The following obituaries appeared in Regatta magazine:"Peter Crichton Kirkpatrick was an oarsman of immense stature who brought wry humour to the towpath through a long life which began on August 24 1916 and lasted until he died in his sleep on October 5, aged 79. Son of a GWR engineer and grandson of Sir William Perkin who practically invented the British dyestuffs industry, he was educated at Monkton Combe and Queens' College Cambridge before going to work as a chemist for ICI's dyestuffs division in 1937. After war service in Italy and Greece with the Manchester Regiment and the Yorks and Lancs Regiment, and the eventual rank of major, he returned to ICI and took up the oar again for Thames Rowing Club and for Britain. He was also familiar with less grand byways of rowing, having competed for the Salford club Agecroft on the Irwell.In 1967 Peter switched careers to do marketing for the General Post Office, eventually becoming a consultant to BT for long past his retirement. He was a passionate supporter of Thames and GB crews, appearing on the bank at international regattas and world championships whenever he could, raising a pint at their successes and an eyebrow at their cock-ups.His sharp observations, as much on society or politics as on rowing, were delivered in perfectly-timed one-liners. It was Peter who likened the refurbished Remenham Club to a Tesco, and Peter who, regretting that every leaf of countryside on Henley's Bucks bank was obscured by tentloads of suits 'sponsored as newts' during the boom eighties, remarked that if alcohol were banned the regatta would collapse, but if rowing were banned nobody would spot the difference. Happily recession restored some countryside at Henley for Peter's last few visits. An imposing physical giant, he had a gentle nature which belied one of the toughest strokes of his generation."..."The death of Peter Kirkpatrick at the age of 79 robs the rowing world, and Thames Rowing Club in particular, of one of the most distinguished oarsmen of the immediate post-war period. Peter rowed for Monkton Combe in the Ladies' Plate at Henley in 1934 and 1935, reaching the semi-finals in the former year. He rowed for Thames in the Thames Cup in 1937, for Queens' College, Cambridge, in the Ladies' in 1938, and for Thames again in the Grand in 1939, but without success. In 1936 he had won a Trial Cap at Cambridge as a Freshman and many thought he was unlucky not to win a Blue.After war service he began an outstanding period with Thames. A tall, powerful heavyweight, he stroked the winning Stewards' Cup four at Henley in 1947, with Hank Rushmere at three. That year, the four and the Thames Goblets pair, ðSparrow' Morris and Alan Burrough, became the first British entries for the European Championships, but neither reached the finals.In 1948, Peter rowed six in the Thames eight that won the Head of the River Race. He then went on to stroke Thames to win the Grand at Henley, and he also stroked the winning Stewards' four again that year. Regarded by many as an outstanding crew, the four represented Great Britain in the 1948 Olympics at Henley but they went stale and, rowing well below their true form, failed to reach the final. The following year, with Kirkpatrick again stroking, Thames reached the final of the Grand but lost to Leander. A composite eight, drawn from these two crews, represented England in 1950 in New Zealand in what were then known as the Empire Games, but after a series of misfortunes they could finish only third, to take the bronze medal. In 1951, Peter stroked Thames for his third and final Stewards' win. In all these crews, Hank Rushmere rowed behind Peter and the two remained firm friends for the rest of Peter's life.He became an occasional coach for Thames after retiring from active competition and took an active part in the club's administration. He was captain in 1950 and was elected a vice president in 1969. A keen, if critical, supporter of rowing, he could usually be found on the Remenham mound during Henley training with his old friend Ramsay Murray, who died last year. A frequent spectator at Lucerne and World Championships, his presence and strong personality will be much missed by a host of his rowing friends."

Dr Kenneth Alan Williams, known to all as Bill, was born in Brentford and educated at Mercers School and Chelsea Polytechnic, and it was at the latter that he learned to row, eventually becoming Captain of University of London Boat Club (Chelsea Polytechnic being affiliated to the University).He joined Thames in 1929, proposed by his brother Ronald and seconded by Freddie Page.He won the Thames Cup in 1934 and reached the final of the Wyfold in 1946.He served on the Committee in the following roles:1930-1935 Committee member1936-1940 Honorary House Steward1940-1945 One of the Commission of three which ran the club during wartime1945-1950 Committee member1950-1955 Joint Honorary Secretary1956 Captain1957 Deputy Captain1958-1961 Committee member1961-1982 Vice President1973-1977 ChairmanHe was a regular coach of Thames crews as well as those of Queens College, Cambridge and the Royal Engineers.At different times he served on the Council of the Amateur Rowing Association, was Chairman of the Thames Amateur Rowing Council, and was Chief Examiner of Umpires.He was a founder member of Eyre Club, President of Remenham Club, and Master of the Argonauts Masonic Lodge.He did a great deal of highly valuable work with the club records. He produced several articles on club history for the Thames Journal, and his extensive notes form the basis for much of Geoffrey Page's 'Hear the Boat Sing: the history of Thames Rowing Club and Tideway Rowing'. He was also a keen amateur photographer and took many photos of club crews and events.He passed the ARIC (Associate Royal Institute of Chemistry) examinations in 1923 and gained full BSc Honours in 1926. He was an analytical chemist, specialising in edible fats and oils, and rose to become Principal of the firm ER Bolton. He was President of the Society for Analytical Chemistry in 1955-6.

