Windsor & Reading Regatta Supplement (1896)

Transcript

Windsor Reading Regatta Supplement

BOTTLED AT THE SPRINGS BY J. SCHWEPPE & CO., LIMITED.

Sparkling Malvern

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Sent, Carriage Paid, to any Railway Station, direct from the Springs, if ordered through any respectable Wine Merchant, Chemist, Grocer, or the Stores, at the following cash prices:-
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J. SCHWEPPE & CO., LIMITED

Windsor and Eton Amateur Regatta

SIXTY years have passed away since the Windsor and Eton Regatta was established, and undoubtedly it is one of the oldest aquatic fixtures on the Thames, it being founded even before the great Henley meeting. The Windsor Regatta was originated by Messrs. William Goodman, Charles Hester, and John Haverley, about 1836, and, of course, all three have long gone over to the “great majority.” At first it was only a Waterman’s Regatta, and the course was from Eton Brocas upstream to the “Rushes,” just below Boveney Lock, and back to Windsor Bridge, a distance of nearly three miles. This same course is still used by the Etonians for their races, and it is a very tiring one, being so winding that it has been appropriately called the “corkscrew” course. There are very few persons living in Windsor and Eton now who remember the opening Regatta at Windsor. Old Bob Allen, the well-known boat builder of Windsor, however, still has a keen recollection of it, as he won the first race in the Pairs with Robert Emony. It may be interesting to our readers to know that the same Bob Allen steered the winning Four in the first race ever rowed at Henley Regatta, the crew being J. Hyde, J. Stevens, E. Sedding, and J. Byles, all from Eton.

The Windsor meeting has a very interesting history, and has been bound up with many smart performances on the Thames. After a few years, the title of the [text difficult to decipher] the Windsor and Eton promoters of it being Messrs. E. and Ware (all Eton men), and from then on has remained the same. Year [text difficult to decipher] Regatta became more popular, and the prizes more valuable, the present Senior Challenge Cup being started by subscription. Among the earlier secretaries were Messrs. H. Webber (lately Mayor of Windsor), G. Radnor, and C. Barrett, sen. and jun., of Eton.

Mr. Barrett, jun., officiated in that capacity for several years. When he gave up, the fixture got into rather low water, and the meeting could scarcely be called a regatta. At this time, Mr. G. W. Wright, of Windsor, called a public meeting at the “George” Hotel, Eton, when the fixture was put on its legs again, Mr. Wright being elected the Hon. Sec., which post he held for about nineteen years. In the first year of his office, the chief events were thrown open to all amateur rowing clubs, as previous regattas were only open to Windsor, Eton, and district. The course was also altered, it being now from Clewer Point to Windsor Bridge, a distance of nearly a mile. The Regatta on this occasion proved a great success, and in the following year the patronage of Royalty for the first time was obtained. The Ruthven Challenge Cup for Junior Fours was presented by Lord Walter Ruthven, on the condition that should the same Club win it three years in succession, it became their property. This was not accomplished by any Club until the year 1893, when the Eton Excelsior R.C. won it. They, however, generously re-presented it to the Regatta Committee in the same year, on the condition that it should be competed for annually, and should not be won by any Club outright. It may be interesting to state here that the Cup was promised to the Regatta the very night that Lady Ruthven (when residing at the Hermitage, Windsor), presented his Lordship with a son and heir. Lord Ruthven also gave a Silver Cup, at the same time, for single punting, which was won by Mr. C. Barrett the next year. Mr. Roger Eykyn, when M.P. for the Royal Borough, presented the Regatta Committee with a five guinea Silver Cup, for senior sculling, which he continued to do annually until he retired from Parliament and left his residence, The Willows, near Surly Hall. Mr. R. Richardson-Gardner was next elected Member for Windsor, and he followed Mr. Eykyn’s example, and presented the Silver Cup for Senior Sculls for many years, in fact until he, too, retired from the House of Commons. When Mr. F. T. Barry, the present Member, was returned for the Royal Borough, he continued to give the same prize, and does so up to the present time.

