30 June 2023

By Thomas E. Weil 

There are few fiddlers visible on Henley’s rooftops this week, but no one can miss the resonance of the tradition on display, both living and inanimate. Holding pride of place in the latter category is the collection of trophies being contested for. Demonstrating the best of Henley Royal Regatta’s efforts to swing with the times, some of the newer trophies are hot off the silversmith’s bench, but the most famous of them have histories dating back over a century and a half.

It takes a lot of work to win an HRR prize, but one could have bought a satchel of them last week with nothing more than pockets full of cash and a bidder’s paddle, and the provenance was more than impeccable, passing by descent from the very historic figure of William Bradford “Guts” Woodgate, a stalwart rowing alumnus of Radley College and Brasenose College, Oxford. Woodgate loomed large over Victorian rowing, from his domination of the Thames and his introduction of coxless fours to Henley in the 1860s to the numerous books and articles that he contributed to the rowing press for over four decades.

Rowing history is far more than the trinkets which decorate its course; memoirs, reports, race records, images and recordings all contribute to the multi-media tapestry which illuminates rowing’s stories, but, like the magpie, the rowing fan is most easily attracted to the “stuff” – the bling – and last week’s auction had more than its share of glitter. Eight lots related to Woodgate went under the auctioneer’s hammer, and the sale offered a sobering view of the valuation of rowing memorabilia. On the one hand, none of the lots were given away, but it is cause for reflection that, had one bid successfully for all of them, the total of about $20,000 spent purchasing most of the prizes won by of one of rowing’s most famous figures would barely have been enough to acquire 1/500 of Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey, which recently sold for almost $10,000,000.

The Woodgate memorabilia was consigned to Claydon Auctioneers, Middle Claydon (about fifty miles north of Henley-on-Thames), a regional auction house whose estimates grossly undervalued the amounts finally realized (and note that the hammer prices shown below do not include the additional buyer’s premium and VAT adding another 20% or so to the auctioneer’s call of “sold!”).

At the head of the list was Lot 422, described as follows “A cased collection of some of the rowing medals / medallions won by W. B. Woodgate to include the Oxford V Cambridge Putney Medal, Oxford University Eight Oar trial race Presented by the O.U.B.C, Henley Regatta Grand Challenge Cup Prize Medal, Henley Regatta Visitors Challenge Cup Prize Medal, St Peters College Pair Oar Races engraved C.A.P Talbot W.B Woodgate G W Hargreave Cox 1858, Wyfold Challenge Cop [sic] Prize Medal, Henley Regatta Stewards Challenge Cup Prize Medal, Oxford University Boat Club Challenge Prize Medal Four Oars, an 1862 Champion medal and ribbon for the Wingfield Skulls [sic], and another Oxford V Cambridge Putney Medal. Together with three Victorian silver presentation oars hallmarked London 1858, 1865 and 1867 each approx 9″ long. A Grand Procession of Boats 1863 printed silk, an embroidered silk square BRC 1869 with crossed oars to centre’. Together with W.B Woodgate’s personal copy of his published Book ‘Reminiscences of an old [sic] Sportsman’ by W.B. Woodgate published by Eveleigh Nash 1909′ and with Inscription W B Woodgate Inner Temple …’ The case 12″ wide.”

This lot alone, including as it did medals for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, the Henley Grand, Visitors, Wyfold and Stewards events, and the Wingfield Sculls, would have been the pride of any serious collection. Estimated to sell for between £500-£1000, it went for the hammer price of £5500 (about $7,000).

The next most important lot, 423, was Woodgate’s 1868 Diamond Sculls Pineapple Cup, which fetched £4200 (about $5400), well in excess of its estimated range of £200-£300. The scarcest HRR individual prize (only one is awarded every year), and arguably the most prestigious, a Pineapple Cup has elegant center-of-the-mantel or cabinet display significance, and was certainly the highlight single piece of the auction. 

Towards the end of the Woodgate treasure trove sale, his four Silver Goblets Cups, each estimated to sell for between £200-£300, went under the hammer for prices ranging from £1400 to £1600 (1861 £1400 [$1800], 1862 £1600 [$2040], 1863 £1400 [$1800] and 1868 £1500 [$1910]). Of interest, Woodgate won the Silver Goblets in five out of eight consecutive years (1861, 1862, 1863, 1866 and 1868 – he did not compete in 1864 and lost in 1865 and 1867), but one of those prizes (for 1866) was not included in the auction. Note, too, the change in style from the 1861 Cup to the Cups of 1862, 1863 and 1868.

In celebrating his rowing achievements during this Henley week, it is worth reflecting on a couple of salient facts. It is quite rare today for an individual competitor to enter for more than one event in HRR; Woodgate entered up to six events in a single Henley Regatta, winning at least one event in seven out of eight years from 1861 to 1868, two in 1861 and 1863, and three in 1862. The number of entries then contesting for honors (often half a dozen or less) is dwarfed by today’s onslaught from around the globe, and if there were only three entries in those days of old, when the course was considered to accommodate three boats, it could be a one heat event, but, even if Woodgate never rowed more than three heats in an event, all of the heats and events took place within a two-day Regatta period, so it is worth detailing – and admiring – Guts’ multiple HRR entries (and victories) for most of the 1860s:

1861: Visitors (3 entries), Wyfolds (4 entries; he won) and Silver Goblets (3 entries; he won)

1862: Stewards (4 entries; he won), Visitors (two entries; he won), Silver Goblets (4 entries; he won) and Diamonds (4 entries)

1863: Grand (6 entries), Ladies (5 entries), Stewards (4 entries), Visitors (4 entries; he won), Silver Goblets (solo entry; he won in a row over) and Diamonds (3 entries)

1864: Diamonds (2 entries; he won)

1865: Grand (4 entries; he won), Silver Goblets (5 entries) and Diamonds (5 entries)

1866: Grand (5 entries), Silver Goblets (3 entries; he won) and Diamonds (4 entries)

1867: Grand (5 entries), Stewards (5 entries) and Silver Goblets (7 entries) [the only year Woodgate left Henley empty-handed!]

1868: Stewards (4 entries) and Silver Goblets (5 entries; he won)

For an up close and personal sense of the man, Woodgate’s autobiography  Reminiscences of an Old Sportsman is hard to beat, but a much more current assessment of his place in rowing history can be seen in HTBS’ William O’Chee’s just published The Pinnacle of Fame – A Complete BNCBC History.

One can – and perhaps should – debate whether near-sacred relics of this nature should find a permanent home in an institution like the Henley River & Rowing Museum or the Brasenose College Boat Club archives, where they can be preserved and cherished for posterity, but that is a topic for another day … and there is still plenty of the 2023 Henley Royal Regatta to be enjoyed.