A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



attempt was not very successful. For a year or 

 two, however, the Tyne A.R.C. and the 

 Durham School Club sent in crews, and on two 

 occasions at least the race afforded capital sport. 

 This was notably the case in 1896, when A. 

 Appleby and S. Sutherland, from the School, 

 won a very fine race against a Tyne pair by a 

 foot or two. 



Nor has Durham in late years attracted much 

 sculling talent. T. Bourn of Ryton was a good 

 sculler in the nineties ; and in earlier days the 

 Tyne A.R.C. had high-class scullers in Pickett 

 and Wallace. In the seventies the regatta saw 

 Lawton, a sculler of great power and style from 

 York, and Fawcus of Tynemouth, who was in 

 a class by himself. 



Professional rowing in these days is not what 

 it once was. There are still professional races 

 at the regatta : a handicap race, in clinker-built 

 fours, over the short course, attracts many 

 entries and is the occasion of much enthusiasm 

 among the supporters of the various crews. But 

 the rowing is not of the class which characterized 

 the days of the great north-country champions. 

 In the fifties and sixties and seventies there were 

 races for professionals both in fours and pairs 

 over the long course. Thus in 1856 a crew 

 containing Chambers, R. Clasper, H. Clasper 

 and Jack Clasper won the Patron's Plate for 

 fours, while Jack Clasper and H. Clasper won 

 the pairs. A four-oared crew of much the same 

 composition won in 1857. In 1858 the crew of 

 Claspers — father and sons — won a celebrated 

 race against the Taylor brothers. The same 

 great names occur for many following years. The 

 families of Clasper, Chambers, and Taylor, and 

 men like the Matfins and Winships and Cooper 

 raced at Durham Regatta in fours and pairs and 

 sculls. To meet the heroes of the Tyne 

 Durham turned out Ebdy and Howson, Newby 

 and the Marshalls, who rowed with strong limbs 

 and stout hearts and varying success. Later on the 

 Tyne sent Renforth. It was at Durham that poor 

 Renforth rowed his last race. He came with 

 the four (Percy, Chambers, Kelly, Renforth) 

 which was just about to start for America to 

 row a great match. It will be remembered 

 how during the American race Renforth was 

 suddenly taken ill and was lifted out of the boat 

 to die. 



Durham rowing owes a great deal to these 

 professionals. Their matches inspired a great 

 deal of enthusiasm. The men themselves were 

 enthusiasts in their sport. They were first-rate 

 exponents of oarsmanship and fine watermen. 

 Rising amateur oarsmen watched these men row 

 and received the same sort of stimulus which the 

 young cricketer receives when he watches Hirst 

 or Rhodes or Hayward. North-country rowing 

 drew an impulse and a strong vitality from the 

 northern professionals. 



While Durham Regatta has done good work 



in fostering rowing in the north, it may also 

 claim to have done no small service to rowina: 

 in general by affording an early training to a 

 nurhber of oarsmen who have afterwards dis- 

 tinguished themselves at Henley and in the 

 Oxford and Cambridge boat race. Durham 

 School has sent out a number of men who have 

 won their blues, and it is certain that Durham 

 School rowing would not have been what it 

 has been without the stimulus of Durham 

 Regatta. 



Before the institution of the Challenge Cup 

 in 1854 W. King from Durham School had 

 rowed in the Oxford Eight. In 1854 we find 

 the name of J. Arkell in the school crew. 

 Arkell rowed in the Oxford Eight in 1857 and 

 the two following years. He was president of 

 the O.U.B.C. in his third season, and as presi- 

 dent instituted the Trial Eights at Oxford. At 

 Henley he won the Silver Goblets for pairs. 

 Two years later (1856) in the school crew were 

 B. N. Cherry and H. J. Chaytor, of whom the 

 former rowed for Cambridge in i860, the latter 

 in 1859, i860, and 1861. 



C. R. Carr appears in the school crews from 

 1857 ^° i860. He rowed in the Oxford Eights 

 of 1862 and 1863 and was president of the 

 O.U.B.C. in the following year. 



From 1865 to 1867 W. H. Lowe was in the 

 school crew, and in 1868, 1870, and 1871 he 

 was in the Cambridge Eight. Contemporaries 

 of these men, although never in the school crew, 

 were J. H. Fish, who rowed in the Oxford 

 Eight in 1867, as did E. S. Carter in 1868 and 

 1869. 



In 1 87 1 and 1872 C. D. Shafto was learning 

 in the school fours at Durham the style and 

 generalship which he displayed as stroke of the 

 Cambridge Eight four years later in 1876 and 

 again in 1877 — the year of the dead heat. 

 E. H. Dykes belongs to the same period as 

 Shafto. He was not a ' blue,' as he was too 

 light for the Putney course, but he was one of 

 the most perfect oarsmen and watermen who 

 ever rowed at Durham or at Cambridge. He 

 did work for Durham and for Jesus College, 

 Cambridge, which puts him in the very foremost 

 rank of north-country oarsmen. 



In 1878 another Durham boy, E. H. Prest, 

 who had rowed in three school crews, stroked 

 the Cambridge Eight, and a schoolfellow, 

 LI. R. Jones, who had been in the school crew 

 from 1875 to 1877, was bow. Prest was presi- 

 dent of the C.U.B.C. in 1879 and 1880, row- 

 ing bow in these years. His schoolfellow, 

 Jones, was secretary of the C.U.B.C. in 1 881 

 and rowed in the University boat race of 1882. 

 In 1879 Prest and Jones were stroke and bow 

 respectively of the Jesus College Eight which 

 won the Grand at Henley. They had had in 

 1875 as companion in their school crew R. H.J. 

 Poole, who rowed in the Oxford Eight in 1880 



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