Noel Duckworth

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameJohn Noel•Duckworth
Used nameNoel•Duckworth
Born25 December 1912 in Goole, England (GBR)
Died24 November 1980 in Selby, England (GBR)
NOC Great Britain

Biography

The son of a Yorkshire vicar, Canon Noel Duckworth was one of the great coxswains in the 1930s, and enjoyed success three times in the Boat Race, twice at Henley and guided the Great Britain eight to fourth place at the 1936 Olympics. When he was ordained a priest in 1936, it meant that he, his father and two of his brothers were all in Holy Orders in the Diocese of York. Like him, Duckworth’s two siblings went on to became Canons.

Duckworth was chaplain with the Cambridgeshire Regiment during World War II, but was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese for three years following the fall of Singapore. He was incarcerated in the infamous Changi prison, but did much to raise the spirits of his fellow prisoners, and he was twice mentioned in dispatches.

Having been attached to a Hull parish before the War, Duckworth was chaplain at St. John’s College, Cambridge between 1946-48, before working in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) where he became Canon of Accra. He returned to Britain shortly after Ghana’s independence in 1957, and took a post at Pocklington School in Yorkshire. From 1961-73 he was chaplain at the newly founded Churchill College, Cambridge, and he immediately set about starting their Boat Club. The club still toasts him every year, and the club always has a boat name “The Canon” in his honour.

As a coxswain he won the Boat Race three times (1934-36), at a time when Cambridge were part-way through their record-breaking run of 13 consecutive victories. The victory in 1934 was in a then record time and that same year he also coxed Leander to victory in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley, also in a record time. He won the Ladies’ Plate with his university college, Jesus to make it a notable treble in 1934.

After the war Duckworth commentated on the Boat Race for the BBC and in 1959, he was the subject of the popular BBC television programme “This is Your Life”. His biography “Canon Noel Duckworth: An Extraordinary Life” by Michael Smyth was published in 2012.

Despite a successful career on the water, it could have all ended before it really got started. As he once recalled that when he started as a freshman at Jesus College in 1931 and first went out as a cox, he knocked 10-foot off the end of the boat and submerged the crew. He was charged £10 for repairs but, rather than quit, he stayed on as a member of the Boat Club to, as he said: “Get my money’s worth!”

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Rowing GBR Noel Duckworth
Eights, Men (Olympic) Great Britain 4

Special Notes