General Royal Regatta page
1860 -1869, THE HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA
1860: First Trinity B.C., Cambridge won the Grand in 8:55 ?
The Diamonds was won again by H.H. Playford (London R.C.) in 12:08
New College Oxford Rowing Blazers
Baily's magazine of Sports and Pastimes [Grand Challenge Cup only, other races to be found here -
This annual aquatic festival came off on the 25th and 26th of last month;
and if the entries did not come up to the average of former years,
there was the novelty of a College crew coming to contest the Grand Challenge Cup,
for eight oars, with the London Rowing Club, who, with their splendid crew of last year,
defeated both the Universities.
London rowed over the course for the first time on Saturday, the 16th,
while the First Trinity did not arrive till the 20th, having been some time previously
at their favourite quarters at Maidenhead.
Those who most closely watched the rowing of these two boats remained in doubt
whether to back the lively dash of the Trinity blue or the powerful drag of the London blue and white;
the latter telling its own tale against the heavy wind and a stream of three times its ordinary strength,
which prevailed throughout the practice week.
...
This, of course, was the race that created the most speculation and excitement,
in which a College crew was pitted against the Metropolitan Club.
It will be remembered that the First Trinity, with this identical crew, beat Baliol over this course
last year for the Ladies' Plate, since which, constant practice has brought them to be very nearly
if not quite equal to a University eight. One or two of the London were decidedly not up to the mark,
a long training, perhaps, having been too much for them; and although there was a powerful drag throughout,
already alluded to, there was not the jumping power possessed by the Cantabs, or which has been so often witnessed,
on all the principal regatta courses, in London crews.
The policy, also, of so heavy a coxswain as Mr. H. H. Playford, in a race,
is a point on which difference of opinion is sure to exist, though, of course,
in practice his experience was very valuable.
[Playford did win the Diamonds as some compensation for being accused of heaviness!]
The actual race may be described in a few words. The Londoners, as they generally do,
obtained a lead of perhaps twenty feet, but being in the centre station, with Trinity on the tow-path,
or No. 1. station, this was soon reversed; and though London rowed exceedingly plucky for nearly half a mile,
the light blue gradually stole away, though London came up the Bucks side, and Trinity the tow-path;
so, when London were obliged to cross over to Poplar Point, they came out astern,
and Cambridge seemed to put on a grand spurt, which made London, directly they came into their wash,
appear to cut it, thus causing a gap of three lengths at the winning post.
The gallant struggles of the London stroke were, as they always are, most conspicuous,
and it would be presumption to say, after so fine a race, that the metal throughout the boat
was not quite what we have been used to see. Time, 8 min. 55 sec. Betting, 7 to 5 on Cambridge.
1861: First Trinity B.C., Cambridge again won the Grand in 8:15 ?
The Diamonds was won again by A.A. Casamajor (London R.C.) in 10:04
1862: London R.C. won the Grand in 8:02 ?
The Diamonds was won by E.D. Brickwood (London R.C.) in 10:40
Henley Regatta in 'Church and State Review by Archdeacon Denison
The Gentleman's magazine vol 226 by John Nichols -
The records of Henley Regatta are so full of good racing that it is almost impossible
to pick out any one race as better than others;
but the dead heat for the Diamond Sculls in 1862 must not be forgotten.
This was a great sight, as both men, doing all they knew, rowed stroke for stroke, side by side,
all up the straight, and it was a glorious exhibition of good pluck and good sculling.
1863: University College, Oxford won the Grand in 7:45 ?
The Diamonds was won by C.B. Lawes (Third Trinity B.C., Cambridge) in 9:43
1864: Kingston R.C. won the Grand in 7:40 ?
The Diamonds was won by W.B. Woodgate (Brasenose College, Oxford) in 10:10 ??
George Leslie "Our River" written in 1881, first saw the Regatta in 1864:
I witnessed Henley Regatta for the first
time a year or two after my stay at the "Angel".
