Peter Kemp (rower)
| Peter Kemp (rower) | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 November 1853 Hawkesbury River, New South Wales |
| Died | 1 December 1921 (aged 68) Summer Hill, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Title | World champion sculler |
| Term | 1888 and 1890 |
| Predecessor | Bill Beach and Henry Ernest Searle |
| Successor | Henry Ernest Searle and John McLean (rower) |
Peter Kemp was one of seven Australians who each won the World Sculling Championship (Professional) between 1876 and 1905.
He was born on the banks of the Hawkesbury River near Windsor, New South Wales, on 15 November 1853. As a boy growing up he taught himself to row. In 1873 he and his brother Thomas won a double sculls race of four miles in a time of thirty-three minutes.
His first race of note was when he won a skiff race at the Sackville Beach Regatta on the Hawkesbury River on 24 May 1881. He won this particular race four years in succession. In 1883 he won a professional match race at £10 a side by winning a light skiffs event at Sackville. The following year at the same location he rowed George Solomon for £50 a side in light skiffs over three miles and won. His next major race was in October 1884 over three and a quarter miles and for £200 a side against Neil Matterson, a man Kemp, and Bill Beach, were later to row for the World Title. The race was run in "best boats" i.e. lightweight racing craft. This was Kemp’s first race in such boats but he managed to lead for the first half of the race. At this point he became so distressed that he had to stop rowing and thus lost the race.
Over the next two years he won a number of smaller races and handicap events and collected some useful prize money. In 1886, he travelled to England with Bill Beach who twice defended his World Title there. Kemp had no great success in England and returned to Australia where he continued to have wins in some of the local regattas and small match races. It was around this time that Kemp went into an intensive regime to improve his rowing. In 1887 he again meet Matterson on the Parramatta River and won with little effort.
Kemp was something of a protégée of Beach or at least a training partner. After Beach had won the World Title (1884) and successfully defended an unprecedented six challenges he decided to retire in late 1887 as undefeated champion and announced he was handing the Title to Kemp. It would appear that Beach had arranged for Kemp to challenge for the Title and under the rules then in place declined to accept the challenge within the regulation three months thereby forfeiting the Title. There was no controlling body for the Title (nor for most professional sport titles of the time) so the arrangement stood despite many of the public believing that Kemp was not good enough and unworthy of the Title. A number of commentators believed the situation was rigged and were outraged at the situation.
...
Wikipedia