Julian Ebsworth writes:
London Rowing Club lost one of its most enthusiastic members of long standing when Desmond Hampton passed away on 11 October 2014 at the age of 74. You were certainly aware of him when he was in your boat, and he was one of the most consummate of chums off the water. With a steely eye and penetrating gaze, and a memorable moustache, he was someone you simply could not forget. Yet he also worked unobtrusively behind the scenes for the Club, and was generous in providing professional advice and support when the Club needed it.
Desmond joined the Club in 1962. He had been in the Winchester First VIII when the school was one of the last still to be rowing on fixed pins (his father was a ‘don’ at the school). In a preliminary round of the PE Cup in 1958 his crew narrowly lost by a canvas to Westminster School (also still on fixed pins) after being a length and a half up. He went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was introduced to swivels and was in the First VIII in 1961. The following year, after graduating in land economy, and rowing for the Hall in the Wyfolds, he joined LRC.
Trinity Hall First May Boat, 1961. Desmond is seated far right.His rowing style was interesting and like no one else’s. It was effective, if somewhat rough and ready, with a yank at the end of the stroke as the blade came out of the water; this was christened, somewhat uncharitably, as Desmond’s “uck”. No seamless, flowing style, that’s for sure. He was a stroke side oar and weighed in at around 12 stone.
He rowed at five successive Henleys in the mid-1960s, in the Grand, Thames Cup, Stewards’, Prince Philip and Wyfolds. His most successful years were 1963 and 1966 in the Club’s Thames Cup crews, in both of which he reached the semi-finals (then held on the final day). In 1966 he was in the crew stroked by the Australian, Charley Moore; it was the only crew to give the eventual winners, Harvard, a serious run for their money that year, leading up to Fawley and then losing by only ⅔ length. Harvard won the final against Isis by ¾ length. The Stewards’ crew of 1964 was the coxless IV memorably named by Mrs Palmer, the LRC steward’s wife, as “Rippon, Royle, 'ampton and Mr Smith”. In 1965 he was in a Wyfold crew that lost in a close race to Sons of the Thames which broke the then record for the event. These results give some idea of the tenacious oar that Desmond was. He was Vice-Captain to Bob Marks in the 1965/66 season.
Away from Henley, he enjoyed expeditions to upriver and regional regattas. 1966 was successful for a coxless IV’s foray into the West Country on the Severn, to which he used to travel in his red E-type Jaguar. He was also in one of the early LRC entries to the Vogalonga in Venice in 1977.
After he finished his active rowing career his abiding interest was ocean sailing, in which one incident in 1982 made him headline news. LRC member Giles Chichester (son of Sir Francis) has provided the following reminiscences:
Our first adventure was the Azores race in 1977. He, Simon Rippon (LRC), Ian Porter and my cousin Mark joined me aboard ‘Gipsy Moth V’ on the way out. A couple of things come back to me. One was Desmond’s glee when having established a landfall, which was much to Simon’s relief, we promptly went about and sailed away, much to Simon’s disappointment. The other was taking part in a whaler boat race at Horta when the locals soundly beat us.
In 1979 Desmond again joined me and a few others on ‘Gipsy Moth V’ for the second leg of the Parmelia Race from Cape Town to Fremantle in Western Australia. We had a few sailing excitements on the way and arrived safely four weeks later. Because Desmond had allowed his hair and moustache to grow en route it may not surprise anyone that an enterprising local journalist ran the story that Lord Lucan had arrived in Perth. We had a bit of fun with that.
In 1982 Desmond persuaded my mother and myself to charter ‘Gipsy Moth V’ to him for a single-handed race around the world. Clearly he had caught the bug for long–distance blue water sailing. I had jokingly said that if he did have an accident could he please make it a total loss out of sight; but Desmond being Desmond managed to do it in spectacular fashion by setting a course to pass Gabo Island off the south-east corner of Australia and forgetting to set his alarm before having an afternoon snooze. He had a rude awakening because the wind shifted and he hit the island head on. Poor old ‘Gipsy Moth’ was lodged between two huge boulders and broke up. [The ITV news report, including an interview with Desmond, is still accessible on the web.]
This was not the last of Desmond’s dreams to come to an untimely end. In 1986 he invited me to join him on his boat ‘Panicker’ for the Two-handed trans-Atlantic Race. I had a premonition of something going wrong and just hoped it wouldn’t be me falling overboard. She was a very uncomfortable boat to sail in. It was like being in a lightweight cigar tube in a cold shower. On the sixth day of bashing to windward the mast fell down when a piece of rigging broke its connection to the mast. I was steering at the time and it was quite a sight watching it go Z shaped and fall into the sea. Desmond was below cooking breakfast and popped his head up to say sadly ‘well, that’s the end of that dream’. It took us 14 days to sail back under jury rig.
I am very sad he has died not least because I was hoping he would join me for a sail in ‘Gipsy Moth VI’.
Desmond returned to rowing after being a spectator at the World Championships in Nottingham in 1986. He, Simon Rippon, Richard Linning and Robert Rakison started the Morning Four, going out at 6am on weekday mornings from the Club, - at that time, the only crew on the Tideway from any club, these days a regular occurrence for all. Building on that the new veteran squad was regularly winning around 20 pots a year, the highlights for Desmond being World Veteran regatta medals in Sweden with Simon, Richard and Lee Marriner and in a D8 in Glasgow (Strathclyde) in 1989. Desmond finished rowing in 1991/92, to run and sail once more, but not until he had taken part in the famous 12-oar row over the Henley course at the 150th anniversary regatta in 1989 in under 6 mins 30 seconds.
The LRC 12-oar crew at Henley in 1989. Desmond is kneeling 2nd from the left.
Desmond’s professional career was in chartered surveying, land agency and valuation for leading national clients, but he still found the time to carry out work voluntarily for the Club and advise on proposed developments and the pitfalls to avoid. In his early days as a member he carried out, at his own expense, a survey of the entire Clubhouse building. He was a lifelong member of the 6s & 7s Club and regularly attended its annual November dinners right up to last year. He will be much missed, when he still had much to give, and it is tragic that he became a victim of the unforgiving pancreatic cancer.
