leander still lead.

The boats cross the line. Leander’s rowing became increasingly ineffective towards the end – had they let Harvard through?

 Harvard number 3, DiSanto, is confident that they won.

The Leander cox raises her hand to speak to the Umpire.

A photo-finish gave it to Harvard by one foot in the fastest time of the day.

The legendary Harry Parker, Harvard coach for fifty years. It was his 11th Henley win. I have no knowledge as to the current state of Harry’s health but he looked well to me. In his speech, Henley Chairman Mike Sweeney paid tribute to Harry’s semi-centenary and the crowd responded warmly to the sentiment. I witnessed a most telling incident which showed the respect and affection with which Coach Parker is held. A very senior Steward of the Regatta, a man who is the epitome of the British ‘stiff upper lip’, greeted Harry with a spontaneous hug. You have to be very special for an Englishman of this gentleman’s age and class to act like this.

Three Britons were in the Harvard boat including stroke Patrick Lapage. He was watched by his grandfather, Michael, who rowed at Henley in the 1948 Olympics. HTBS has previously written about the rowing Lapages.

The Visitors’ Challenge Cup (4-): Oxford Brooks University and Molesey B.C. beat Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Nereus, Holland, easily.

The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup (4x): Leander Club beat Durham University and University of London, by 2 ¼ lengths.

Men’s Club Events

The Thames Challenge Cup (8+): Molesey B.C. beat Thames R.C. ‘A’ by 2 lengths.

The Wyfold Challenge Cup (4-): Nottingham R.C. ‘A’ beat ANA Rowing Club, Australia, by 2 lengths.

The Britannia Challenge Cup (4+): Star Club beat Taurus B.C. by 3 feet.

Men’s Student Events

The Temple Challenge Cup (8+): University of Washington, U.S.A. beat Brown University, U.S.A., by 3 lengths.

The Prince Albert Challenge Cup (4+): University of London ‘A’ beat Newcastle University by ¾ length.

Men’s Junior Events

The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (8+): Abingdon School beat Radley College by ¾ length.


The Fawley Challenge Cup (4x): Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School beat Marlow R.C. ‘A’ by ¾ length.

Women’s Junior Event

Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls (4x): Henley R.C. beat Canford School by 2 ½ lengths.

Finally, a shock result - HTBS mixed pair wins Grand Challenge Cup!

(Photographs & copyright: Tim Koch, unless otherwise noted)

R&R September: Olympian Michael Lapage

The latest issue of the magazine Rowing & Regatta arrived in the mail today. As always, R&R looks lovely and this September issue has 72 pages with interesting and well-written articles. In this issue alone, you will find articles about the World Junior Championships, Under-23 World Championships, Adaptive World Championships, World Championships, gig rowing, a new exhibit at the River and Rowing Museum on women rowing, six pages of news, two pages of obituaries, and comments, viewpoints, and British Rowing’s campaign “Explore Rowing”, and much more.

R&R has also started to publish a series of articles on British Olympic rowing profiles eminently written by Mike Rowbottom. First ‘profile’ out was Harry Blackstaffe (gold in the single sculls in 1908), followed by Jack Beresford, Junior, (five Olympic medals in five Olympic Games between 1920 and 1936). In this issue Rowbottom has interviewed the last surviving British oarsman from the 1948 rowing event, 87-year-old Michael Lapage, who rowed in the seventh-seat in the eight which took a silver medal. Just look at that magnificent photograph of Lapage on the cover!

The observant reader of HTBS might remember that Tim Koch wrote about Michael Lapage and his son and grandsons in an earlier entry posted on 7 September, "The Rowing Lapages", which has a rare film clip from the 1948 Olympic eight’s final on the Henley course.

The Rowing Lapages

HTBS's Tim Koch writes from London: The BBC Radio station that covers the county of Shropshire recently ran a story about three
-generations of the Lapage family and their involvement with rowing. Read it here.

Grandfather Michael, aged 87, won a silver rowing for Britain in the 
eights at the 1948 Olympic Regatta held at Henley. He and his family had never seen film of the 
event so the BBC tracked down an old newsreel and put it onto YouTube for them. You can watch it here….





The 1948 Games were known as the ‘Austerity Olympics’ as they were held only three years after the
 end of the 1939-1945 War when conditions in Britain were in many ways worse than during the 
conflict. The country was nearly bankrupt and everything had to go for export. Michael told the BBC 
that this was one reason that the well-fed Americans beat them: “They had more meat then we did. We were still on rations.”



This may have had something to do with it but, looking at the footage, the confident low rating start of the US team suggests that they were in control of the race from the beginning.

 The British rowers were not exactly over cosseted. They did not have the sides of Texan beef that 
the Americans brought over with them, but they did have their butter ration doubled from two to four
 ounces (60 grams to 120 grams) a week. They had to supply their own kit but they were given a scarf,
 a blazer badge, and a pair of underpants. ‘Austerity’ seems an understatement!



Lapage’s crew was essentially the 1948 Cambridge Boat Race crew. They had set a new course record, 
breaking the eighteen-minute barrier for the first time on the Putney to Mortlake race. The practice
 of sending the currently most successful club crew to represent Britain at the Olympics continued
 until the 1972 Games when something resembling a ‘national squad’ was established.



The 1948 London Games were a triumph. They cost £73,000 / $117,000 to stage (about £20m / $33m in
 today’s money) and made a profit of £20,000 / $32,000 after tax. London 2012 may cost more.



Michael’s son, Philip, is a rowing coach at Shrewsbury School and his sons, Sam and Patrick, aim to 
row at the 2016 Olympic Regatta. Sam, who is still at school, recently rowed at the ‘Coupe de la
 Jeunesse’ (the Junior European Rowing Championships) while older brother Patrick, 21 (on the right), stroked the GB 
men’s eight to third place at the 2011 Under-23 World Championships. He also came third in the coxed 
four in the 2010 Under-23s. Patrick is currently a Junior (Third Year) at Harvard where he strokes
t he Varsity Eight. He won the Ladies Plate at Henley in 2010 with the Crimsons. His impressive 
Harvard Crew record is here.

I suspect we will hear a lot about the rowing Lapages in the future 
and that more underpants will be coming their way.