Dick Phelps was a Thames waterman, one of the many members of the Phelps family to work in that profession.He was hired by Thames as club boatman in 1931 and remained in the role until his retirement in 1966.His son Mike, grandson Richard, granddaughter-in-law Annamarie and great-grandsons Thomas and James have all rowed for the club.The 1967 Journal included this account of his life and career on the occasion of his retirement:"Our Boatmen tend to stay with the Club for a long time, and Dick Phelps has been no exception to that rule. In the 70 years before he came to us we had had only three boatmen, and the last of these Laurie Bedell, had been with us for many years. Laurie seems to have known little about the water before he came, having been secretary to an actress, but he proved one of the best of all boatmen; and Dick had plenty to live up to in his new job. It must not be thought though that he did not know us by then; on the contrary, he had steered many crews for us in his young days, in practice.Dick has been with the Club since 1931, and those who know him well—and this now includes almost all the rowing world— agree that he has filled the post superbly. He has been friendly with all and most helpful to all; no one on the water has ever appealed to him for help in vain. His willingness to help is matched only by his skill in boat building and repairing.Dick’s family is famous. In 1961 they celebrated the centenary of their first winning Doggett’s Coat & Badge. Honest John Phelps, who won in 1861, was Dick’s great- uncle, and he is possibly better remembered for his perhaps apocryphal verdict given when he judged the Oxford & Cambridge boat race of 1875: “dead heat by five yards”. He was a Fulham man, but the rest of the family have all been Putney men. John was followed by two nephews, William, who won Doggett’s in 1875, and Charles, Dick’s father, who won it in 1884. Three of Dick’s brothers have won the race, and so has his nephew, Edwin. Harry, who is Bargemaster to the Fishmongers Company, won in 1919; Tom, Boatman to London R.C., won in 1922, Dick won in 1923, and Jack, now Boatman to Winchester College, won in 1928.It is clear that Dick took as readily to the water as the rest of his family. As I have noted, he started young and steered many crews for Thames and other Clubs, and he travelled to regattas with the boats —then sent by horse and dray—and earned the strictures and more grudging praise of Bossy Phelps for real or imagined misdemeanours.He settled in quickly at Thames and was soon introduced to success. The Club won the Stewards at Henley the year after he came to us, and he had his first experience of international rowing that same year, when he went to Los Angeles for the Olympic Games of 1932. He has said: “I well remember this trip. What a proud fellow I felt when I was asked to travel as Boatman to the Olympic rowing team, and what a team it was! I shall never forget the fine win of the Thames four that had included T. H. Tyler, R. D. George and Jack Beresford, with J. C. Badcock at stroke. What a pity it was that Mr. Tyler fell ill and had to be replaced at the last minute; but Mr. Jumbo Edwards stepped into his place and the Olympic win is a matter of proud Club history, and indeed English history.”“In 1934,” he continues, “I went to the Continent for the first time with a Thames Eight to the Ghent International Regatta, and though this crew lost to the S.N. Basse Seine in the final, it did so only by 4 feet; and most of the crew won the Thames Cup at Henley later in the year.”Since then he has been to almost innumerable international regattas, but he never seems to regard them as commonplace. He records that he went to Ostende Regatta 15 times by 1962. In 1936 he had his second Olympic Games, when the Thames Double, Jack Beresford and Dick Southwood, won handsomely after being level at 1500 metres and proved itself one of the very few crews capable of standing up to the Germans at that time. Later on this double deadheated in the final of the Double Sculls with the Italians at the Centenary Regatta at Henley in 1939. “ What great victories,” says Dick, “ especially the one at Berlin in front of Hitler and Goering.”Since then Dick has taken boats and crews to Dinant and Namur in Belgium, as well as to Ostende and Ghent, to Macon for the European Championships, to Vancouver and North Wales for the Empire and Commonwealth Games, to Paris, Amsterdam, Dunkirk, and so on. But these visits are incidental to his work with us at Putney. The routine of the home regattas, with Henley as their climax, and international regattas interspersed among these, has occupied him fully for all but the war years —and even then he was to be found at the Club whenever his war-time duties of boatbuilding for the forces at Teddington allowed. After the war he received the honour of appointment by Royal Warrant “into the place and quality of a Waterman to Her Majesty the Queen”, joining his brothers in this well-deserved mark of distinction.Dick has been firmly ensconced at the Club for thirty-five years, but he has now retired. He seems inseparable from us, and we have made him an Honorary Life Member to mark our friendship—and we hope that it will continue for many years to come.To mark his retirement, Dick was made the Guest of Honour at our Annual Dinner, held early in December last at the Clubhouse. Ian Fairbairn took the Chair at the Dinner, and the Club was filled with over 150 members and guests who had come to pay their tributes to Dick. Tributes were paid to Dick by Ian Fairbairn and by Gully Nickalls, and Dick not only thanked the speakers and the Club generally, but he also proposed the toast of the Club in most felicitous terms."

Authority record for the 'creator' of the fonds PER-9, which is used for non-TRC records donated to the club (e.g. rowing programmes etc from overseas) where the donor is now unknown.