Titan of the Thames
William Grenfell, Lord Desborough, was, for many, the epitome of the perfect English gentleman: an exceptional sportsman, a dedicated public servant and a devoted husband and father.
Grenfell’s astounding sporting achievements, from climbing mountains to swimming the basin of the Niagara Falls twice, from rowing the English Channel and winning the Amateur Punting Championship for three years consecutively, to representing Great Britain in fencing, produced his deep-rooted belief in the importance of sport. It wasn’t surprising therefore that he became the driving force behind the 1908 London Olympic Games, an enormous success despite being staged with only two years’ notice.
A surprisingly modern public figure, Grenfell was elected as an MP before going on to hold a prodigious array of local, national and international roles: mayor of Maidenhead, leading the London Chamber of Commerce, promoting aviation, establishing modern policing, and serving as chairman of the Thames Conservancy. Although Grenfell’s public life was successful, his family was struck by tragedy, aged six he lost his father and he and his wife Ettie suffered the loss of two sons in the First World War and their third in a motor accident. Despite this, their home, Taplow Court, was a place for entertaining and had been a focal point for the Souls, including notable politicians such as A. J. Balfour and the young Winston Churchill, as well as writers like H. G. Wells and Henry James.
In Titan of the Thames, Nairne and Williams disentangle the myths surrounding this fascinating man who spans the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and have pieced together a compelling biography of a figure whose story should have been told many years ago.
Sandy Nairne CBE FSA is a writer and curator, previously director of programmes at Tate and director of the National Portrait Gallery. He is chair of the Fabric Advisory Committee at St Paul’s Cathedral and deputy chair of the National Trust. Recent books include Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners and The Coincidence of Novembers.
Peter Williams is a writer and researcher and Departmental Fellow in the Department of Land Economy at Cambridge, he is a nationally recognised expert on housing and mortgage markets. He has recently completed a history of racing punting at Dittons Skiff and Punting Club.
Nairne and Williams compete in the sport of racing punting on the Thames. Recognising there was no published biography of the great figure of Lord Desborough, they started their joint research project in 2015.