Furnivall Sculling Club

Coordinates: 51°29′23.7″N 0°13′54.2″W / 51.489917°N 0.231722°W / 51.489917; -0.231722 (Furnivall Sculling Club)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Furnivall Sculling Club
Image showing the rowing club's emblem
Image showing the rowing club's blade colours
LocationHammersmith, London, England
Coordinates51°29′23.7″N 0°13′54.2″W / 51.489917°N 0.231722°W / 51.489917; -0.231722 (Furnivall Sculling Club)
Home waterTideway, River Thames
Founded1896 (1896)
Membershipc. 100
AffiliationsBritish Rowing
boat code: FSC
Websitewww.furnivall.org
Notable members
Andy Holmes

Furnivall Sculling Club is a rowing club 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.

History[edit]

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

As at 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]

Honours[edit]

British champions[edit]

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

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ The other such clubs are Sons of the Thames, Auriol Kensington Rowing Club (known as A.K.) and Fulham Reach Boat Club.
References
  1. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  2. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  3. ^ Ogilvie, Sarah (1 November 2012). Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139789530.
  4. ^ Furnivall British Rowing
  5. ^ Railton, Jim (16 July 1984). "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 16 July 1984, p. 21". The Times. p. 21.
  6. ^ Railton, Jim (22 July 1985). "Railton, Jim. "Rowing." Times, 22 July 1985, p. 25". The Times. p. 25.
  7. ^ ""Today's fixtures." Times, 21 July 2003, p. 32". The Times. 21 July 2003. p. 32.
  8. ^ ""Rowing." Times, 17 July 2006, p. 57". The Times. 17 July 2006. p. 57.
  9. ^ "2008 archive of results". Web Archive. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016.

External links[edit]