George Bubear - Sculling Champion

George Bubear (1859-1927) was twice English Professional Sculling Champion, in 1887 and in 1893. In 1894 he set the world record for the Championship course from Putney to Mortlake on the Thames. In 1896 he was a member of the team that won the professional coxless four World Championship in Texas. Born in Crediton to John and Elizabeth Bubear he was a second cousin to Great-Uncle Walter Bubear. George was second eldest in a family of 13, and as a boy he worked at Higher Wotton farm, Colebrooke. When he was 17 he went to London, and worked as a labourer for the one of the London Water Companies, probably the West Middlesex, which had works at Hammersmith where George lived. It is likely that he learned to row in this capacity, as he would have had little opportunity as a farm servant in Mid-Devon! By 1883 he is describing himself as a waterman.

He began rowing for sport on the Thames when he joined the Hammersmith Alliance Boat Club in about 1876, soon after he arrived in London, and began to win club prizes. Spurred on by this success he entered the arena of professional racing. He married Agnes Barber in 1880. Their first child George was born in 1881, but died in 1883. There were two more children - Alice and Albert. His first professional race was against Henry Hawkins in December 1880, for a pot of £50, which he won easily. He was less successful in 1881, racing twice, on both occasions losing against Godwin of Battersea. But 1882 was to establish his credentials as a serious rower, as he raced no less than 8 times, losing only twice, and winning prize money of more than £600. He was also able to find time to train members of the Hereford Rowing Club, and participate in their regatta.

In the following years George pursued professional races, as well as participating in regattas, and training others, including Hereford Rowing Club. Most professional races were over the Thames Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake. His form was patchy, and there were rumblings in the press about the surprising outcomes of some of his races. Despite this he was regularly acclaimed as the best rower in England. In 1887 he beat Perkins on the Tyne for the Championship of England, the Sportsman Challenge Cup and £200. Later that year he travelled to North America where he scored a number of victories.  His fame was such that his name featured in music hall songs, helped, no doubt, by the fact that one of his principal backers was Acton Phillips, proprietor of the Temple of Varieties at Hammersmith.  In February 1888 he lost the Championship to Ross, putting up a poor showing on the Thames course.

In 1888-89 George and a number of other professional rowers undertook promotional tours for a Road Sculler - a three-wheeled contraption that was propelled on land by rowing. He travelled through England and America in 1888 to demonstrate it, though it was never hugely successful.

1890 found him in Sydney, Australia, where he joined the East Sydney Rowing Club. He stayed in Australia until 1892, rowing against opponents described as second-rate by the English Press.
In 1893 he beat Hosmer on the Thames to regain the Championship of England, but by the end of the year he had lost the title. His next great triumph was in April 1894, when he beat Barry on the Thames championship course in a record time of 21 minutes, 44 seconds - a record which was to stand for many years.

By now George in his mid-30s there were fewer chances for him to row professional head to head races. Like professional sportsmen before and after him he had become a pub landlord, initially at the Duke's Head, Putney, and then at the White Hart, Barnes - both Thames-side rowing pubs. Several of his brothers joined him in London, and brother Walter started rowing professionally. George continued to promote the Road Sculler, and with fellow professional Wallace Ross, he participated in Captain Boyton's Water Show which toured the UK. He continued to train other professionals. He and fellow professionals helped the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race teams prepare.

In the 1890s he began to successfully participate in double scull and coxless-four competitions. In 1895, in Texas, with Barry, he won the double sculls, establishing a world record, and his British team won the coxless fours. And in the following year his crew was successful against a combined American and Canadian team in Ontario. But his professional career was almost over. In 1899 his principal backer died, and later that year George was gaoled for three months for fraud. He was to row in no more than five more professional races, losing three of them. In the 1901 census he was described as professional sculler-demonstration. In his private life his marriage seems to have suffered. After the first years of the 20th century George seems to have retired to his pub. By 1925 even that had gone, and he was declared bankrupt. Two years later on 20th January 1927 in the West London Hospital George died of kidney failure.



Download newspaper reports of two of George Bubear's races