Funeral Service: Bill Windham

Bill Windham, who died of coronavirus in January, was a senior figure in the rowing world, as a double Cambridge Blue, and an Olympic oarsman in the Helsinki Games in 1952. His funeral was at St Peter’s Church, Glasbury-on-wye.

He won many races at Henley, where he became the longest-serving Steward and was President of the Leander Club. He oversaw the admission of women competitors as members of the club.

Bill was taught at home by his mother, Marjorie. She set up a small school at home from which he won a scholarship to Bedford School where he learned to row and became Captain of Boats.

He won a scholarship to Christ’s College, Cambridge, and rowed for his college at Henley in 1945. Bill was one of the last survivors of the first regatta after the war.

In 1947, he was in the light-blue boat that beat Oxford by ten lengths. He rowed for Cambridge again in 1951, when Oxford sank halfway along the course.

Rather sportingly, the light blues allowed the dark blues to restart – and they won convincingly again.

Following their 1951 Boat Race victory, the Cambridge crew were invited to race in Boston, USA, where they beat Harvard, Boston University and MIT to win the Paul Revere silver bowl.

Having gained a double first in mechanical sciences, Windham started a career with Guinness, in Dublin in 1947. It’s thought he caught the eye of the then Guinness Chairman, Lord Iveagh, who had won the Diamond Sculls at Henley. Guinness employed several sporting stars, notably the Olympic long-distance runner Chris Chataway, who became a brewer. Chataway invited his friend Norris Mcwhirter on board as founding editor of The Guinness Book of Records.

Windham was a member of the GB eight who won bronze medals at the Empire Games in New Zealand and the European Championships in Macon. His final international appearance was at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, when his crew came fourth.

‘Bill’s glittering career at Guinness was brought to an abrupt halt in 1984 by Ernest Saunders, the subsequently disgraced chief executive of that great company, who wanted to be rid of what he saw as the Old Guard,’ wrote Ashe Windham, his son. A former equerry to the Queen Mother, Ashe once saved her from choking when she swallowed a trout bone. He continued, ‘Bill, who was never known to be unkind to anyone, limited himself by referring to his nemesis as “Deadly Ernest”.’

Emma Phillpotts, Bill’s daughter, read God’s Friend (Anon). Her husband, Simon Phillpotts, read a tribute. Bill’s son William read Farewell My Friends by Rabindranath Tagore. JAMES HUGHES-ONSLOW