Twickenham Rowing Club
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Twickenham Rowing Club (TwRC) was founded on July 26, 1860 and is jointly (with Thames Rowing Club) the third oldest of the rowing clubs on the River Thames(UK). The club is located on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, to the west of London, England, UK.
The club's colours are magenta and blue bands.
[edit] The French connection
Henri, Duc D'Aumale (the fifth son of the exiled king of France, Louis Philippe I, who lived at York House in Twickenham) helped to found the club and was its first President from 1860 to 1897.
The freehold to the land on which the clubhouse stands was donated to the rowing club in 1876, by HRH Le Comte de Paris, King Philippe VII (1838–1894), Louis Philippe I's grandson and the pretender to the French throne.
Philippe VII's son, Philippe VIII, Duc D'Orleans (1869–1899) became the Club's second President from 1898 to 1899, on the death of his great uncle, Duc D'Aumale.
[edit] History
The first boathouse was built in 1861/62 as a floating structure and was moored at some point off Twickenham Ait (Eel Pie Island) — Eel Pie Island was earlier called Twickenham Ait and before that The Parish Ait. Earlier the island was actually three aits. The boathouse cost £295 and was fully paid for out of ordinary income, by 1866.
In 1864 arrangements were made with the Twickenham Literary Society whereby their Reading Room in King Street could be used as a clubroom by members.
By March 1866 the boathouse contained:
1 Cutler eight, 2 Gig eights, 2 Cutler fours, 2 Gig fours, 1 Skiff and 1 Punt.
In 1889, it was proposed to build a bridge to the island but that did not happen until 1957.
The floating boathouse remained for several years despite sinking on a couple of occasions. When the club became owners of the current site the boathouse was put ashore and finally sold in 1882/83 for £32. The Thames Conservancy provided the ballast to raise the ground level where it rested.
Twickenham also has the honour of being the slowest ever winning crew of the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
