Joined TRC in 1999.
Was later a stage magician and an early performer on Baird's mechanical television.
In the 1971 Journal the following obituary, by Jack Beresford, appeared:
"Harold E. Greenwood died in the late autumn of 1970 at the age of 90. He was affectionately known to all rowing men as ‘ The Little Moke.’ He joined Thames at the tail end of the last century soon after leaving Cranleigh School; and he appeared at Henley Regatta for the first time in 1899 as the coxswain of our Thames Cup Eight, at 7 stone 11 lbs. This crew lost to Kingston in the first round. (Incidentally 1899 was the year of my birth.)
For three more years he was the Thames Cup coxswain. In 1903 and 1904, he steered both the Grand and the Thames Cup Eights.
1905 saw Moke winning his first and only Henley medal, when our second eight lifted the Thames Cup. From 1906 to 1931 he steered the Grand Eight only. In 1910, Jesus just got home from us by 2 feet. Tyke Richardson stroked that crew with my father at bow and ‘ Duggie ’ (W. S. Douglas) in the engine room.
Moke captained the Club in 1912 — the year in which King George V and Queen Mary attended Henley Royal Regatta. Little Moke steered that year at 9 stone 6 lbs. We were beaten by Leander, who lost in the final to the Australians, but avenged their defeat at Stockholm in the Olympic Games Regatta, winning a gold medal for Great Britain.
Little Moke steered largely by intimidation—except at Henley. He was feared by coxswains of other clubs, because of his forceful personality and great flow of invective. He was adept at pushing other crews over the ‘ flats ’ at the Metropolitan Regatta. Up river he invariably succeeded in getting the best of the stream and the advantage of the bends, to the discomforture of other crews.
Rivalry with London R.C. was always intense in his day; and feelings between the two clubs ran high, even to the floor of the Stock Exchange, where our late President was a well known character.
Perhaps due to his love of horse racing, his aim when steering a boat was always to get onto the ‘rails.’ After the last war he was for a good many years Chairman of Kempton Park racecourse, and I believe not only put it onto its feet after the war, but made it one of the outstanding courses in the country.
Remenham Club has prospered through his foresight and wisdom when President. Those of us who were present will always recall his inspiring address at the opening of the new extension of that Club at Henley.
To me, Little Moke was a Thames man first and foremost, and his determination to see the Club prosper, both racing-wise and economically was paramount. In his latter years he appeared more and more to resemble a smaller version of Winston Churchill; and this applied even in delivery of the spoken word.
He was of Huguenot descent and succeeded the Earl of Radnor as Governor of the French Hospital in Rochester, remaining in that office until his death.
We all mourn his passing, but he ran his full span and led a full and varied life; he succeeded in extracting fun and enjoyment out of everything he undertook."
John Levy was born in Brazil, at Morro Velho, near Belo Horizonte. He contracted polio when he was 18 months old, and immediately afterwards his mother brought him back to her family home of Cornwall, settling in Chapel Porth; and later moving to Tattenham Corner. Levy went to Ewell Castle school, and studied chemistry, botany and geology at Imperial College from 1939 to 1942, where also coxed for Imperial College Boat Club. As a student his dream was to emulate Douglas Bader, the RAF pilot who flew after losing his legs. Levy had his withered left leg amputated and a false leg fitted. He would take the false leg off while coxing - sometimes leading to allegations of cheating by reducing his weight.
His first research project involved growing and studying tomatoes, a fruit which Levy couldn't abide, but he was soon diverted from his PhD studies in plant pathology (leaving his thesis unfinished) to lecture civil engineering students on timber and its properties in construction. He then spent 15 years teaching about timber and decay, establishing close cooperation with the Forest Products Research Laboratory.
His department was involved with others at Imperial in 1976 when the late Professor Alastair Cameron, of the lubrication laboratory, built an experimental, and highly successful, wooden racing four on the monocoque principle used in airframe construction. It won races at Henley powered by an Imperial crew, and prompted carbon fibre to be introduced into boat building by British Aerospace, which made an eight for the Olympic team. Monocoque construction became universal as wood bowed out as the favoured material for racing craft.
Levy was made a doctor of science and became professor of wood science in 1981. Initially encouraged by the British Wood Preservation Association, he started his research at Imperial's mine at Tywarnhale in Cornwall and at its field station at Silwood Park. This early work led to the establishment of a research group of worldwide renown, and it remains as his legacy. He also worked on the preservation of the hull of Mary Rose, and he studied the bows of the ship's archers, working out that the men must have been above average height to fire the deadly weapon.
He remained a rowing stalwart for his whole life as cox and then captain of Thames Rowing Club, Imperial's neighbour in Putney. Levy's presence in Imperial boats was keenly heard during the war when several college eights used the Thames regularly, often caught in air raids when they had to decide whether to run for shelter under a bridge or put distance between themselves and what may have been the Luftwaffe's prime target.
He served as president of both boat clubs and of Kingston regatta, and celebrated his birthday this year at Henley. Levy brought the same qualities of his professional life to his rowing activities, captaining Thames Rowing Club at the time when its committee outmanoeuvred its backwoodsmen to admit women as members. He was always quietly persuasive, never showing temper or raising his voice except when in the back of a boat.
Known as Ayton Safford.
Born in 1859 in Tring, Hertfordshire.
A solicitor.
Jack Shearman was the son of Montague Shearman (who had won the Stewards' Challenge Cup at Henley) and Mary (nee Catty), the sister of early Thames members Frederick and James Catty.
While a teenager, he coxed the winning Wyfold Challenge Cup crews of 1870 and 1871. His brother, another Montague, later rowed for Thames.