On one occasion, when Mr. F. Willan used to officiate as umpire on his pretty little launch, the Regatta for the first and only time was honoured with the presence of Royalty. This was when the children of their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Christian were present. Before the fixture was quite over, Prince Christian Victor (of Ashanti fame) kindly presented some of the prizes previous to his returning to Frogmore (where the Prince and Princess then resided), and in doing so he let go one of the pair-oar prizes and thought he had broken it, but it was caught by the Hon. Sec., the young Prince exclaiming, “Oh, I thought I had killed it.” The Royal children were presented with programmes printed on white satin, which are placed away carefully with other mementoes of Windsor. From this time the Regatta gradually improved, and Prince and Princess Christian, Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg, the Duke of Westminster, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, Baron Schröder, the Officers of the Brigade of Guards, Lord Boston, Sir C. Palmer, Lady Palmer, Sir George Elvey, the Provost and Headmaster of Eton College, Sir Robert Harvey, the Dowager Duchess of Sunderland, and others living in the neighbourhood became subscribers and patrons.

Amongst the successful competitors at this Regatta have been some of the best known oarsmen, including Messrs. Frank Willan, W. A. Ellison, W. H. Eyre, J. Hastie, S. D. Darbyshire, J. B. Close, W. H. Hohler, J. H. D. Goldie, W. F. C. Holland, Mr. T. C. Edwards-Moss, W. Chillingworth and C. Herbert, C. Wise, G. R. Dugdale, W. C. Crofts, A. E. Kennedy, W. H. Cumming, W. O. Hudson, F. K. Beaumont, &c. It may be also interesting to know that on one occasion the late Major Victor Ferguson (Royal Horse Guards), who died on the recent Ashanti expedition, won the Junior Sculls.

Among the chief clubs who have patronised the regatta have been the London R.C., the Thames, Kingston, the Albion, Twickenham, the Ino, Great Marlow, Reading, Molesey, Henley, Maidenhead, Old Etonians, Oscillators, and other noted clubs.

Amongst the donors of prizes to the Regatta was Sir Charles J. Palmer, who for several years presented the pair-oar prizes. After nineteen years’ services as Hon. Sec., Mr. G. W. Wright resigned the office, and was succeeded in 1886 by the Rev. R. Tahourdin, one of the Minor Canons of Windsor Castle. Mr. Tahourdin only held the office for a year, and was succeeded by Mr. W. F. Summers. The latter carried out the secretarial duties very ably until the year 1892, when illness compelled him to give it up, and he subsequently died. Mr. E. C. Durant then undertook the duties, and is at present carrying them out very satisfactorily indeed. He has thus been in office some four years.

In the year 1891 a great change was effected in connection with the Regatta, the venue being removed from the old course above Windsor Bridge to Datchet Reach. This was in consequence of the great complaints received from competitors concerning the zig-zag nature of the course. At a meeting of the committee Mr. H. Hall proposed, and it was carried, that her Majesty the Queen be asked to graciously grant the use of the towing path for subscribers, and that the Regatta be held over the Datchet Reach. The Mayor of Windsor at that time was Mr. Alderman Dyson, and, after some praiseworthy efforts on his part, the aim of the executive was accomplished, the Queen very kindly giving the required permission. As a consequence the entries have vastly improved, both in class and also in numbers, and all the principal Metropolitan Clubs have of late patronised the meeting. Not only has the meeting improved in the racing department, but now that the committee are enabled to offer their patrons much greater advantages, the Regatta is rapidly becoming quite a popular society function, the beautiful promenade on the Royal estate being an ideal situation for witnessing the racing, and where subscribers are assured that everything possible is

for their comfort. At the time of writing, the entries are rapidly coming in, and given fine weather a very enjoyable day’s sport will most assuredly result. The officials of this year’s fixture are:—Hon. Treasurer, Mr. A. H. Thornton; Hon. Finance Secretary, Mr. H. Hall; Hon. Secretary for Entries, Mr. C. F. Dyson; and Hon. Secretary, Mr. E. Cecil Durant. It may be mentioned that Mr. C. F. Dyson has been on the Committee of the Regatta for seventeen years, and has been Hon. Sec. for Entries for the last six or seven years.

The entries are now so numerous and good that a start at 10.30 in the morning is necessitated in order to get the programme over in reasonable time in the evening.