[ He stayed at "the Angel" in about 1856. We are in a position to calculate the value of "a year or two".
Since George says Eton won the Ladies Plate the possible dates are 1864 or 1866-1870.
A year or two must most likely therefore be in 1864. ]
It was in company with Charles Dickens junior, and a young
American friend, W.D.Morgan, the son of my father's and Dicken's old friend,
Captain Morgan. A boat had been sent
down to Henley from Searle's for us, and we had beds procured for us in the
town, taking our breakfast at the "Angel", of mutton chops at which repast I
have still a kindly recollection. I
have witnessed the Regatta nearly every year since, but the impression of that
first one remains still in my memory as bright and exciting as ever.
The Eton boys won the Ladies' Challenge,
and as young Dickens was a rowing man, and member of the London Rowing Club, he
met with a great number of friends, who entertained us with cups, and all sorts
of hospitality. The evening of the
second day was passed in a variety of wild amusements, amongst other things a
moonlight dance round an unfortunate organ grinder; we formed a ring with joined hands, and whirled furiously around,
whilst he had to play for his life in the middle. Then a party surrounded the door of Mr. Towsey, the Clerk of the
Course, and summoned him to come out and read the rules, about which there had
been some dispute during the day; a
speech was also made from the bed-room window over Mr. Thackara's shop, by a
member of the L. R. C., surnamed "Slogger", which excited the men below so
much, that an attempt was made to scale the window; in the end I believe the "Slogger" had the best of it.
After this a member of the Berks
Constabulary arrived, and with a little kind persuasion, peace and quiet at
length prevailed.
1865: Kingston R.C. won the Grand again in 7:26 ?
The Diamonds was won by E.B. Michell (Magdalen College, Oxford) in 9:11
NOTICE
Great inconvenience was yesterday experienced by the Crews from SAILING BOATS
and STEAM YACHTS Sailing and Steaming on the Regatta Course during the time of the Races.
The Stewards therefore urgently request that Gentlemen in command of yachts and Boats
will abstain from accompanying the Races and from intruding on the Course.
Charles Towsey, Secretary.
Committee Room, Thursday 29th June, 1865.
E Kinch, Printer, Henley.
1866: Etonian Club, Oxford won the Grand in 8:29
The Diamonds was won again by E.B. Michell (Magdalen College, Oxford) in 9:55
The Arts of Rowing and Training, instructions for coxswains -
At Henley the course to be kept is in midstream (or according to position at starting)
until nearing Poplar Point, when the towpath bank should be hugged quite close
until halfway up the last straight reach,
when the second arch of the bridge from the Berkshire side should be aimed at.
The towpath side is generally considered the best at starting - that is to say,
in the absence of wind, or if there is a breeze off the Berkshire shore ;
but the centre of the river is the preferable course, unless a gale blows down the reach,
or off the Buckinghamshire bank, when the shelter of the bushes on that side may be sought
and cultivated for three quarters of a mile.
1866: 1st September, 'The Saturday Review' -
By the first week of June, we find that not only at Oxford and Cambridge, but among the amateur clubs -
Kingston, Leander, and London-training has commenced for the most charming and the most important of our regattas -
Henley. The list of entries promised sport in abundance, and the results exceeded the promise.
Oxford sent no College eight, but sent a more formidable lot in the Etonian Club,
which comprised many University oarsmen; Cambridge sent First Trinity,
the head boat on the Cam; and Eton College and Radley were both represented.
There are seldom any disagreeable incidents connected with the Henley Regatta;
but at one moment an objection made by the London Rowing Club against Mr. Woodgate,
on the ground that he had disqualified himself as an amateur by having made and rowed the match with Hoare,
promised to be a fruitful subject of discord.
But the Stewards came to an immediate decision upon the point, and,
without calling upon Mr. Woodgate to argue his defence, dismissed the plaintiff's case
upon the ground that whoever were members of amateur rowing clubs - and Mr. Woodgate was a member
of the Kingston Club - must be considered by the Henley Committee as an amateur.
