8 February 2024

By Sandy Nairne and Peter Williams

Titan of the Thames, the biography of William Grenfell, Lord Desborough, by Sandy Nairne and Peter Williams, is published by Unbound today. Nairne and Williams here share some previously unseen images from Grenfell family albums.

Previous issues of HTBS have focused on Grenfell’s early rowing career in Oxford (18 February 2022) and his exceptional contribution to the staging of the 1908 Olympics in London (30 August 2021).

The image above shows the Oxford and Cambridge 1877 crews assembled ahead of the Boat Race of 24th March, famous as the only dead heat (see HTBS pieces of April 2014 and March 2020). Grenfell is seated on the step at left, holding one of the dogs and displaying either truculence or nervousness in front of the camera. He only took up rowing after he arrived at Oxford, and it was some years before he began to appear in photographs looking like the assured all-round sportsman that he became.

Grenfell was also selected for the 1878 Oxford crew which produced a great win over Cambridge by a margin of forty seconds (more than seven lengths, a record unequalled for 103 years). Grenfell was additionally listed as a coach (alongside the Reverend Edmond Warre, a famous oarsman in his own right) and Grenfell invited the Oxford crew to train at his family home near Maidenhead, Taplow Court.

In 1879 Grenfell was elected President, but a broken collarbone prevented him from taking part in that year’s Boat Race. Over the next few years he mixed rowing for Leander with coaching the Oxford crew. Taplow Court had only a modest boathouse, but the Cliveden Reach offered a broad straight stretch of the Thames suitable for training. The 1883 crew is pictured here with the coaching launch moored nearby.

 … and time spent at Taplow had some lighter moments.

While the statue has been given an Oxford cap for the occasion, Grenfell looks on laconically, settled in his wicker chair below.

In 1885 Grenfell stroked a crew that rowed across the Channel (his commemorative oar still hangs at Maidenhead Rowing Club, which had elected him as honorary Captain). And after being elected as a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta he became involved in the long-standing amateur-professional debates. Although he was greatly concerned about competitiveness for elite rowers, he did much throughout his life to encourage rowing at a grass roots level. Fittingly, his wife, Ettie, was appointed as the founding President of the Women’s Amateur Rowing Association.

There is much in his life as an explorer, politician, administrator, husband and father, but the Thames runs through all of our book and Sir Steve Redgrave has commented:

William Grenfell is an inspiring figure, both as an oarsman and all-round sportsman and later as a great leader in sport. He was a long-standing Steward of Henley Royal Regatta and led the Thames Conservancy for more than thirty years. As Lord Desborough, he staged the first Olympics in London at less than two years’ notice, including the special Olympic Regatta in Henley – a feat of organisational and diplomatic brilliance. He deserves to be celebrated very widely.

Titan of the Thames is available to order here.

Titan of the Thames will be reviewed by Chris Dodd at a later time.