Furnivall Sculling Club is a rowingclub based on the Tideway in Hammersmith, London. It was called Hammersmith Sculling Club until 1946. It was founded in 1896 by Frederick Furnivall, after whom the riverside Furnivall Gardens a few metres away are named.[1] For its initial five years, in the reign of Queen Victoria, the club was for females only and is widely considered to have had the world's first female rowing team (crew).[2] Furnivall has also admitted males since 1901. The club colours are a precise pallette: myrtle and old gold.
The club was founded by and is named after 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 until 1946 the captaincy was restricted to female members in honour of the founding premise. After his death in 1910 the club honoured his memory by celebrating 'The Doctor's Birthday' for many years. Two female-only British rowing clubs exist: Barnes Bridge (which share premises with what was a men-only club) and Weybridge Ladies.
An octuple of Furnivall Sculling Club
Past Captains and Presidents of FSC
Year(s)
President
Captain
1896-98
F. Furnivall
Polly Cloud
1898-99
Ada Guintini
1899-1901
Amy Porter
1901-02
Nancy Appleby
1902-03
Amy Porter
1903-04
Julia Sutton
1904-05
Emmie Sewell
1905-06
Lizzie Skinner
1906-08
Nellie Moulden
1908-09
Cissie Clements
1909-10
Alice Dewar
1910-12
unknown
Mabel Symonds
1912-13
Beatrice Harraden
Cissie Clements
1913-14
Annie Prettle
1914-15
J Dickson Brown
Mabel Symonds
1915-16
Lizzie Meakins
1916-17
L A Magnus
Nellie Johnston
1917-18
Norah Root
1918
Betty Billson
1918-19
Norah Root
1919-20
Hilda Biesiegel
1920-21
unknown
Hilda Biesiegel
1921-22
J Dickson Brown
Maggie Hadley
1922-24
Mabel Hart
1924-25
H S Webb
Miss F Sadler
1925-26
Louise Upton
1926
Miss B. Palin
1926-27
Nora Collins
1927-28
Violet Wadkin
1928
Claire Matthews
1928-32
Ethel Vokes
1932-34
Enid Chamberlen
1934-36
Joan Skinner
1936-37
Miss B Wymer
1937-40
Barbara Ball
1940-46
War period
1946-52
Tom Simmons
1953-68
W A Goff
1969-71
T Simmons
1971-73
A Simpson
1973-74
F Sell
1974-78
A Simpson
1978-80
P Messias
1980-85
J Robbins
1985-90
B Moore
1990-92
K Howland
Alasdair Stark
1992-97
Derek Lowe
1997-99
Jake Gresswell
1999-00
Mark Somers
2000-01
Jon Lord
2001-04
Val Snewin
2004-05
Steven Albrecht
2005-06
Mark Somers
Steven Albrecht
2007-08
Henry Blythe
2008-09
Steven Albrecht
2010-11
Lisa Kallal
2011-13
Sara Nanayakkara
2013
Henry Blythe
2013-16
Michael de Paoli
2016-22
Christina Thorp
2022-
Jonathan Stoddart
Evelyn Tichy & Joshua Morgan
As of 2022, Furnivall has over 150 members, of whom about 120 are full, active members the balance being social, gym and honorary life members.
Furnivall underwent a major refurbishment in 2009 creating the club's ergometer facility, the John Robbins Room. A further set of works in 2019 and 20 modernised the building throughout. The club is one of four non-academic clubs[n 1] along the 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 clubs locally known as 'Furnivall', A.K. and 'Sons' form a cluster with a close rivalry and subtly different emphases on age, gender and abilities within their squads.[4]
Frederick James Furnivall was an English philologist, best known as one of the co-creators of the New English Dictionary. He founded a number of learned societies on early English literature and made pioneering and massive editorial contributions to the subject, of which the most notable was his parallel text edition of The Canterbury Tales. He was one of the founders of and teachers at the London Working Men's College and a lifelong campaigner against injustice.
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