Leander Rowing Club
| Leander Club | |
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| Motto | Corpus Leandri spes mea |
| Location | Remenham, Berkshire, England |
| Coordinates | 51°32′17″N 0°53′57″W / 51.53806°N 0.89917°WCoordinates: 51°32′17″N 0°53′57″W / 51.53806°N 0.89917°W |
| Home water | Henley Reach, River Thames |
| Founded | 1818 |
| Affiliations | British Rowing |
| Website | www |
| Notable members | |
| See below | |
Leander Club, founded in 1818, is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and the oldest non-academic club. It is based in Remenham in Berkshire, England and adjoins Henley-on-Thames. Only three other surviving clubs were founded prior to Leander: Brasenose College Boat Club and Jesus College Boat Club (the two competing in a Head race in 1815) and Westminster School Boat Club, founded in 1813.
Leander was founded on the Tideway in 1818 or 1819 by members of the old "Star" and "Arrow" Clubs and membership was at first limited to sixteen. "The Star" and "the Arrow" clubs died out sometime in the 1820s and Leander itself was in full swing by 1825. By 1830 it was looked upon as a well-known and long-established boat club.
In its early days, Leander was as much a social association as a competitive club and it was steered by a waterman. It was the first club to support young watermen and instituted a coat and badge for scullers. In 1831 Leander defeated Oxford University in a race rowed from Hambleden Lock to Henley Bridge, but when it lost the match with Cambridge six years later, Lord Esher noted at a dinner that Leander was:
"a London Club consisting of men who had never been at the University but ... were recognised throughout England, and perhaps everywhere in the world, as the finest rowers who had up to that time been seen."
However, he also noted that they were 'verging on being middle aged men.' 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. In 1858 Leander began to recruit members from both Oxford University and Cambridge University.
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Wikipedia