It has been associated with the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race since 1845, the race finishing here.
The Oxford and Cambridge boat-race from Putney to Mortlake on the tideway, the summer eights and the "torpids" at Oxford University, and the school races at Eton and Radley should also be mentioned.
The annual Oxford and Cambridge boat-race starts from above Putney Bridge, finishing at Mortlake; and the club-houses of the principal rowing clubs of London are situated on the Putney shore.
He was a brilliant classical scholar, and a famous cricketer and athlete; he was in the Harrow cricket eleven in the first regular matches with Eton (1822) and Winchester (1825), and is credited with bringing about the first Oxford and Cambridge match in 1827, and the first university boat-race in 1828, in both of which he took part.
His struggle to accommodate recalcitrant team members resonated with my experiences coaching 25 years of Oxford Boat Race crews.
