Issue 100 - Centenary July 1997

London's pride, the Brilliants.

Although the oldest rowing club ­ Leander has been based at Henley for a hundred years this year ­ it was rowing on the Thames Tideway from Lambeth at the time of the first Henley Regatta in 1839. The club did not participate in the inaugural regatta but rowed up from London to see what it was all about, stopping overnight en route, possibly at Maidenhead or Eton, to arrive at Henley drenched with rain, at 11 o'clock.

According to a newspaper report, they then 'rowed the distance, each heat, with the racing boats in good style.' However, since the second heat of the Grand took place immediately after the first, there must be some doubt about the accuracy of this report.

Bell's Life, the major source of sporting news at that period, reported that Leander's contribution to the occasion was to offer a purse for a match between the London watermen present. This took place from the bridge, round Temple Island, and back, H. Campbell beating J. Phelps.

Encouraged by what they had seen in 1839, Leander decided by one vote to compete at Henley the following year, the Badminton Library recording: 'The King's College adopted a modification of the Leander (London) colour, which was selected some years since, we understand, when the London gentlemen rowed against the Oxonians, the King's College mounting light crimson, the very colour Leander wore, in mistake; their proper colour, in fact being scarlet though entered as red, a dull colour which no tasteful crew would think of wearing who wished to show off in the midst of a bright green scenery. The Etonians came forth looking like a clear sky, their colours being azure with a silver tassel ... The Leander went down first ... their appearance being a very tasteful "gay without being gaudy", and the crew seemed to be in lively spirits without showing the least levity.' The same report referred to Leander as 'London's Pride, the Brilliant Leander', but whether the sobriquet 'Brilliants', used frequently at the time, referred to the club's performance on the water or to its distinctive colours is uncertain.

Today, the club's colours are officially described, rather inaccurately, one feels, as 'cerise', a far cry from the light crimson mentioned above. After objecting to the eligibility of the Cambridge Subscription Rooms (London), who subsequently withdrew, Leander reached the final, to record the first of the club's many Henley successes by winning the Grand, defeating the holders, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Trinity led off the start, but according to Bell's observer, one of the Leander men 'gave a cheer and in an instant they made a burst, gradually drew ahead and, although their opponents worked most manfully at their oars, maintained the lead during the remaining distance, rowing it in 9 min 15 sec.'

In an age when the London clubs, if not the University clubs, regarded fouling as part of the game, it was perhaps too much to hope that the harmonious racing of 1840 would be repeated the following year. The Henley course at that time was very unfair, since it started at the top of Temple Island and finished just below the bridge, with the Poplar Point bend, where the present finish is situated, offering a huge advantage to the Berkshire station. For the Bucks crew to win it was more or less essential for them to gain a sufficient lead at Fawley to be able to cross over to the Berkshire side before reaching Poplar Point.

In the only heat of the Grand in 1841, University College Oxford clashed with the Cambridge Subscription Rooms in trying to get in front of them at the Point, but sportingly stopped and allowed them to get away. Leander, rowing in the final as the holders, were less altruistic. On the Bucks station, while attempting to cross over, they ran into the Cambridge Rooms, who stopped and tossed their oars to claim a foul. Leander rowed on to the finish, where the umpire, J.D. Bishop, himself a Leander man, disqualified them.

Though the decision was clearly right, R.C. Lehmann recorded that 'the result on the tempers of the Leander men was disastrous. They retired to their tent to nurse their wrath.' This could well have been no exaggeration. Seventeen years were to pass before Leander was to compete again at Henley. Despite this unpromising situation, Leander has since won more Henley trophies than any other club or university, but that is another story ...

Adapted from The Brilliants - A history of the Leander Club by Richard Burnell and Geoffrey Page
(Leander Club, 1997), £30

© Copyright Regatta Magazine, 1997.