We think that the Stewards came to a perfectly sound conclusion, but upon perfectly erroneous grounds.
There is no rule which debars an amateur from rowing against a waterman,
unless the match is made between them for money.
The engagement entered into on the part of Mr. Woodgate was simply to pay to the waterman
a given sum if the waterman won. It was a condition of the match that,
as between the two competitors, Mr. Woodgate should in no event, whether he should be winner or loser,
receive anything; and the fact that a heavy bet depended collaterally upon the result
was entirely beside the true question.
The bet was not made with Hoare,
and although we think it an ill-judged act on the part of Mr. Woodgate to allow any money
to be staked by his friends upon the race, once grant that it is competent
for a man as an amateur to make a match with a waterman for love,
and you can hardly escape the conclusion that it is as competent for the gentlenan to bet with a third person,
whether he be a well-known backer of the waterman or not,
as it would have been for Mr. Griffiths to bet Mr. Henley £1
or any other sum upon the University boat race, and the latter proposition has never been doubted.
Does, then, the fact of money having been staked by Mr. Woodgate or his friends alter the case?
We think not, and however objectionable in point of taste it may be for a gentleman
to have a staked bet depending upon his race, there is a clear distinction between rowing for a stake
and rowing with a staked bet upon the race, but not made with your adversary;
and no one should so lightly have wrought so serious an accusation
against a distinguished University Oarsman.
But the Henley Stewards had better not have entered into "reasons,"
for those which were given will not bear any investigation.
To hold that a Regatta Committee cannot consider any objections made against a man rowing as an amateur,
so long as he is a member of a recognised amateur rowing club,
is virtually to empower every club denominated an amateur club to pack a boat with professional watermen.
So startling a proceeding may not be adopted; but a great number of so-called "amateur" clubs
have sprung up within the last few years, and to suppose that all of them will at all times have
one orthodox opinion upon the meaning of the word "amateur" is to put a confidence in human nature
which we should find at some regatta had been terribly misplaced.
Clearly, so long as there are rules to regulate amateur races on the river,
the interpretation of those rules must rest with the stewards, or the committee, of each regatta,
and not with the club who make a disputed entry. We commend this subject to future committees.
To return to the rowing ...
1867: Etonian Club, Oxford won the Grand in 7:54
The Diamonds was won by W.C. Crofts (Brasenose College, Oxford) in 10:02
1868: The Diamonds was won by W. Stout (London R.C.) in 9:06
1868: London R.C. won the Grand in 7:23 ?
[ the Grand result fits with the following fictional account
of a Grand heat and then final, But, of course our hero wins the Diamonds]
Henley Royal Regatta, 1868, from “Hard Cash” by Charles Reade -
HARD CASH [ROWING EXCERPTS]
Edward was solemnly weighed in his jersey and flannel
trousers, and proving only eleven stone eight, whereas he had been ungenerously
suspected of twelve stone,
(There was at this time a prejudice against weight, which has yielded to experience)
was elected to the vacant oar by acclamation. He
was a picture in a boat; and, "Oh!!! well pulled, six!!" was a hearty
ejaculation constantly hurled at him from the bank by many men of other
colleges, and even by the more genial among the cads, as the Exeter glided at
ease down the river, or shot up it in a race.
He was now as much
talked of in the university as any man of his college, except one. Singularly
enough that one was his townsman; but no friend of his; he was much Edward's
senior in standing, though not in age; and this is a barrier the junior must
not step over - without direct encouragement - at
Oxford. Moreover, the college was a large one, and some of "the sets"
very exclusive: young Hardie was Doge of a studious clique; and careful to make
it understood that he was a reading man who boated and cricketed, to avoid the
fatigue of lounging; not a boatman or cricketer who strayed into Aristotle in
the intervals of Perspiration.
His public running since
he left Harrow was as follows: the prize poem in his fourth term; the sculls in
his sixth; the Ireland scholarship in his eighth (he pulled second for it the
year before); Stroke of the Exeter in his tenth; and reckoned sure of a first
class to consummate his twofold career.
