Furnivall Sculling Club

British rowing club

51°29′23.7″N 0°13′54.2″W / 51.489917°N 0.231722°W / 51.489917; -0.231722 (Furnivall Sculling Club)Home waterTideway, River ThamesFounded1896 (1896)Membershipc. 100AffiliationsBritish Rowing
boat code: FSCWebsitewww.furnivall.orgNotable membersAndy Holmes

Furnivall Sculling Club is a rowing club based on the Tideway in Hammersmith, London. It was called Hammersmith Sculling Club until 1946. It was founded in 1896 by Frederick Furnivall, after whom the riverside Furnivall Gardens a few metres away are named.[1] For its initial five years, in the reign of Queen Victoria, the club was for females only and is widely considered to have had the world's first female rowing team (crew).[2] Furnivall has also admitted males since 1901. The club colours are a precise pallette: myrtle and old gold.

History

The club was founded by and is named after Frederick Furnivall (when he was 71, in April 1896).[3] It was at the time called the Hammersmith Sculling Club for Girls. Given his passionate opposition to discrimination, he wanted to break into the man's world of river sport, by building a club for women.

In 1901, men were admitted to full membership, and the name was changed to Furnivall Sculling Club for Girls and Men. However until 1946 the captaincy was restricted to female members in honour of the founding premise. After his death in 1910 the club honoured his memory by celebrating 'The Doctor's Birthday' for many years. Two female-only British rowing clubs exist: Barnes Bridge (which share premises with what was a men-only club) and Weybridge Ladies.

An octuple of Furnivall Sculling Club
Past Captains and Presidents of FSC  
Year(s) President Captain
1896-98 F. Furnivall Polly Cloud
1898-99 Ada Guintini
1899-1901 Amy Porter
1901-02 Nancy Appleby
1902-03 Amy Porter
1903-04 Julia Sutton
1904-05 Emmie Sewell
1905-06 Lizzie Skinner
1906-08 Nellie Moulden
1908-09 Cissie Clements
1909-10 Alice Dewar
1910-12 unknown Mabel Symonds
1912-13 Beatrice Harraden Cissie Clements
1913–14 Annie Prettle
1914-15 J Dickson Brown Mabel Symonds
1915–16 Lizzie Meakins
1916-17 L A Magnus Nellie Johnston
1917-18 Norah Root
1918 Betty Billson
1918–19 Norah Root
1919–20 Hilda Biesiegel
1920-21 unknown Hilda Biesiegel
1921-22 J Dickson Brown Maggie Hadley
1922–24 Mabel Hart
1924-25 H S Webb Miss F Sadler
1925-26 Louise Upton
1926 Miss B. Palin
1926-27 Nora Collins
1927-28 Violet Wadkin
1928 Claire Matthews
1928-32 Ethel Vokes
1932-34 Enid Chamberlen
1934-36 Joan Skinner
1936-37 Miss B Wymer
1937-40 Barbara Ball
1940-46 War period
1946-52 Tom Simmons
1953-68 W A Goff
1969-71 T Simmons
1971-73 A Simpson
1973-74 F Sell
1974-78 A Simpson
1978-80 P Messias
1980-85 J Robbins
1985-90 B Moore
1990–92 K Howland Alasdair Stark
1992–97 Derek Lowe
1997–99 Jake Gresswell
1999–00 Mark Somers
2000–01 Jon Lord
2001–04 Val Snewin
2004–05 Steven Albrecht
2005–06 Mark Somers Steven Albrecht
2007–08 Henry Blythe
2008–09 Steven Albrecht
2010–11 Lisa Kallal
2011–13 Sara Nanayakkara
2013 Henry Blythe
2013–16 Michael de Paoli
2016–22 Christina Thorp
2022– Jonathan Stoddart Evelyn Tichy & Joshua Morgan

As of 2022, Furnivall has over 150 members, of whom about 120 are full, active members the balance being social, gym and honorary life members.

Furnivall underwent a major refurbishment in 2009 creating the club's ergometer facility, the John Robbins Room. A further set of works in 2019 and 20 modernised the building throughout. The club is one of four non-academic clubs[n 1] along the Hammersmith bend and in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham as a whole, excluding the very small, closed 'Nautilus Club' who are based at British Rowing Headquarters, Hammersmith and who use Great Britain-ressemblent blades. The clubs locally known as 'Furnivall', A.K. and 'Sons' form a cluster with a close rivalry and subtly different emphases on age, gender and abilities within their squads.[4]

Honours

British champions

Year Winning crew/s
1984 Women L1x[5]
1985 Women L1x[6]
2003 Men L2-[7]
2006 Women 8+[8]
2008 Women 4+[9]

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ^ The other such clubs are Sons of the Thames, Auriol Kensington Rowing Club (known as A.K.) and Fulham Reach Boat Club.
References
  1. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  2. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  3. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  4. ^ Furnivall British Rowing
  5. ^ Railton, Jim (16 July 1984). "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 16 July 1984, p. 21". The Times. p. 21.
  6. ^ Railton, Jim (22 July 1985). "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 22 July 1985, p. 25". The Times. p. 25.
  7. ^ ""Today's fixtures." Times, 21 July 2003, p. 32". The Times. 21 July 2003. p. 32.
  8. ^ ""Rowing." Times, 17 July 2006, p. 57". The Times. 17 July 2006. p. 57.
  9. ^ "2008 archive of results". Web Archive. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016.

External links

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