A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



retaining the office for twenty-six years until his 

 death, when he was succeeded by Sir John 

 Turney, one of the original members, who still 

 occupies the position. Among the early mem- 

 bers were W. H. and J. T. Mallet, R. Edmond- 

 stone, R. F. Hardy, J. H. Jacoby, C. Coggan, 

 A. P. Lacey, W. Glaser, R. S. Earp, F. B. 

 XV bitty, J. Johnstone, W. H. Blackburn, A. C. 

 Pearse, H. Bradley, H. Browne, A. R. Bilbie, 

 and H. M. Schofield. Under its fostering care, 

 rowing increased in popularity, and several 

 notable racing crews have been turned out, 

 including such sterling men as G. Reckless, 

 J. Gaskin, J. White, Greer, A. W. Ward, 

 A. H. Strachan, J. H. Williamson, H. Brown, 

 T. S. Cheetham, S. Howitt, L. H. King, G. 

 King, Dr. Noble, A. Darby, H. H. Bowden, 

 and others. In 1882 the Rowing Club resus- 

 citated the regatta, which for several years, after 

 being held at irregular intervals, had lapsed 

 altogether. In addition to the Corporate Plate, 

 the Challenge Trophy, the Smith Challenge 

 Cup, and the Page Cups, the club offered in 

 1897 the Victoria Gold Vase, value 250 gns., 

 perhaps the most valuable trophy in the rowing 

 world, and since then the list of trophies which 

 are the property of the club has been augmented 

 by the Berrey Cup and the Willows Cup. 

 The regatta has gone on from success to success, 

 and to-day is, at all events as regards entries, the 

 most important in the provinces, the number of 

 entries in 1907 being equal to those at Henley. 



To give a complete list of the trophies won 

 by the club at open regattas would be impossible 

 in the space at our disposal. In 1897 the 

 senior four had a most successful season, the 

 Boddington Vase (Stourport), the City of Chester 

 Vase, the Burton Town Plate, and the Notting- 

 ham Corporate Plate being captured. But two 

 years later this record was eclipsed. Then they 

 won practically every valuable trophy away from 

 Henley, the total value of the plate held by the 

 club at the end of the season being about 1,000. 

 The decision of Messrs. King to go in for pair- 

 oar racing in the following year broke up prob- 

 ably the best crew that had ever represented the 

 club, and from the point of view of racing the 

 ensuing seasons were disappointing, though in 

 other respects they were marked by increased 

 activity and advancing membership. In 1904 

 as in 1908 the experiment was tried of holding 

 the annual regatta over the new course at Trent 

 Bridge, and on that occasion the club won the 

 Corporate Plate, which they retained the fol- 

 lowing year. Some difficulty has been ex- 

 perienced of late years in selecting settled senior 

 crews, but the attention devoted to maiden 

 crews, no fewer than four of whom competed at 

 certain regattas in 1908, should bear fruit in the 

 future. The number of members is 208, of 

 whom forty-six are honorary and twenty-nine 

 life members. The club possesses a larger fleet 



of boats than any rowing club off the Thames, 

 and in addition to a well-equipped boathouse at 

 Trent Bridge, opened in 1886, has a houseboat, 

 with a flourishing branch, at Beeston, where a 

 regatta is held annually. The Nottingham 

 Rowing Club is affiliated to the Amateur Row- 

 ing Association, and is one of the two provincial 

 clubs having a representative (Mr. H. Cover 

 Ford) on that body. 



The present captain is Mr. S. H. Hind, the 

 vice-captain Mr. J. H. Ratcliffe, and the 

 honorary secretaries Messrs. J. H. Trease and 

 T. E. Palmer. 



The Nottingham Britannia Rowing Club, 

 founded in the year 1869, was the offspring of a 

 canoe club, and had its quarters at Radford's 

 (now Whitty's) boat-building premises on the 

 Trent. It was not until 1892 that the club 

 possessed a boathouse of its own. In that 

 year the present well-equipped structure was 

 erected on land belonging to Earl Manvers, 

 the pavilion being opened in July by the late 

 Mr. H. Smith Wright, M.P., who was 

 then acting president. Unfortunately, the re- 

 cords of the early days of the club have been 

 lost, but for many years it was essentially a 

 pleasure organization, though founded on a sound 

 business basis, having been floated as a limited 

 liability company. After a time the members, 

 encouraged by the example of the Rowing and 

 Union Clubs, began to prepare crews for racing 

 purposes, their first senior crew being successful 

 in winning the plate given by the corporation of 

 Nottingham when first offered in 1882. Again 

 in 1883 they carried off the trophy, the winning 

 crew on both occasions being Messrs. Winterton, 

 Wharton, T. Danks, and T. Wood. The club 

 had several crews out between 1885 and 1895, 

 but there was a lack of that enthusiasm which 

 ensures success. In 1897 the Gresley Plate at 

 Burton-on-Trent tell to the Britannia Club, and 

 the following year they won the Drakelowe 

 Plate at the same place, while the Mansion 

 House Vase at Bui ton was secured in 1899 and 

 1900. Purchasing a new boat, the club deter- 

 mined in 1901 to make a special effort to 

 obtain premier place on the river. Splendid 

 form was shown by the senior crew, who won 

 the Boddington Vase at Stourport, the Chester 

 Cup at Chester, the Borough Plate at Burton, 

 and the President's Plate at Bridgnorth. In the 

 two following years the Britannia again showed 

 to advantage, capturing in 1902 the Burton 

 Borough Plate, the Evesham Mayor's Prize for 

 pairs, the Chester Cup, and the West of Eng- 

 land Vase at Bath, and in 1903 they repeated 

 several of their previous victories, including the 

 Borough Plate at Burton, the Chester Cup at 

 Chester, the Corporate Plate at Nottingham, 

 and the Derwent Plate at Derby. With the 

 exception of the Birmingham crew, which won 

 the Victoria Gold Vase at Nottingham, it is 