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Eton Excelsior Rowing Club

THE Eton Excelsior Rowing Club has long been the chief in the Windsor and Eton district, and was established in the year 1851. Before this there existed the Eton Boat Club, and also the Victoria Rowing Club, and the Excelsior was undoubtedly the outcome of them. During its history the Club has turned out some really first class oarsmen, who will always be remembered in the rowing world. The number of members during the early portion of its history was not nearly so large as in some later years, but they all had a deep interest in the Club’s welfare, the result being that the members often figured with advantage in the different up-river regattas. One of the earlier Secretaries was Mr. E. C. Devereux, following whom came Mr. Connacher, and Mr. Bowtick was the next to take the office over. At the conclusion of the latter’s period of secretaryship, Mr. C. F. Dyson was elected in the year 1879, and he had thirdteen years of it, and was also Treasurer for three years. On his resignation, Mr. H. Hall filled the vacancy; Mr. W. L. Herbert was Secretary in 1893, Secretary and Captain in 1894, and Captain in 1895 and 1896; Mr. G. L. Hollis was elected in 1895, and is still serving. The other officers, not mentioned above, are Mr. W. G. Clark, Deputy-Captain; Mr. F. W. Wilkinson, Hon. Treasurer; and Mr. S. M. Herbert, assistant Hon. Sec. The headquarters of the Club were formerly at Tolladay’s; then they were removed to Goodman’s, and finally to the Docks (some property belonging to Eton College), just below Windsor Bridge in 1885. Although the quarters have rather a bad entrance, they are very commodious, and are well suited to the storing of the property belonging to the Club, and are also very handy.

Some of the best known members of the old days are Sir Henry Simpson, Mr. H. Webber, and Mr. J. L. Hollis (all ex-Mayors of Windsor), Mr. F. W. Oxley, the Neighbour Bros., Messrs. Cook, S. Lingwood, F. Wilkinson, J. Darling, J. Radnor, Tom Cobden, Punchard, C. Wise, G. Dugdale, R. Hannis, J. Dugdale, &c. One of the first Captains of the Club was Mr. R. Hannis, but the best known Captain, perhaps, was Charlie Wise, who held the office for twenty years, out of the twenty-two years he was a member of the Club. In this period he did fifteen years’ racing, and only retired some eight or nine years ago. The popular ex-Captain possesses over one hundred prizes, and has done some notable performances in his time. Here are a few of them: He was one of the Excelsior Four that went to Oxford six times, and won the Open Fours at the Regatta there five times. The crew was as follows:—H. Harding (stroke), R. Hannis, C. Wise, G. Dugdale (bow), and J. Dugdale (cox). Unfortunately, Harding subsequently died of consumption, and then C. Wise stroked the Four himself, and won the same race four times running afterwards. Wise won the sculls at the Windsor Regatta five years running; he and G. R. Dugdale beat W. H. Eyre and J. Hastie (winners of the Goblets at Henley); and the same pair also defeated W. Chillingworth and C. Herbert (who, too, had won the Goblets). At one of the Town Regattas at Windsor Charlie Wise accomplished a very fine performance. He won his heat in the sculling race (over the winding course of nearly three miles), beating Chillingworth and Herbert, and also won the final heat, defeating Vaughan. He then successively rowed in and won the Castle Plate and Challenge Cup (both four-oared races), beating Eton College B.C., and wound up the afternoon by being in the winning boat of the Scratch Eights, which was, it must be admitted, a very smart performance.

At one time the Excelsior always sent a crew to Henley, but of late years the members have not been so keen on doing so. In the year 1866 the Eton Excelsior Four won the old Town Challenge Cup Race, and repeated the performance in the following year. On the next occasion they missed it, but gained the trophy again in 1869 as well as in 1870. In the year 1884 this race, it will be remembered, was cut out of the Henley programme. The best performance the Excelsior has done of late years was when they got into the final of the Thames Challenge Cup, some three or four years ago. In the year 1892 the Excelsior Four did a good performance at the Maidenhead Regatta, when they made a dead heat of it with a very strong Orkney Cottage crew for the Challenge Cup. The Fours comprised the following:—Eton Excelsior—F. Wilkinson (bow), E. Willis, W. Herbert, H. R. Taylor (stroke), A. M. Leamon (cox); Orkney Cottage B.C.—H. B. Cotton (bow), C. Pemberton, R. C. Lehmann, C. W. Kent (stroke), C. P. Serocold (cox). The latter caught the Excelsior on the post, and the excitement was intense. Each held the trophy for six months. The Eton crew had won on the previous Saturday at Marlow. At Reading Regatta, in 1880, the Excelsior Junior Four made a record time, which has never yet been beaten there. The Club have at different times gained a large number of events at the various regattas, and at Marlow won the Upper Thames Dongola Championship.

In the dressing room of their quarters, the Excelsior have a barbel in a case; the fish jumped into the bow of a four-oar which was going up the river, off the Brocas, for a race.

The Club is now in a healthy condition as regards members, and a junior four will be seen at the Windsor Regatta this afternoon. The Annual Club Regatta is generally held at the end of August over the old course above the bridge.

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