Kenneth Payne

Kenneth Payne went to Eton school and rowed for them at Henley, and eventually became their Captain of Boats. He then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and in his first year, 1932, won the first of two rowing Blues. He was also a member of the Leander eight that won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley that year, and then finished fourth with the Leander crew at the Los Angeles Olympics. Payne’s father was also a double Cambridge Blue (1899-1900) and, like his son, was also a two-time winner.

Payne won his second Blue in 1934 when he was also president of the Cambridge University Boat Club. He also captained Leander that year to another victory in the Grand. Having coached three Cambridge Boat Race crews, he switched to Oxford for 1935 and 1936, but could not thwart Cambridge’s run of wins that stretched back to 1924. Payne was also coach to the British Olympic teams in 1936 and 1948, and was a former president of the Leander Club and a senior steward at the Henley Royal Regatta from 1938. He also umpired the Boat Race eight times between 1946-64. During World War II, Payne was awarded the Military Cross for commanding 471 battalion of the 98th Field Regiment during the Monte Cassino conflict of 1944.