To this young Apollo,
crowned with variegated laurel, Edward looked up from a distance. The brilliant
creature never bestowed a word on him by land; and by water only such
observations as the following: "Time, Six!" "Well pulled,
Six!" "Very well pulled, Six!" Except, by-the-bye, one race;
when he swore at him like a trooper for not being quicker at starting. The
excitement of nearly being bumped by Brasenose in the first hundred yards was
an excuse. However, Hardie apologised as they were dressing in the barge after
the race; but the apology was so stiff, it did not pave the way to an
acquaintance.
...
Dear mamma,
Do come to Henley on the tenth, you and Ju. The university
eights will not be there, but the head boats of the Oxford and Cambridge river
will; and the Oxford head boat is Exeter, you know; and I pull Six.
[Mama] "Then I am truly sorry to hear it; my poor boy will overtask his strength;
and how unfair of the other young gentlemen; it seems ungenerous; unreasonable; my poor child against
so many."
And I am entered for the sculls as well, and if you and "the
Impetuosity"' (Vengeance!) 'were looking on from the bank, I do think I
should be lucky this time. Henley is a long way from Barkington, but it is a
pretty place; all the ladies admire it, and like to see both the universities
out and a stunning race.
[Mama] Oh, well, there is an epithet. One would think
thunder was going to race lightning, instead of Oxford Cambridge.
If you can come, please write, and I will get you nice lodgings; I will not let
you go to a noisy inn.
Love to Julia and no end of kisses to my pretty mamma.
From your affectionate Son,
EDWARD DODD.
They wrote off a cordial assent, and reached Henley in time to see the dullest town in Europe;
and also to see it turn one of the gayest in an hour or two; so impetuously
came both the universities pouring into it - in all known vehicles that
could go their pace - by land and water.
IT was a bright hot day
in June. Mrs. Dodd and Julia sat half reclining, with their parasols up, in an
open carriage, by the brink of the Thames at one of its loveliest bends.
About a furlong upstream a silvery stone bridge, just mellowed by time, spanned the river with
many fair arches. Through these the coming river peeped sparkling a long way
above, then came meandering and shining down; loitered cool and sombre under
the dark vaults, then glistened on again crookedly to the spot where sat its
two fairest visitors that day; but at that very point flung off its serpentine
habits, and shot straight away in a broad stream of scintillating water a mile
long, down to an island in mid-stream: a little fairy island with old trees,
and a white temple. To curl round this fairy isle the broad current parted, and
both silver streams turned purple in the shade of the grove; then winded and
melted from the sight.
This noble and rare
passage of the silvery Thames was the Henley racecourse. The starting-place was
down at the island, and the goal was up at a point in the river below the
bridge, but above the bend where Mrs. Dodd and Julia sat, unruffled by the
racing, and enjoying luxuriously the glorious stream, the mellow bridge crowded
with carriages - whose fair occupants stretched a broad band
of bright colour above the dark figures clustering on the battlements -
and the green meadows opposite with the motley crowd streaming up and
down.
Nor was that sense,
which seems especially keen and delicate in women, left unregaled in the
general bounty of the time. The green meadows on the opposite bank, and the
gardens at the back of our fair friends, flung their sweet fresh odours at
their liquid benefactor gliding by; and the sun himself seemed to burn
perfumes, and the air to scatter them, over the motley merry crowd, that
bright, hot, smiling, airy day in June.
Thus tuned to gentle
enjoyment, the fair mother and her lovely daughter leaned back in a delicious
languor proper to their sex, and eyed with unflagging though demure interest,
and furtive curiosity, the wealth of youth, beauty, stature, agility, gaiety,
and good temper, the two great universities had poured out upon those obscure
banks; all dressed in neat but easy-fitting clothes, cut in the height of' the
fashion; or else in jerseys white or striped, and flannel trousers, and straw
hats, or cloth caps of bright and various hues; betting, strolling, laughing,
chaffing, larking, and whirling stunted bludgeons at Aunt Sally.
