Eton Excelsior in the 1920s

The Roaring Twenties

In the 1920s, the club had limited space and primitive facilities. The site was below Windsor Bridge, and the storage capacity was small, which constrained how many boats could be kept and thus restricted growth.

Sunday Mirror – Sunday 06 August 1922; © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

The rowing season ran from April to September. During the off‐season, the club closed operations, including laying off the paid boatman until the next April. The winter posed dangers: the club raft was to be moved yearly to the opposite bank, where it was safer from river currents and floods.

Mike Wayman and rowers of the Eton Excelsior in 1928; source: IBCC Digital Archive; CC BY-NC 4.0

In 1929, a formal appeal was launched to raise funds for a new boathouse. The proposal was to lease “Dead Water Eyot” (an island above Windsor Bridge, opposite The Brocas) from the Borough, and build premises estimated to cost £1,500. The plan was to accommodate three eights and about a dozen of the best boats, skiffs, punts, etc.

Newspaper Clippings

1924

February	Eton Excelsior Rowing Club – The Annual Ball
March	Eton Excelsior Rowing Club – Annual Meeting
March	Eton Excelsior Rowing Club – Annual Report
June	Rowing – “William Robert King” Memorial Cup
August	The ‘Peters’ Cup – Eton Defeat Windsor After a Good Race
September	Eton Excelsior R.C. Regatta

1925

March	EERC Annual Meeting
August	The “Herbert” Cup Swimming Race
August	Four-Oar Race for the “Robert William King” Cup
August	The “Peters” Cup Race

1926

27th August	Eton Excelsior R.C. Regatta – Successful Afternoon’s Sport
date 2	article 2
date 3	article 3
date 4	article 4
date 5	article 5
date 6	article 6

1927

2 Articles

1928

6 Articles

1929

X Articles

References

“Eton Excelsior Rowing Club: Fifty Years On – Reflections of the President“, by Colin Oakley in Windlesora 21 (2005).

“Eton Excelsior Rowing Club” by Joyce Sampson in Windlesora 21 (2005).

1928 image is from IBCC Digital Archive. Mike Wayman, in shorts, holding an oar, is approaching five oarsmen and a rowing boat. A man in a long overcoat stands alongside the river. A note reads, ‘subject with oar Eton Excelsior Rowing Club’.