Famous Photographer's Rowing Pics from the 1950s

Ali Mac, photo Daily Mirror

HTBS recently received an e-mail from Emile Farley of the Sons of the Thames Rowing Club with some interesting old photographs. Emile writes that a friend of his found these photographs that his father shot in the 1950s, probably in 1957, at Hammersmith. Emile sent them around to Sons of the Thames club members and was told by Colin Price, president of the club, that the boathouse in two of the pictures is the old West End Boathouse in Hammersmith where the Sons of Thames also used to be back then. Emile further writes,

I was curious about what club these men are from, as the crest on one shirt seems to say NPW RC (or perhaps PNW depending on how you read it). Colin suggested that it could be an amalgam of Westminster and National Provincial Bank’s rowing clubs, although these shots are from 1957, long before they merged in the late 1960s, so we’re not at all sure.

Here are the photographs:

There is a real 1950s touch to these pictures, don't you think? Another interesting thing with these ‘vintage’ photographs is the photographer who shot them: Alisdair Macdonald (1940-2007). The name might not ring a bell for many of you, but if you lived in London during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and on, you are very likely to have seen some of Macdonald’s photographs in the tabloids. How about the famous ‘balcony kiss’ between the newly-wed Prince Charles and Princess Diana at Buckingham Palace, Alisdair Macdonald – or Ali Mac, as he was also called at newspapers in Fleet Street – shot that. He also took pictures of that time’s celebrities, The Beatles and Michael Caine, for example, and sport pictures.

By 1960, he was employed by the Daily Mirror, and then he made a seven-year stint at the new Today newspaper, which was all in colour, and later worked for the Daily Mail. In 2004, Macdonald began as a freelance photographer. Read what the Mirror wrote about him just after he died, here, and a blog at Reuters, here.

Here is a blow-up of the crest on one of the oarsmen. To me it looks like NPW RC

‘Sons of the Thames’ – Won a Race Already in 1840

Sons of the Thames RC. Photo: Wikipedia/Martin Dixon.

Regarding last Sunday’s post about the Sons of the Thames RC, rowing historian Bernard Hempseed writes from New Zealand:

According to page 111 in The Aquatic Oracle, published in 1852, there was a crew who rowed in a boat called the “Sons of the Thames.” The boat was four-oared. They won the first prize of 1,000f (franc) at Havre Regatta in July 1840. The crew were Robert Doubledee, Robert Newell, John Doubledee, Robert Coombes at stroke, and David Coombes as cox.

Whether this crew had any connection to the later group of the same name would require more research. I suspect that “Sons of the Thames” would have been some sort of generic name. The Aquatic Oracle is a mine of information on early professional races and can be downloaded off the net, here.

An interesting aside would how the club got its shield or nominal coat of arms. It’s a bit of a mixture – a horse designed by a committee!

How Old is Sons of the Thames RC?

The following is a comment which was made to an old entry, but as it is not likely to be read where it ended up, and it is an interesting question, it get its on little post:

A friend of the club has just pointed out that Sons of the Thames were listed as third in the Town Challenge Cup of 1850. They have Wallingford against their name. We think of our history as dating from 1886. Does anyone know if the name was used as a descriptive term or is it likely to refer to the club? We are slowly pulling together some photos and stories from the past at www.sonsrowing.com/history

See also here.