Date Born/Est

1877

Date Died/Ceased

1946

Biographical Display

William Dudley Ward is only twenty-three years old, but his grandfather, on his mother’s side, was the late Lord Esher; who, before he was Master of the Rolls, was No. 7 in a winning Cambridge Eight. So there was rowing blood in him when he went to Mr. Ainger’s House at Eton; and he fostered it by rowing in the Eton Eights of 1895 and 1896: winning the Ladies’ Plate on both occasions. At School he was Captain of the Boats, and a member of “Pop”; while he got his football colours at the wall game. Then he became a freshman at Trinity, Cambridge, and rowed No. 7 in the Eight which lost the race of ‘97. So he was made President of the C.U.B.C.; and fetched Fletcher of Oxford to coach his ‘98 crew: in which he rowed in spite of the doctors. He survived, and last year (the doctors having removed their embargo) he helped to beat Oxford for the first time in ten years. Now he again presides over the Light Blues, and again rows at No. 7 in an Eight which, according to the experts, have Saturday’s race at their mercy. Yet he has won nothing at Henley since he left Eton, nor has he rowed Head of the River, nor has he won the Fours at Cambridge: though he has won the Pairs twice. His hair is red, his complexion is pink, and he is smooth and plump and pleasing. His views on punctuality are not ascetic; as a correspondent he is not hasty, and as a keeper of engagements he is casual. Nevertheless, he hopes to take his degree in the summer.

He has been called “Duddie,” “The Terra Cotta Baby,” and “The Cheaper”; but he is generally known as “Dudley.”