Twickenham Rowing Club was founded on July 26 1860 and is jointly (with Thames Rowing Club) the third oldest of the rowing clubs on the River Thames.

The French Connection

Henri, Duc D'Aumale (the fifth son of the exiled king of France, Louis Philippe I, who lived at York House in Twickenham) helped to found the club and was its first President from 1860 to 1897.

The freehold to the land on which the clubhouse stands was donated to the rowing club in 1876, by King Philippe VII (1838 - 1894), Louis Philippe I's grandson and the pretender to the French throne.

Philippe VII's son, Philippe VIII, Duc D'Orleans (1869 - 1899) became the Club's second President from 1898 to 1899, on the death of his great uncle, Duc D'Aumale.

History

The first boathouse was built in 1861/62 as a floating structure and was moored at some point off Twickenham Ait (Eel Pie Island) -- Eel Pie Island was earlier called Twickenham Ait and before that The Parish Ait. Earlier the island was actually three aits.

In 1889 it was proposed to build a bridge to the island but that didn't happen until 1957.

The floating boathouse remained for several years despite sinking on a couple of occasions. When the club became owners of the current site the boathouse was put ashore and finally sold in 1882/83 for £32. The Thames Conservancy provided the ballast to raise the ground level where it rested.

External links

• Twickenham Underground (http://www.twrc.org/)