Leander Club

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Coordinates: 51°32′17″N 0°53′57″W / 51.53806, -0.89917

The club's logo — a pink hippo
The club's logo — a pink hippo
The blade colours of Leander Club
The blade colours of Leander Club

Leander Club is based in Henley-on-Thames, England, and is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, having been founded in 1818.[1] Only two other surviving clubs (both from the Oxford colleges) were founded prior to Leander: Brasenose College Boat Club and Jesus College Boat Club (the two competing in a Head race in 1815).

The exact date of the founding of Leander is unknown, but Club records incidcate that the club sprang out of two of the earliest known London rowing clubs, "the Star" and "the Arrow" which died out sometime in the 1820s. Leander itself did not exist in 1820 but was in full swing by 1825 and by 1830 was looked up as a well-known and long-established boat club.[2]

In its early days, Leander was as much a social association as a competitive club. Up until 1856 the number of members was limited to twenty five men. After this date membership was increased to thirty-five and the limit finally abolished in 1862.[2]

Its first home is assumed to have been Searle's yard, Stangate — on the south bank of the River Thames (on land currently occupied by St Thomas's Hospital).[3] In 1860 the membership moved the club to Putney where a small piece of land was rented on which a tent was erected for housing boats. This land was bought by London Rowing Club in 1864 and is the site of LRC's current clubhouse. Leander were able to lease a piece of land adjoining and in 1866 started to construct a boathouse. Thirty years later, in 1897, the club purchased land in Henley-on-Thames and built its current clubhouse. The club's centre of gravity moved rapidly to Henley, although the Putney boathouse was retained until 1961.

For the first 179 years of its existence it was a men-only club, but opened its doors to women members in 1998, partly prompted by financial considerations, as the UK's Sports Council rules required organizations receiving funding to have an open membership policy.

Contents

[edit] Famous members

Some famous members include:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leander Club: Home Page
  2. ^ a b Woodgate, W.B. (1891). The Badmington library - "Boating". Spottiswoode & co. 
  3. ^ Burnell, Richard and Page, Geoffrey (1997). The Brilliants - A History of the Leander Club. Leander Club. ISBN 0 9500061 1 4. 
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