Rowing & Regatta Goes Digital

Maurice Phelps's book will soon be out.

The June/July issue of Rowing & Regatta arrived in the mail today, and editor Wendy Kewley and her contributors have done it again, managed to pack this double issue with loads of interesting and well-written articles - Bravo! Of course, it's a British rowing magazine, so a June/July issue of 2012 should be filled with previews of the regatta in Henley and the Olympic rowing regatta. But there is also interesting pieces about gig rowing (the World Pilot Gig Championships on the Scilly Isles), surfboat rowing, World Cup rowing, International Adaptive Regatta in Italy, an interview with Maureen Thomson, who was the team leader for the British women's squad at the Olympic Games in Moscow, questions & answers with Olympic champion Sir Steve, 'Skiffing', Master rowing, and .... well, the list goes on and on. For those interested in rowing history, R&R offers two well-written pieces about 'The Kettering Four' and the River and Rowing Museum's latest exhibit on historian Tom Weil's collection of rowing prizes, written by himself.

It was, however, a short little blurb about a soon to be published book that really caught my eye: Maurice Phelps's book on his famous family and ancestors, The Phelps Dynasty. The book is not out as of yet, but Tim Koch wrote about Maurice Phelps's hard work with his book already on 1 November, 2011. More about the book is to come in the August issue of R&R, Kewley promise. She also writes that R&R now is available online and that you as a British Rowing member can opt-in to a digital version of the magazine for only £3, non-members pay £24.99. Go to www.britishrowing.org/r&r-onlinewww.britishrowing.org/r&r-online for more details.

More Tobacco Cards

Bernard Hempseed of New Zealand sent me an e-mail today about some of the tobacco cards he has in his collection. Bernard writes,

Further to the three cards you loaded on HTBS on 23 April. Here are some scans of several others that I have. The two from ‘Who’s Who in Sport’ (Major Goodsell; above) were issued in the UK and Commonwealth countries by Lambert & Butler in 1926, and there are 50 in the set.

The card from ‘Sports Champions’ (E.A. 'Ted' Phelps; on the left) was issued by Ardath in 1935 and again 50 in the set. The card from ‘Champions’ (Eric Phelps) was issued by Gallagher also in 1935.

The card from ‘Kings of Speed’ (Henry 'Bobby' Pearce) was issued by Churchman in 1939 which would have been one of the last sets issued before WWII which stopped most issues.

There may be other cards from other series and/or issuers but these are the ones I know of.

An earlier set were the ones from Allen & Ginter (USA) which was called ‘The World’s Champions’ and had the following: William Beach, John Teemer, Ned Trickett, Ned Hanlan, Wallace Ross, Jake Gaudaur, George Hosmer, John Mckay, Albert Hamm, and George Bubear. These were issued in 1887. They are hard to get but high quality copies exist on the net and can be downloaded. Hanlan, Beach, Gaudaur, and Teemer also feature on a set of ‘Old Judge’ cards, I guess issued about the same time. These can also be found on the net.

Thank you, Bernard! If you are getting interested in collecting cards of this kind, go to Bill Miller's web site, Friends of Rowing History, by clicking here.

Three British Rowing Champions Of 1923

Here is a nice collection (although, not in a perfect condition) of three British Rowing Champions of 1923: on top, R.W. Phelps of Putney (No. 46), the winner of the Doggett's Coat and Badge Race; on the left, J. Beresford Jun of Thames RC (No. 32), winner of the Wingfield Sculls; and M.K. Morris of the London RC (No. 33), winner of the Diamond Challenge Cup at Henley.

As you can see these are cigarette cards from the tobacco company Callahers which was founded by Tom Callaher in Derry, Ireland, in 1857. Seventy-five cards of "British Champions of 1923" came out in 1924.

More Great Rowing Pictures

For some weeks now, I have been busy with research and writing pieces for the British magazine ROWING & REGATTA and the Swedish rowing magazine SVENSK RODD. Parallel to this I have begun a writing project that, actually, has nothing to do with rowing. It is too early to say how big of a task this is, and if I can pull it through, but thanks to Tim Koch in London, I still have something to post here on my blog.

True to his habit, Tim has found another wonderful photo archive, corbisimages.com which, he writes “is a commercial one, so I’m not sure about the legal issues of reproducing the pictures (though they all have spoilers).”

