Harry Almond

Harry Almond started rowing while attending Shrewsbury School before going to St. John’s College, Cambridge to read modern languages in 1948. At university, he won the first of two rowing Blues in 1950 when he rowed bow, while the Cambridge cox was Anthony Armstrong Jones, the former husband of Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II.

Almond was probably one of the best pound-for-pound rowers in Britain in the 1950s. He was just 5’6” (168 cm) tall and rarely weighed above 10st 6lb (66 kg). A member of the Lady Margaret Boat Club, his arrival coincided with them dominating rowing at Cambridge in the 1950s. He was captain of Lady Margaret in 1951 when he won his second Blue. Also in 1951 he was captain of the eight that won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley. Shortly afterwards they toured the United States and beat all-comers including Harvard and Yale. Almond was also a member of the Great Britain eight that won the European Championships in 1951, the last success by a GB eight in international competition until the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 1952 he finished fourth with the coxless fours at the Helsinki Olympics.

Almond went on to coach the Cambridge crew in 1956, 1959 and 1960. After leaving University he worked for he Watney Mann Brewery before working for a Housing Improvement Society.