But as for the sport
itself they were there to see, the centre of all these bright accessories,
"The Racing," my ladies did not understand it, nor try, nor care a
hook-and-eye about it.
But this mild dignified indifference to the main event
received a shock at 2 p.m.: for then the first heat for the cup came on, and
Edward was in it. So then Racing became all in a moment a most interesting
pastime - an appendage to Loving. He left to join his crew. And, soon after,
the Exeter glided down the river before their eyes, with the beloved one rowing
quietly in it: his jersey revealed not only the working power of his arms, as
sunburnt below the elbow as a gipsy's, and as corded above as a blacksmith's,
but also the play of the great muscles across his broad and deeply indented
chest: his oar entered the water smoothly, gripped it severely, then came out
clean, and feathered clear and tunably on the ringing rowlock: the boat jumped
and then glided, at each neat, easy, powerful stroke. "Oh, how beautiful
and strong he is!" cried Julia. "I had no idea.”
Presently the competitor
for this heat came down: the Cambridge boat, rowed by a fine crew in
broad-striped jerseys. "Oh, dear " said Julia, "they are odious
and strong in this boat too. I wish I was in it - with a gimlet; he
should win, poor boy."
Which corkscrew staircase to Honour being inaccessible, the race had to be decided by two
unfeminine trifles called "Speed" and "Bottom."
Few things in this vale
of tears are more worthy a pen of fire than an English boat-race is, as seen by
the runners; of whom I have often been one. But this race I am bound to
indicate, not describe; I mean, to show how it appeared to two ladies seated on
the Henley side of the Thames, nearly opposite the winning-post. These fair
novices then looked all down the river, and could just discern two whitish
streaks on the water, one on each side the little fairy isle, and a great black
patch on the Berkshire bank. The threatening streaks were the two racing boats:
the black patch was about a hundred Cambridge and Oxford men, ready to run and
hallo with the boats all the way, or at least till the last puff of wind should
be run plus halloed out of their young bodies. Others less fleet and enduring,
but equally clamorous, stood in knots at various distances, ripe for a shorter
yell and run when the boats should come up to them. Of the natives and country
visitors, those who were not nailed down by bounteous Fate ebbed and flowed up
and down the bank, with no settled idea but of getting in the way as much as
possible, and of getting knocked into the Thames as little as might be.
There was a long uneasy suspense.
At last a puff of smoke
issued from a pistol down at the island; two oars seemed to splash into the
water from each white streak; and the black patch was moving; so were the
threatening streaks. Presently was heard a faint, continuous, distant murmur,
and the streaks began to get larger, and larger, and larger; and the eight splashing
oars looked four instead of two.
Every head was now
turned down the river. Groups hung craning over it like nodding bulrushes.
Next the runners were
swelled by the stragglers they picked up; so were their voices; and on came the
splashing oars and roaring lungs.
Now the colours of the
racing jerseys peeped distinct. The oarsmen's heads and bodies came swinging
back like one, and the oars seemed to lash the water savagely, like a connected
row of swords, and the spray squirted at each vicious stroke. The boats leaped
and darted side by side, and, looking at them in front, Julia could not say
which was ahead. On they came nearer and nearer, with hundreds of voices
vociferating "Go it, Cambridge " "Well pulled, Oxford!" "You
are gaining, hurrah!" "Well pulled Trinity!" "Hurrah!"
"Oxford!" "Cambridge!" "Now is your time, Hardie; pick
her up!" "Oh, well pulled, Six!" "Well pulled,
Stroke!" "Up, up! lift her a bit!" "Cambridge!"
"Oxford!" "Hurrah!"
At this Julia turned red
and pale by turns. "O mamma!" said she, clasping her hands and
colouring high, "would it be very wrong if I was to pray for Oxford to
win?"