If you go to corbisimages.com and type in ‘rowing’ you get thousands of results, most not relevant to the sport, Tim writes. Some of these you might have seen for sale on eBay, but most of them are not. To be able to watch the pictures below you have to click on the underlined number.

Here are some of Tim’s favourites (with his captioning). Enjoy!

Nice crew picture 1890: No. 1

In place of a firm handshake 1920: No. 2

Wellesley Women 1922: No. 3

1950s sexist caption: No. 4

American coaches, big horns, great clothes: No. 5 No. 6 No. 7

Third class, smoking? (This is one of my favourites, too): No. 8

Wartime spirit: No. 9

Minnesota Boat Club: No. 10 No. 11

The history of African American rowing in the USA: No. 12

Interesting early women rowing: No. 13

Nothing is new: No. 14

Nice rowing kit: No 15

A good student: No. 16

Twelve years later: No. 17

Again, many, many thanks to Tim!

See's Doggett Race In 1899

Our story about John ‘Jack’ See, the winner of the Doggett Coat and Badge Race in 1899, continues: six watermen were competing in this race on 3 August: Henry William Gobbett of Poplar, Moses Lewis Thomas Gibson of Putney, John Thomas Phelps of Putney, Thomas Alfred Chapman of Bermondsay, Charles William Terry of Bermondsay, and John ‘Jack’ See of Hammersmith.

The day after the race, which was between London Bridge and the Old Swan at Chelsea, a distance of close to five miles, The Times published a short race report. In the article it says that Gobbett was best off at the start, but after 50 yards Phelps passed him, and at Blackfriars Bridge, he had a two-and-a-half lengths lead. Gobbett was second, four lengths in front of Gibson, and then Chapman, See, and Terry.

The Times’s correspondent writes: “See wisely kept over on the Surrey shore in smooth water, and by the time Westminster Bridge was reached he was nearly, if not quite, level with Phelps.” At Lambeth and Vauxhall Bridges, See was ahead, and at Nine Elms, Phelps spurted but, ”made little impression on the leader, who was rowing with good judgment.”

See won easily in 27 min. 34 sec. However, The Times writes, “After the race the executive, considering that one of the competitors had been coached, which is against the rules, would not decide upon the winner.” At a dinner held by the Fishmongers’ Company, See was pronounced the winner. Gibson was second, Phelps third, and then Chapman, Terry, and Gobbett.

Thomas Doggett Coat and Badge Race

Doggett Coat and Badge Race is the oldest exciting rowing race in the world. The Irish actor and comedian Thomas Doggett instituted the race in 1714 in honour of the accession of George I to the English throne. According to Doggett it was to be an annually race on 1 August that was going to go on ‘for ever’. The first race was in 1715 between London Bridge and Chelsea for six watermen, who were in their ‘first year of freedom’, meaning the first year out of their apprenticeship. Not only were the winner given a cash prize, he would also be given ‘an Orange Livery with a Badge representing Liberty’. The badge shows a ‘Wild Horse (of Hanover)’.

Little is know about Thomas Doggett before he came to London around 1690, but he was an actor at Drury Lane where he later became manager. He was also active in politics as a Whig, and during this time he frequently appeared in The Spectator and The Tatler. After his death in 1721, the Fishmongers' Company has been organizing the race with some modifications.

The famous artist and caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson ((1756–1827) has depicted the race and the watermen a couple of times, and many versifier have tried their hands on illustrating the race:

Let your oars like lightning flog it,
Up the Thames as swiftly jog it,
An you’d win the Prize of Doggett
The glory of the River!
Bending, bowing, straining, rowing,
Perhaps the wind in fury blowing
Or the Tide against you flowing
The Coat and Badge for ever!

In 1908, the well-known rowing authorities Theodore Andrea Cook and Guy Nickalls published Thomas Doggett Deceased – A Famous Comedian, which not only tells the story about Doggett, but also gives a good insight in the London theatre world during the late 1600s and the beginning of 1700s.

Today, the Fishmongers' Company is still organizing the race, although the race is now held varies days in July.

Click here to watch a couple of minutes of the Doggett’s race in 1960, showing some of the members of the famous family of watermen, the Phelps.