Walter Bradford Woodgate
Encyclopedia
Walter Bradford Woodgate (20 September 1841 – 1 November 1920) was a British barrister and oarsman who won the Wingfield Sculls three times, and various events at Henley Royal Regatta
including the Silver Goblets five times and the Diamond Challenge Sculls
once. He founded Vincent’s Club as an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford
in 1863, and in 1868 created the first coxless four
by persuading Brasenose's cox to jump overboard after the start of Henley's Stewards' Challenge Cup
.
Woodgate was born at Belbroughton
, Worcestershire
, England
, the eldest son of Canon Henry Arthur Woodgate, who was a fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and elder brother of Major General Woodgate who was killed at Spion Kop
. Woodgate was educated at Radley College
before going up to Brasenose College, Oxford
in 1858, where he rowed for Brasenose College Boat Club. At Oxford
, the Reverend Woodgate's son earned pocket money by writing sermons. As a fresh-faced Brasenose freshman, he appeared as Lady Barbara in the College play, partook liberally of the wine and four kinds of punch at dinner afterwards, woke in his petticoats, and attended chapel with the rouge still on his cheeks. And two years later he founded Vincent's Club. A larger than life character, he once wagered he could walk the fifty-seven miles from Stones Chop House in London
's Panton Street (near Leicester Square
) to Brasenose in time for breakfast. He lingered at Oxford well into the 1860s, mainly on the river.
In 1872 Woodgate was called to the bar. He practiced for forty years but took neither the law nor anything else save rowing too seriously and it is as a first-class oarsman and journalistic critic of rowing that he is remembered.
A lifelong bachelor, Woodgate died at Southampton
at the age of 79.
he won the University Pairs three times and the Sculls twice. As well as rowing for his own college, he rowed twice in the winning Oxford
crews in the Boat Race
- in 1862 (in the bow seat
) and in 1863 (in the no. 4 seat).
Henley Royal Regatta
Woodgate caused controversy at Henley Royal Regatta and his actions twice resulted in changes to Henley's rules. In 1866 he entered the Silver Goblets twice, once as W. B. Woodgate with Edward Corrie
, and again as "Wat Bradford" with M. M. Brown. The Woodgate and Corrie pair won the event, but after the regatta the Henley Stewards changed the rules so competitors could not row under assumed names.
In 1868, he concluded that a coxed four
could be steered using a wire and lever attached to an oarsman's footrest, so the weight of the coxwain could be dispensed with. He gave notice to Henley's regatta committee that his Brasenose four would row without a cox in the following day's race against Kingston and the Oscillators Club. The committee immediately countered with a new rule requiring all boats to be coxed, so Woodgate arranged for his Brasenose coxswain (Frederic Weatherly) to jump overboard at the start of the Stewards’ Challenge Cup to lighten his Brasenose coxed four
. While the unwanted cox narrowly escaped strangulation by the water lilies, Woodgate and his home-made steering device triumphed by 100 yards. The outraged Henley committee disqualified the Brasenose four and passed another rule that henceforth all crews must finish with the same number they started with.
A special Prize for four-oared crews without coxswains
was offered at the regatta in 1869 when it was won by the Oxford Radleian Club and when Stewards’ became a coxless race in 1873, Woodgate “won his moral victory,” the Rowing Almanack later recalled. “Nothing but defeating a railway in an action at law could have given him so much pleasure.”
He helped coach numerous Oxford crews and was president of Kingston Rowing Club
.
. The Union at the time barred smoking and drinking and, in Woodgate’s view, “went through the farce of socially ‘vetting’ every candidate, and after all, passing all sorts and conditions of men as ‘sound,’ despite notorious antecedents.” So he and his friends made Vincent’s selective (“a magic number — 100 — to give prestige”) and offered beer, tea, and coffee, all for free lest the proctors intervene were drinks “for sale.” An immediate success, Vincent’s climbed straight to the top of the undergraduate social heap. Among its later presidents were rowers Bankes, Nickalls
, and Cotton.
Woodgate created Vincent's very much in his own image. He wanted an elite social club of 'the picked hundred of the University, selected for all round qualities; social, physical and intellectual'. He loathed the Union, which he felt made only a pretence at selectivity, and finally he gathered forty of his friends and rented rooms at 90, High Street
, above Vincent's, the printers and publisher's shop. If invited to subscribe, the 30 shillings per term included free beer, coffee and tea, none of which could be had at the Union, even for payment; and free postage on letters. Smoking was also allowed, again in contrast to the Union, and dogs were admitted to the clubroom, presumably to accommodate Woodgate's fox terrier, Jenny, a notorious shredder of trouser legs.
He contributed to The Field
for half a century, frequently “produc[ing] the leading article in a curious but flexible English, which was quite unmistakable.” Woodgate’s writing attests to his clerical family background, classical Greek and Latin schooling, years of lawyering, and an unsuppressable urge to tell stories, laced with legalisms and couplets from Horace
. He could, wrote T. A. Cook, who rowed for Oxford in 1889 with Vanity Fair’s Guy Nickalls, “write anything from a curate’s sermon to a leading article on the Torts of Landlords or a racy description of a prize fight and a sculling match.”
