Rowing history story from Paul Schreier in the UK

Published 17th June 2021

Club member Paul Schreier (World Junior Championships 1987) and rowing history buff and come up with yet another great rowing history story.

Whilst many people will say "so what", it brings in elements of some of Australia's greatest sporting, Olympic and business moments. We have added links to the rowing profiles of key people in the story. Read on.

I've got another rowing story for you from over here, with an Australian link. I was corresponding with a man called William Drake, whose father, Sir Eric, was the CEO and Chairman of BP in the early 70s. [Editor: One of the original directors of BP was William D'Arcy, the former President of Rockhampton Rowing Club QLD, who funded the exploration of oil in the Middle East and was successful. Given what has happened in the Middle East since, he can be lauded or vilified. Regardless, he is probably one of Australia's most influencial citizens.] Anyway, Eric had been up at Pembroke, Cambridge in the 1930s. As you may know, there were two Australians at Pembroke at the time, Lewis Luxton and Bill Sambell, who both rowed for Cambridge, won the Boat Race in 1932, then the Grand at Henley, and were selected for Britain at the Los Angeles Olympics, finishing fourth. Luxton and Sambell had been at school together at Melbourne Grammar and went straight to Cambridge as undergraduates.

Anyway, William Drake showed me a photo of his father’s trophy oar from Pembroke College in 1931, when Pembroke were head in the May Bumps, and there they both are:

These days we might not think much of a Cambridge college first boat but it is worth remembering that in those days, it was not unusual for a college crew to be selected for the Olympics. Indeed, as late as 1951, a Cambridge college crew, Lady Margaret Boat Club, won the Grand at Henley. (Again, there was an Australian in the crew, Brian Lloyd, but that’s another story.)

Back to Luxton and Sambell, the latter won a race at Australian Henley in 1934 with London Rowing Club. Here’s the oar:

Finally, I was at a dinner a while back in a country inn in Wiltshire, the night before going shooting. As I looked at the walls of the room, I noticed this:

It’s a white cricket sweater with the initials ‘LL’. As I looked closer I could see the faded silk strip around the collar, now white but originally light blue. I recognised it as a Cambridge blues rowing jumper. There was more. A zephyr:

A waistcoat;

A Blazer

A Leander Club zephyr:

And, finally, 1932 Olympic team gear:

The ‘LL’ is Lewis Luxton and the clothing is his Cambridge, Leander and GB Olympic kit. I knew a few of the Luxtons from my time at school.

Anyway, I asked the waitress if the inn, the Beckford Arms, had any connections with the Luxton family. It turns out Charlie Luxton is the owner, and he is Lewis’ grandson.

So it is that the 1930s rowing kit of an Australian ends up in an Inn in Wiltshire. Lewis, of course, was an instrumental organiser of the 1956 Olympics which his father, Harold, had played a major part in winning, by one vote, from Buenos Aires.