World Professional Sculling Championships

1919 Alf Felton (AUS) defeats Ernest Barry (GBR) on the Thames in London in 25.40

After the war, Paddon, Arnst and Felton all sought matches with Barry. Felton's challenge was accepted and he won the race by 6 lengths.

1919 Alf Felton

Alf Felton in 1919

1920 Ernest Barry (GBR) defeats Alf Felton (AUS) on the Parramatta River in Sydney in 24.32

Barry journeyed to Australia to regain his title. A crowd of 150,000 witnessed the event. Felton led out well in the early stages but a foul occurred allowing Barry to dash away with Felton unable recover any ground.

Ernest Barry

1921 Richard Arnst (NZL) regains title by forfeit from Ernest Barry (GBR)

After Felton's loss to Barry, Arnst promptly challenged. Arnst regained the title because three months passed without Barry accepting a challenge.

It is recorded in at least one record of racing that Arnst defeated William Webb on the Wanganui River on 25th February 1921 after regaining the title. However this does not accord with other records and would be inconsistent with the timing of his return to New Zealand for the Hannan match and the usual timing between challenges. Also Bernard Hempseed of Christchurch NZ reports that Arnst said after losing to Hadfield that he would have liked to have equalled Beach's record of seven wins. If he had won against Webb, he would have had his seven wins.

Richard Arnst

1921 Richard Arnst (NZL) defeats Pat Hannan (NZL)

Won easily.

Charlie Towns, Jim Paddon, Dick Arnst and Alf Felton in their sculls

l-r Charlie Towns, Jim Paddon, Dick Arnst & Alf Felton

Photo courtesy of the Richmond River Historical Society

< previous 1914 Barry (GBR) def Paddon (AUS)

> next 1922 Hadfield (NZL) def Arnst (NZL)

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Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
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