'Worcester' v 'Conway' boat race shield

'Worcester' v 'Conway' boat race shield.

Challenge shield, comprising a silver-plated shield-shaped plaque with an ornate pierced floral border and a sailing warship at anchor depicted in relief with applied rigging, mounted on a larger ebonized mahogany shield. Nineteen smaller silver-plated badges giving the winning crews each year 1898-1906 and 1929-1939 are mounted around the wooden border in a shield shape, and at the top a plated Royal Navy badge of a foul anchor with laurel leaves below a royal crown.

The main shield is inscribed: 'CONWAY v WORCESTER Boat Race Challenge Shield PRESENTED by few old boys in the east 1897'. The small shields on the left side read anti-clockwise 'CONWAY 1898', CONWAY 1899', 'WORCESTER 1900', 'WORCESTER 1901', 'WORCESTER 1902', 'CONWAY 1903', 'CONWAY 1904', 'DEAD HEAT 1905', 'CONWAY 1906'. The shields on the right are (anticlockwise): 'WORCESTER 1929', 'WORCESTER 1930', 'WORCESTER 1931', 'WORCESTER 1932', 'WORCESTER 1933', 'WORCESTER 1934', 'WORCESTER 1935', 'WORCESTER 1936', 'WORCESTER 1937', 'WORCESTER 1938 WORCESTER 1939'.

Boys from the training ships 'Worcester' on the Thames and 'Conway' on the Mersey competed annually for the trophy in a pulling race in 6-oared whalers, alternately held on the Thames and Mersey.

The shield was presented to the NMM by the Incorporated Thames Nautical Training College, together with the T. B. F. Davis Challenge Cup (PLT0260) and the 'Worcester' / 'Conway' Boat Race Cup (PLT0261) in 1970.

Object Details

ID: PLT0262
Collection: Decorative art
Type: Trophy
Display location: Not on display
Events: Worcester v Conway Boat Race, 1897
Vessels: Conway (1861); Worcester (1860)
Date made: 1897
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: 610 x 475 x 45 mm
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