Twickenham Rowing Club

Twickenham Rowing Club
Location	Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, London, England
Coordinates	51°26′44.1″N 0°19′31.6″W / 51.445583°N 0.325444°WCoordinates: 51°26′44.1″N 0°19′31.6″W / 51.445583°N 0.325444°W
Home water	Tideway
Founded	1860
Affiliations	British Rowing
Website	www.twickenhamrc.co.uk
Events
Twickenham Regatta
Notable members
Henri, Duc D'Aumale Jefferson Lowndes George Q Roberts David E Brown Hugh Comyn

Twickenham Rowing Club was founded on 26 July 1860 so is jointly with Thames Rowing Club the third oldest rowing club on the Thames. The club is on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, south-west London. Its boat code is TWK.

The club's colour is dark blue with either magenta bands or a single wide band across the middle of the oars (rowing oars are usually arranged normally fesswise).

History

Henri, Duc D'Aumale (the fifth son of the exiled king of France, Louis Philippe I, who lived at York House in Twickenham) helped to found the club and was its first President from 1860 to 1897. The freehold to the land on which the clubhouse stands was donated to the rowing club in 1876, by HRH Le Comte de Paris, 'King' Philippe VII (1838–1894), Louis Philippe I's grandson and the pretender to the disbanded French throne. The latter's son, Philippe VIII, Duc D'Orleans (1869–1899) became the Club's second President from 1898 to 1899.

Construction and facilities

The first boathouse was built in 1861/62 as a floating structure and was moored at some point off Twickenham Ait which became known as Eel Pie Island. The boathouse cost £295, a large sum as fully paid for out of ordinary income, by 1866.^{[n 1]}

For a few years the reading room of Twickenham Literary Society was shared as the meeting-up point from 1864.

The floating boathouse remained for several years despite sinking on a couple of occasions. When the club became owners of the current site the boathouse was put ashore and finally sold in 1882/83 for a nominal £32. The Thames Conservancy provided the ballast to raise the ground level where it rested.

By March 1866 the boathouse contained:

• 1 Cutler eight,
• 2 Gig eights,
• 2 Cutler fours,
• 2 Gig fours,
• 1 Skiff and
• 1 Punt.

In 1889 it was proposed to build a bridge to the island but that did not happen until 1957.

Accolades

The Club is one of the founding members of The Remenham Club, a social and event-celebratory club with an enclosure at Henley Royal Regatta.

Aside from notable national oarsmen and women mentioned top right, Twickenham have won:

• A few trophies at the Head of the River Race since 1926.
• The novice club pennant (as winners) at the Women's Eights Head of the River Race in 1999^[1]
• A small number of events in various years at the Fours head
• A small number of events at the Pairs head
• At Henley Royal Regatta:
  • Three times at the Silver Goblets (these involved Jefferson Lowndes in the 19th century)
  • The club's top eight was one of six crews to qualify for the Thames Challenge Cup, reaching the quarter finals in 2014.
  • The club once won this event, but in the slowest winning time for a final.

See also

• Rowing on the River Thames

External links

• Twickenham Rowing Club official website
• Twickenham Underground — unofficial website (and out-of-date)

Notes and references

Notes

1. equivalent to £24,408 in 2016.

References

1. Women's Head of the River Race