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Christina Broom and the Oxford 1938 Boat race crew

3 of 3 portraits by Winifred Margaret Broom

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Christina Broom and the Oxford 1938 Boat race crew

by Winifred Margaret Broom
bromide print, 1938
6 1/4in. x 8 3/4in. (153 mm x 205 mm)
Photographs Collection
NPG x45461

Artistback to top

  • Winifred Margaret Broom (1891-1973), Photographer; daughter of Mrs Albert Broom (Christina Livingston). Artist or producer associated with 3 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.

Sittersback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 511

Events of 1938back to top

Current affairs

Britain pursues its policy of appeasement. At the Munich Agreement, Britain, France and Italy agreed to allow Hitler to seize the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. The agreement was seen at the time as a triumph for peace, with Neville Chamberlain returning home brandishing the paper agreement and saying 'peace for our time.' Within six months Germany had occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Art and science

Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock. The novel follows the descent of Pinky, a teenage gang leader in Brighton's criminal underworld. The book examines the criminal mind and explores the themes of morality and sin - recurrent concerns for the Roman Catholic Author.
Glasgow hosts the Empire Exhibition; an £11 million celebration of the British Empire visited by 13 million people.

International

In its pursuit of 'Lebensraum' (living space), Germany annexes Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia with little opposition from the League of Nations. At home, the Nazis continued their escalating persecution of the Jews with 'Kristallnacht' (the Night of Broken Glass), attacking Jewish homes, shops, businesses and synagogues, and taking Jewish men to concentration camps.

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Charles Foster

08 July 2020, 11:46

Correction to Les Davinson's comment on 26 Dec 2019: It is H M Young not R R Stewart who was a member of 617 Squadron RAF. Young had reached the rank of Squadron Leader and won the DFC and Bar before he was killed on the Dams Raid on 17 May 1943.

[email protected]

26 December 2019, 21:23

RR Stewart was a member of 617 Squadron. The rowing blade trophy can be seen in the closing shots of The Dambusters. My interest goes back to an old schoolfriend's Nan, who lived in Chesson Rd Fulham. I asked after the candlelit photo of an airman. My friend said 'Oh he was in the Dambusters' my friend's name was Paul Stewart.

Duncan Forbes

29 April 2018, 21:33

My father Dr Alec Forbes (1918 - 1999) was in this winning Oxford crew of 1938. In the back row from left to right are: J.L. Garton, H.M. Young, H.A.W.Forbes and R.R.Stewart and in the centre row from left to right are: A.B. Hodgson, J.C Cherry, F.A.L. Waldron and J.P. Burrough.
In front with Mrs Groom is the cox, G.J.P. Merifield. In the family, we still have the oar which commemorates their names. Currently on YouTube there are clips from Pathe News introducing the 1938 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews and featuring the race which is well worth watching eighty years on. Duncan Forbes (29 April 2018)

Deborah Tan

16 January 2017, 09:17

The cox of the boatrace was Gordon Merifield.He was killed in WW2, 1941 while on active service with the Royal Navy

great-british

11 December 2015, 16:11

Some more details about the Oxford Boat race crew

Paul Burrough, 1916-2003, Bishop of Mashonaland
John Conrad Cherry, 1914-1943, Naval lieutenant
Alec Forbes
John Garton, 1916-2002, President of Amateur Rowing Association
Gordon Merrifield
Frank Waldron, 1916-1988
Melvin ('Dinghy') Young, 1915-1943; Squadron leader, RAF