21 August 2024
By Thomas Wigley
Thomas Wigley brings some good news.
Hold on to your hats and any other loose items of clothing because I’d like to let you all know that, at last, George Pocock’s blue plaque will be unveiled on 13 September at the George Inn in Eton High Street. The ceremony will begin at 6pm BST and legendary Olympian rower Sir Matthew Pinsent has kindly agreed to perform the unveiling. Everyone is welcome to attend.
I can’t hack live-streaming but a film of the ceremony will be made available to download for free from a Google drive folder and I’ll share the link to it as soon as I can. I should say that the plaque will actually be fixed to the wall of The George at a later date to be decided. This is for mainly practical reasons because unveiling a plaque screwed to a wall at height presents insurmountable challenges for a guy with £0 budget. But there will be pictures!
James Marshall, Captain of Eton Excelsior Rowing Club will be the Master of Ceremonies and whipper-in. I’ll explain why George deserves a plaque to celebrate his association with Eton and The George. The future of our great sport will be represented by two young rowers: one each from the Windsor Boys’ School Boat Club and Windsor Girls’ School. They will read extracts from George’s memoirs; one describing the famous men’s Eight final at the 1936 Olympic Games (spoiler alert; the US won) and another where George recalls revisiting Windsor and the Eton College boathouse where he built his first boat; a single scull as it happens; reader, he rowed it. The two Juniors will round off with a brace of George’s rowing philosophies.
Then, before Sir Matthew performs the Big Reveal, representatives of the two benefactors, Windsor and Eton Brewery and Eton College, will say a few words. There would be no plaque for George without their generosity and I thank them. All this will take place where George lived as a boy; mere metres from the river Thames and Eton College ‘Rafts’ boat house where his father Aaron built boats and taught George how to build and row them.
If you would like a refresher on how it all began, not in a Darwinian or Biblical sense, then check out ‘Pocock Plaquery’ elsewhere within HTBS’s hallowed web pages.
It’s been a long, lumpy and loopy road to now but, as my old mate Marcus Aurelius would say “The impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way.” I know what he means.
Hear The Boat Sing 
Many congratulations on getting this done – the effort was worth it to get Pocock properly remembered. It was pleasing to note the River and Rowing Museum has also been making efforts to do this.