Mrs. Dodd had a monitory
finger; it was on her left hand; she raised it; and that moment, as if she had
given a signal, the boats, fore-shortened no longer, shot out to treble the
length they had looked hitherto, and came broadside past our palpitating fair,
the elastic rowers stretched like greyhounds in a chase, darting forward at
each stroke so boldly they seemed flying out of the boats, and surging back as
superbly, an eightfold human wave: their nostrils all open, the lips of some
pale and glutinous their white teeth all clenched grimly, their young eyes all
glowing, their supple bodies swelling, the muscles writhing beneath their jerseys,
and the sinews starting on each bare brown arm; their little shrill coxswains
shouting imperiously at the young giants, and working to and fro with them,
like jockeys at a finish; nine souls and bodies flung whole into each
magnificent effort; water foaming and flying, rowlocks ringing, crowd running,
tumbling, and howling like mad; and Cambridge a boat's nose ahead.
They had scarcely passed
our two spectators, when Oxford put on a furious spurt, and got fully even with
the leading boat. There was a louder roar than ever from the bank. Cambridge
spurted desperately in turn, and stole those few feet back; and so they went
fighting every inch of water. Bang! A cannon on the bank sent its smoke over
both competitors; it dispersed in a moment, and the boats were seen pulling
slowly towards the bridge - Cambridge with four oars, Oxford with six,
as if that gun had winged them both.
The race was over.
But who had won our party could not see, and must wait to learn.
A youth, adorned with a blue and yellow rosette, cried out, in the hearing of Mrs. Dodd, "I say,
they are properly pumped, both crews are:" then, jumping on to a spoke of
her carriage-wheel, with a slight apology, he announced that two or three were
shut up in the Exeter.
The exact meaning of
these two verbs passive was not clear to Mrs. Dodd; but their intensity was.
She fluttered, and wanted to go to her boy and nurse him, and turned two most
imploring eyes on Julia, and Julia straightway kissed her with gentle vehemence,
and offered to run and see.
"What, amongst all
those young gentlemen, love? I fear that would not be proper. See, all the
ladies remain apart." So they kept quiet and miserable, after the manner
of females.
Meantime the Cantab's
quick eye had not deceived him; in each racing boat were two young gentlemen
leaning collapsed over their oars; and two more, who were in a cloud, and not
at all clear whether they were in this world still, or in their zeal had pulled
into a better. But their malady was not a rare one in racing boats, and the
remedy always at hand: it combined the rival systems; Thames was sprinkled in
their faces - Homoeopathy: and brandy in a teaspoon trickled down their
throats - Allopathy: youth and spirits soon did the rest; and, the moment
their eyes opened, their mouths opened; and, the moment their mouths opened,
they fell a chaffing.
Mrs. Dodd's anxiety and
Julia's were relieved by the appearance of Mr. Edward, in a tweed
shooting-jacket sauntering down to them, hands in his pockets, and a cigar in
his mouth, placidly unconscious of their solicitude on his account. He was
received with a little guttural cry of delight; the misery they had been in
about him was duly concealed from him by both, and Julia asked him warmly who had
won.
"Oh, Cambridge."
"Cambridge! Why,then you are beaten?"
"Rather."
(Puff.)
...
Well, my Lady Placid, and Mr. Imperturbable, I am glad neither of your equanimities is
disturbed; but defeat is a Bitter Pill to me.
Julia said this in her
earnest voice, and drawing her scarf suddenly round her, so as almost to make
it speak, digested her Bitter Pill in silence. During which process several
Exeter men caught sight of Edward, and came round him, and an animated
discussion took place. They began with asking him how it had happened, and, as
he never spoke in a hurry, supplied him with the answers. A stretcher had
broken in the Exeter? No, but the Cambridge was a much better built boat, and
her bottom cleaner. The bow oar of the Exeter was ill, and not fit for work.
Each of these solutions was advanced and combated in turn, and then all
together. At last the Babel lulled, and Edward was once more appealed to.
