Rowing Burton Leander Rowing Club was established in 1847 with a clubhouse on the river bank near the corn mill in Winshill making it one of the oldest rowing clubs in the UK. The club’s two early wooden boats were named Frolic and Dodo.
Another club, Burton Anglesey, was established in 1848. The clubs competed in local events and in the same year, the first ‘unofficial’ regatta was staged. No further regattas took place for sixteen years until 1866 following the founding of both Burton Rowing Club and Trent Rowing Club in 1865 with boathouses built on the Stapenhill side of the river near Burton bridge. By that date the Leander and Anglesey clubs had been merged as the ‘New Leander Rowing Club’, but after a time, the name was simplified back to ‘Burton Leander’.
Below is a restoration of a photo of Burton Leander club taken at Drakelow Hall. Some impressive photos are on display but I haven’t been able to establish exact details of the event.
In September 1914 after the start of World War I, twenty members of the Burton RC and Burton Leander clubs volunteered for service with the London Rifle Brigade. This led to suggestions to amalgamate the club due to decreasing members, which initially failed on 28 May 1915. After World War I, Burton Rowing Club struggled to recruit crews and eventually disbanded in 1920 and Burton Leander, who were operating from sheds next to the Ferry Bridge, purchased their boathouse.
The above was site of Burton Leander Rowing Club in 1953 and below is a restoration from the Burton Regatta of the same year.
A major high point in the club’s competitive history came in 1958, when Burton Leander won the prestigious Wyfold Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames, at Henley-on-Thames, the countries most prestigious regatta. In 1993, the club secured another Henley trophy as part of a composite team with Walton Rowing Club (not Walton-on-Trent, but Walton-on-Thames!!), the Fawley Challenge Cup which was/is awarded for junior (U18) boys quadruple sculls.
Burton Leander and Trent Rowing clubs still exist (2026) and Burton Regatta has now been long established as one of the rowing calendars major two-day events.
