Hank Rushmere

Hank Rushmere started rowing with the Reading Rowing Club in the early 1930s, shortly after embarking on a lifetime working in the insurance industry. His business took him to South Africa in 1937, but not before he won the 1936 Wyfold Challenge Cup, the first of five Henley titles he would win. During his time in South Africa Rushmere served with the Cape Field Artillery during World War II, and saw action in East Africa, Abyssinia and the Middle East, before being captured and held in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp, from which he escaped.

Rushmere resumed his rowing career with the Thames Rowing Club in 1946, and won the Stewards’ Challenge Cup at Henley in 1947, 1951-52, and was also in their Grand Challenge Cup-winning eight in 1948. He reached the semi-final of the coxless fours at the 1948 London Olympics, and at Auckland two years later, won a bronze medal at the British Empire Games, representing England in the eights. He competed in seniors events beyond his 40th birthday.