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
including the Silver Goblets five times and the Diamond Challenge Sculls
Diamond Challenge Sculls
The Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England...
once. He founded Vincent’s Club as an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...
in 1863, and in 1868 created the first coxless four
Coxless four
A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...
by persuading Brasenose's cox to jump overboard after the start of Henley's Stewards' Challenge Cup
Stewards' Challenge Cup
The Stewards' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two or more clubs may combine to make an entry....
.
Biography
Belbroughton
Belbroughton is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,380. It is about six miles north of Bromsgrove, six miles east of Kidderminster and four miles south of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the eldest son of Canon Henry Arthur Woodgate, who was a fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, and elder brother of Major General Woodgate who was killed at Spion Kop
Battle of Spion Kop
The Battle of Spion Kop was fought about west-south-west of Ladysmith on the hilltop of Spioenkop along the Tugela River, Natal in South Africa from 23–24 January 1900...
. Woodgate was educated at Radley College
Radley College
Radley College , founded in 1847, is a British independent school for boys on the edge of the English village of Radley, near to the market town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and has become a well-established boarding school...
before going up to Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...
in 1858, where he rowed for Brasenose College Boat Club. At Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, the Reverend Woodgate's son earned pocket money by writing sermons. As a fresh-faced Brasenose freshman, he appeared as Lady Barbara in the College play, partook liberally of the wine and four kinds of punch at dinner afterwards, woke in his petticoats, and attended chapel with the rouge still on his cheeks. And two years later he founded Vincent's Club. A larger than life character, he once wagered he could walk the fifty-seven miles from Stones Chop House in London
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
's Panton Street (near Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
) to Brasenose in time for breakfast. He lingered at Oxford well into the 1860s, mainly on the river.
In 1872 Woodgate was called to the bar. He practiced for forty years but took neither the law nor anything else save rowing too seriously and it is as a first-class oarsman and journalistic critic of rowing that he is remembered.
A lifelong bachelor, Woodgate died at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
at the age of 79.
Rowing achievements
An accomplished oarsman and scullerSculling
Sculling generally refers to a method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern...
he won the University Pairs three times and the Sculls twice. As well as rowing for his own college, he rowed twice in the winning Oxford
Oxford University Boat Club
The Oxford University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Oxford, England, located on the River Thames at Oxford. The club was founded in the early 19th century....
crews in the Boat Race
The Boat Race
The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
- in 1862 (in the bow seat
Bow (rowing)
Bow is a term which has multiple meanings within the sport of rowing. It is used to refer to a rower seated in a particular position and to one side of the boat.-Bow:...
) and in 1863 (in the no. 4 seat).
Henley Royal RegattaHenley Royal RegattaHenley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
- 1861 - Silver Goblets (with Weldon ChampneysWeldon ChampneysWeldon Champneys was an English clergyman and rower who twice won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta.Champneys was born in Whitechapel, the son of Rev William Champeys rector of St Mary Whitechapel and his wife Mary Ann Storr. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1861 he rowed bow...
) - 1862 - Silver Goblets (with Weldon ChampneysWeldon ChampneysWeldon Champneys was an English clergyman and rower who twice won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta.Champneys was born in Whitechapel, the son of Rev William Champeys rector of St Mary Whitechapel and his wife Mary Ann Storr. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1861 he rowed bow...
) - 1862 - Stewards' Challenge CupStewards' Challenge CupThe Stewards' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two or more clubs may combine to make an entry....
(Brasenose College Boat Club) - 1863 - Silver Goblets (with R Shepherd)
- 1864 - Diamond Challenge ScullsDiamond Challenge ScullsThe Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England...
(after a dead heat two years previously) - 1865 - Grand Challenge CupGrand Challenge CupThe Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing competition for men's eights. It is the oldest and most prestigious event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs...
(Kingston Rowing ClubKingston Rowing ClubKingston Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club, based in England, founded in 1858.The club is one of the world's oldest and most successful amateur rowing clubs...
) - 1866 - Silver Goblets (with Edward CorrieEdward CorrieEdward Lyall Corrie was an English rower who won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta three times.Corrie was born in Liverpool, the son of Edgar Corrie, a merchant, and his wife Helen....
) - 1868 - Silver Goblets (with William CroftsWilliam Crofts (rower)William Carr Crofts was an English schoolmaster and rower who won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta twice and was an influential teacher of Rudyard Kipling....
)
Woodgate caused controversy at Henley Royal Regatta and his actions twice resulted in changes to Henley's rules. In 1866 he entered the Silver Goblets twice, once as W. B. Woodgate with Edward Corrie
Edward Corrie
Edward Lyall Corrie was an English rower who won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta three times.Corrie was born in Liverpool, the son of Edgar Corrie, a merchant, and his wife Helen....
