Furnivall Sculling Club

Furnivall Sculling Club is a rowing club based on the Tideway in Hammersmith, London. It was founded as Hammersmith Sculling Club in 1896 by Dr Frederick James Furnivall, after whom riverside gardens, Furnivall Gardens, in Hammersmith are named.[1] For its initial five years, in the reign of Queen Victoria, the club was for women only and hosted the world's first female rowing team.[2] Furnivall extended membership to men in 1901. The club colours are a precise pallette: myrtle and old gold.

Furnivall Sculling Club
LocationHammersmith, London, England
Coordinates51°29′23.7″N 0°13′54.2″W
Home waterTideway, River Thames
Founded1896 (1896)
Membership100
AffiliationsBritish Rowing
boat code - FSC
Websitewww.furnivall.org
Notable members
Andy Holmes

History

The club was founded by and is named after Dr 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, at least until after the 2nd World War the captaincy was restricted to female members in honour of the original purpose of Dr Furnivall in founding the Club. Following his death in 1910, the Club honoured his memory by celebrating 'The Doctor's Birthday' for many years.

An octuple of Furnivall Sculling Club

Furnivall currently has over 100 members, of whom some 80 are full, active members (in addition to some social and life members).

The club underwent a major refurbishment in 2009 that resulted in the construction of the club's ergometer training facility, the John Robbins Room. The club is one of three non-academic clubs[n 1] along the brief 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 three clubs have a close rivalry and enjoy subtly different emphases on age, gender and abilities within their squads.[4]

Honours

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

See also

Notes and references
Notes
  1. The other such clubs are Sons of the Thames and Auriol Kensington Rowing Club.
References
  1. Ogilvie, Sarah (2012-11-01). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  2. Ogilvie, Sarah (2012-11-01). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  3. Ogilvie, Sarah (2012-11-01). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  4. Furnivall British Rowing
  5. "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 16 July 1984, p. 21". Times Digital Archives.
  6. "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 22 July 1985, p. 25". Times Digital Archives.
  7. ""Today's fixtures." Times, 21 July 2003, p. 32". Times Digital Archives.
  8. ""Rowing." Times, 17 July 2006, p. 57". Times Digital Archives.
  9. "2008 archive of results". Web Archive.
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