THE 1924 PARIS OLYMPIC CREW
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games will mark the 100th anniversary of a remarkable and poignant moment in the club's history. In 1924, Weybridge Rowing Club, then a working-class establishment, made history by sending a crew to compete in the Olympic trials, eventually representing Great Britain at the Paris Olympics.
​
The crew comprised C. Joe Barnsley, S. Vince Bovington, 3. Harry Monk, 2. Jack Townend and B. Bernard Croucher. Despite the classist establishment frustrating them at every turn, they became the first amateur working class crew to be selected to represent Great Britain.​
​
After allegedly having their water bottles spiked and their boat sabotaged while at the Olympics, they raced against the French, losing by a narrow margin (the French went on to win the silver medal), and later faced the Swiss in the repechage round (the Swiss eventually won gold).
Upon their return, the Weybridge crew continued to face discrimination due to their working-class origins. They were denied access to prestigious events like the Henley Royal Regatta and were not welcomed into the Leander Club, despite the tradition of inviting Olympic crews to join (The first time Weybridge was allowed to compete at Henley was in 1946!). This was due to the National Amateur Rowing Association (NARA), to which they belonged, not being recognized by the upper-class Amateur Rowing Association (ARA).
Over the past century, much has changed. Today, people are recognised for their ability and the content of their character rather than their social class. Weybridge Rowing Club has continued its tradition of excellence, producing numerous rowers who have gone on to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.
​
As Weybridge celebrates this centenary milestone, it remains dedicated to its mission of making rowing accessible to all and encouraging future Olympic champions. The legacy of the 1924 crew serves as an enduring inspiration, embodying the spirit of perseverance, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence against all odds.
THE FULL STORY - By John Croucher
Foreword
The following article was written for the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Paris Olympic game by the son of WRC Olympic crew bow seat, Bernard Croucher. His son, John, has been indispensable with his immense knowledge about the not only the 1924 Olympics that his father race in, but the deeper back ground as well. John, has written this article as well as supplying photos of memorabilia that belonged to his father, Bernard Croucher.
​
This is dedicated to the Weybridge crew that battled to odds to become the first working class crew to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.
WRC Coxed Four at Olympic Games – Paris 1924
July (2024) is the 100th anniversary of the Olympics in Paris and WRC have asked me to write a few words about the event and my Dad’s involvement – he was in the bow seat of the four. If you would like to know more there is a very good book written by Nigel Burton about the history of WRC which includes a large section about the Paris Olympics.
These notes are just about some of my understanding about my Dad’s involvement and the background to the event.
WRC was a NARA club In 1924
There were two Rowing Associations – The ARA (Amateur Rowing Association) which members were ‘upper class’ people and the NARA (National Amateur Rowing Association) for ‘working class’ people. That meant workers were excluded from many major regattas (such as Henley).
Bernard Croucher - Father of the author
Dad was an engineer working at Brooklands race track and went on to work there until he was 69. But ARA could not stop WRC entering the Olympic trials and the WRC four won. It was the first time an NARA crew had ever been selected for the Olympics!
​
Up until that time all crews representing GB were automatically invited to join Leander Rowing Club – but WRC coxed four were EXCLUDED because they were NARA and not recognised by Leander. More than 10 years later the NARA were allowed to become part of ARA. However, until that time, that meant the WRC crews for that era were restricted in what regattas they could enter... and they were so good they would have won many more events.
Some Notes on the 1924 Olympics
WRC crew were – Bow my Dad, 2 Jack Townend, 3 Harry Monk, Stroke Vince Bovington, Cox Joe Barnsley
They lost their first race to the French (who went on to win the Silver medal) by a canvas and, in the repecharge, unfortunately came up against the Swiss who went on to win the gold medal. The three best times in all the races were Swiss 7min 18 secs and then France & our crew 7 min 21 secs.
It was an excellent performance considering they were not treated as well as the other crews– in fact their boat was ‘nobbled’ so they couldn’t row properly and their drinking water bottles were spiked.
One other significant point – The WRC crew average weight was 10.5 stone (67kg) so they would now be classed as lightweight division. Yet they raced against all the heavyweights
WRC Olympic Memorabilia
We have lots of Dad’s items from his days at WRC including his participants medal, rowing vest, blazer badge & cap. Together with his participants Certificate signed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin who was President of the Paris Olympics and founder of the Modern Olympics.
​
(Editors note: You can see the items in the gallery below - click on an image to expand it)
After the Olympics
After the Olympics WRC had a four and an eight that did extremely well at NARA regattas but they did suffer some deaths as three members of the eight died in road accidents in the following 2 years.
​
One happened when they had a few too many beers coming back from a regatta and they were on top of a bus. The bus braked/swerved suddenly and Jack Townend fell off the roof and got run over by a car following the bus – the car driver that ran him over was Harry Monk.
A Personal note about WRC from John Croucher
I have attached a picture of me with Dad and my brother, David, taken during the war (1941). Dad worked mainly night shifts at Vickers Armstrong at Brooklands making fighter bombers.
WRC was a very large part of our Family social activity through the 40’s & 50’s and there were regular dancing and music evening at weekends. My Dad met my Mum at a WRC dance... I met my wife at a rowing club and my brother David met his wife at MBC. Dads brother, Charlie, was also a member of WRC and as a family we were very close friends of many of the WRC families
My brother David started rowing aged 14, going out every weekend with Dad in a pair oar we owned at WRC; so Dad kept rowing until c.1951. So about 30+ years at WRC, David went on to row for the Army and then Molesey for 30 years, he rowed at Henley 17 times and was Captain at MBC four times.
In the mid 50’s Mum & Dad used to have their summer break at Remenham during Henly Regatta and Dad hardly ever missed a race. He had no ‘hard feelings’ about the way he was treated by the ARA in the early days but my brother David & I never went near Leander because of the way they treated Dads crew!