, and again as "Wat Bradford" with M. M. Brown. The Woodgate and Corrie pair won the event, but after the regatta the Henley Stewards changed the rules so competitors could not row under assumed names.
In 1868, he concluded that a coxed four
Coxed four
A coxed four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a cox....
could be steered using a wire and lever attached to an oarsman's footrest, so the weight of the coxwain could be dispensed with. He gave notice to Henley's regatta committee that his Brasenose four would row without a cox in the following day's race against Kingston and the Oscillators Club. The committee immediately countered with a new rule requiring all boats to be coxed, so Woodgate arranged for his Brasenose coxswain (Frederic Weatherly) to jump overboard at the start of the Stewards’ Challenge Cup to lighten his Brasenose coxed four
Coxed four
A coxed four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a cox....
. While the unwanted cox narrowly escaped strangulation by the water lilies, Woodgate and his home-made steering device triumphed by 100 yards. The outraged Henley committee disqualified the Brasenose four and passed another rule that henceforth all crews must finish with the same number they started with.
A special Prize for four-oared crews without coxswains
Coxless four
A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...
was offered at the regatta in 1869 when it was won by the Oxford Radleian Club and when Stewards’ became a coxless race in 1873, Woodgate “won his moral victory,” the Rowing Almanack later recalled. “Nothing but defeating a railway in an action at law could have given him so much pleasure.”
He helped coach numerous Oxford crews and was president of Kingston Rowing Club
Kingston Rowing Club
Kingston Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club, based in England, founded in 1858.The club is one of the world's oldest and most successful amateur rowing clubs...
.
Vincent's Club
Woodgate’s major non-aquatic accomplishment at Oxford was the founding in 1863 of Vincent’s Club (named for the landlord who rented the rooms), in reaction against the Union SocietyOxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
. The Union at the time barred smoking and drinking and, in Woodgate’s view, “went through the farce of socially ‘vetting’ every candidate, and after all, passing all sorts and conditions of men as ‘sound,’ despite notorious antecedents.” So he and his friends made Vincent’s selective (“a magic number — 100 — to give prestige”) and offered beer, tea, and coffee, all for free lest the proctors intervene were drinks “for sale.” An immediate success, Vincent’s climbed straight to the top of the undergraduate social heap. Among its later presidents were rowers Bankes, Nickalls
Guy Nickalls
Guy Nickalls was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics as a member of the British eight that won gold, won 22 events at Henley Royal Regatta and won the Wingfield Sculls three times....
, and Cotton.
Woodgate created Vincent's very much in his own image. He wanted an elite social club of 'the picked hundred of the University, selected for all round qualities; social, physical and intellectual'. He loathed the Union, which he felt made only a pretence at selectivity, and finally he gathered forty of his friends and rented rooms at 90, High Street
High Street, Oxford
The High Street in Oxford, England runs between Carfax, generally recognized as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to the east. Locally the street is often known as The High. It forms a gentle curve and is the subject of many prints, paintings, photographs, etc...
, above Vincent's, the printers and publisher's shop. If invited to subscribe, the 30 shillings per term included free beer, coffee and tea, none of which could be had at the Union, even for payment; and free postage on letters. Smoking was also allowed, again in contrast to the Union, and dogs were admitted to the clubroom, presumably to accommodate Woodgate's fox terrier, Jenny, a notorious shredder of trouser legs.
Writing
As well as providng the rowing coverage in Vanity Fair for most of the years there was any to speak of, Woodgate also had several books published:- Oars and Sculls, and How to Use Them (1874)
- The O. V. H.; or, How Mr. Blake became an M. F. H. (1884)
- Boating (1888, for the Badminton Library set),
- Rowing and Sculling ... Illustrated (1889 for the All England Series)
- A Modern Layman's Faith (1893)
- Tandem (A novel) (1895)
- Reminiscences of an Old Sportsman (1909),
He contributed to The Field
The Field (magazine)
The Field is the world's oldest country and field sports magazine, having been published continuously since 1853.The famous sportsman Robert Smith Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks, was the driving force behind the initial publication...
for half a century, frequently “produc[ing] the leading article in a curious but flexible English, which was quite unmistakable.” Woodgate’s writing attests to his clerical family background, classical Greek and Latin schooling, years of lawyering, and an unsuppressable urge to tell stories, laced with legalisms and couplets from Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
. He could, wrote T. A. Cook, who rowed for Oxford in 1889 with Vanity Fair’s Guy Nickalls, “write anything from a curate’s sermon to a leading article on the Torts of Landlords or a racy description of a prize fight and a sculling match.”
External links
- Walter Bradford Woodgate, Boating (2008 edition), online text at books.google.com
- The Rowers of Vanity Fair / Fogg-Elliot, C.T., WikibooksWikibooksWikibooks is a Wiki hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit....
- Vincent's Club, Oxford