"Well, I will tell
you the real truth," said he, "how it happened." (Puff.)
There was a pause of
expectation, for the young man's tone was that of conviction, knowledge, and
authority.
"The Cambridge men pulled faster than we did." (Puff.)
The hearers stared and then laughed.
"Come, old
fellows," said Edward, "never win a boat-race on dry land! That is
such a plain thing to do; gives the other side the laugh as well as the race. I
have heard a stretcher or two told, but I saw none broken. (Puff.) Their boat
is the worst I ever saw; it dips every stroke. (Puff.) Their strength lies in
the crew. It was a good race and a fair one. Cambridge got a lead and kept it.
(Puff.) They beat us a yard or two at rowing; but hang it all, don't let them
beat us at telling the truth, not by an inch." (Puff.)
...
The business
recommenced with a race between a London boat and the winner of yesterday's
heat, Cambridge. Here the truth of Edward's remark appeared. The Cambridge boat
was too light for the men, and kept burying her nose; the London craft, under a
heavy crew, floated like a cork. The Londoners soon found out their advantage,
and, overrating it, steered into their opponents water prematurely, in spite of
a warning voice from the bank. Cambridge saw, and cracked on for a foul; and
for about a minute it was anybody's race. But the Londoners pulled gallantly,
and just scraped clear ahead. This peril escaped, they kept their backs
straight and a clear lead to the finish. Cambridge followed a few feet in their
wake, pulling wonderfully fast to the end, but a trifle out of form, and much
distressed.
At this both
universities looked blue ...
Just before Edward left
his friends for "the sculls," the final heat, a note was brought to
him. He ran his eye over it, and threw it open into his sister's lap. The
ladies read it. Its writer had won a prize poem, and so now is our time to get
a hint for composition:
DEAR SIR,
Oxford must win something. Suppose we go in for these sculls. You are a
horse that can stay; Silcock is hot for the lead at starting, I hear; so I mean
to work him out of wind; then you can wait on us, and pick up the race. My head
is not well enough to-day to win, but I am good to pump the Cockney; he is
quick, but a little stale
Yours truly,
ALFRED HARDIE
Mrs. Dodd remarked that
the language was sadly figurative; but she hoped Edward might be successful in
spite of his correspondent's style.
...
The skiffs started down
at the island, and, as they were longer coming up than the eight oars, she was
in a fever for nearly ten minutes. At last, near the opposite bank, up came the
two leading skiffs struggling, both men visibly exhausted - Silcock
ahead, but his rudder overlapped by Hardie's bow; each in his own water.
"We are
third," sighed Julia, and turned her head away from the river sorrowfully.
But only for a moment, for she felt Mrs. Dodd start and press her arm; and lo!
Edward's skiff was shooting swiftly across from their side of the river. He was
pulling Just within himself, in beautiful form, and with far more elasticity
than the other two had got left. As he passed his mother and sister, his eyes
seemed to strike fire, and he laid out all his powers, and went at the leading
skiffs hand over head. There was a yell of astonishment and delight from both
sides of the Thames. He passed Hardie, who upon that relaxed his speed. In
thirty seconds more he was even with Silcock. Then came a keen struggle: but
the new comer was "the horse that could stay:" he drew steadily
ahead, and the stern of his boat was in a line with Silcock's person when the
gun fired; and a fearful roar from the bridge, the river, and the banks,
announced that the favourite university had picked up the sculls in the person
of Dodd of Exeter.
In due course he brought
the little silver sculls, and pinned them on his mother.
1869 Etonian Club, Oxford won the Grand in 7:28
The Diamonds was won by W.C. Crofts (Brasenose College, Oxford) in 9:56
The Gentleman's Magazine, Boat Racing, Henley Regatta
It was in 1869 that Charles Dickens published the Regatta's very own GHOST STORY,
complete with a ghostly punter -
"THE PHANTOM OF REGATTA ISLAND"
Temple Island was then known as Regatta Island
Henley Regatta 1869, London Illustrated News