Australians at 1939 Henley Royal Regatta
The Henley Stewards invited an eight from Australia to compete at the centennial regatta in July, 1939. A NSW based eight and sculler took up the invitation.
Diamond Sculls
Eliminated in first round
Herbert Turner (NSW)
Turner of the Police Rowing Club was eliminated by Verey of Poland in his heat, with Joe Burk of the USA defeating Verey in the final.
Grand Challenge Cup
Semi-finalists
The crew comprised Bill Dixon, Brin Jay, James Barnes and Tom Chessell (cox) of Sydney Rowing Club, G D Macpherson, E P Trebeck and Spencer Grace of North Shore Rowing Club, and Ted Bromley, John Burrell and T Gordon-Glassford (emergency) of Mosman Rowing Club.
Alan May in Sydney Rows published in 1970 reported: [Sid] Raper was appointed to select both the Royal Henley and the King's Cup crews. Fourteen oarsmen offered to subscribe ₤50 each to help meet the heavy Henley expenses and the crew finally selected included Bill Dixon, Brin Jay, James Barnes and Tom Chessell (cox) of Sydney, Macpherson, Trebeck and Grace of North Shore, and Bromley, Burrell and Gordon-Glassford (emergency) of Mosman. John Rook was appointed manager while Julius Beresford and his son Jack agreed to coach the crew in England. (There was some criticism of the crew as lacking rowing experience in some seats: Jay, for example, was a member of Shore's 1938 eight and had done no club rowing.)
All non-SRC members of the crew were made honorary members and the eight competed at Henley as Sydney Rowing Club once again. In the heat of the big event, the crew recorded a narrow win over Kingston, but they were beaten by 3 lengths by Argonaut in the semi-final. In the final, Harvard University scored an easy win over the Canadians.
Sources
Sydney Rows by Alan May, published by Sydney Rowing Club in 1970