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Hugh Wardell-Yerburgh

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Hugh Wardell-Yerburgh
Hugh Wardell-Yerburgh in 1965
Personal information
Born11 January 1938
Died28 January 1970 (aged 32)
Chertsey, Surrey, UK
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight83 kg (183 lb)
Sport
SportRowing
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Summer Olympics
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo Coxless four

Hugh Arthur Wardell-Yerburgh (11 January 1938 – 28 January 1970) was a British schoolmaster and rower. He won a silver medal in the coxless fours event at the 1964 Summer Olympics, together with John Russell, William Barry and John James.[1]

Early life

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Wardell-Yerburgh was the younger son of Geoffrey Bassett Wardell-Yerburgh, by his marriage in 1935 to Elizabeth Alis Georgina Kenyon, a daughter of G. L. T. Kenyon, a grandson of Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon. He had an older brother, Oswald Kenyon Wardell-Yerburgh (born 1936).[2] They were grandsons of Oswald Wardell-Yerburgh (1858–1913).[3]

When Wardell-Yerburgh was a small boy, the family lived at Carlingford House, East Harptree, near to his grandmother, Edith Wardell-Yerburgh. On 15 February 1944, when he was six, his father died, leaving an estate valued at £27,227.[4] He was brought up by his mother, who went to live at Meadow View, Westbury, Wiltshire.[2] He was educated at Ravenscroft School, Eton College, and Bristol University, where he took a degree in aeronautical engineering.[5] For his National Service, he served for eighteen months in the Royal Artillery.[2]

Career

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A successful oarsman at Eton and Bristol, in 1964 Wardell-Yerburgh rowed for Great Britain in the Coxless Fours at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, gaining a Silver medal. From 1966 to 1968, he returned to Eton as a schoolmaster.[5]

In 1968 he won the Diamond Challenge Sculls (the premier singles sculls event) at the Henley Royal Regatta, rowing for the Eton Vikings.[6] The same year, he joined Plessey as a Senior Radar Systems Analyst.[5]

Private life

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In 1966 Wardell-Yerburgh married Janet (Poppy) Bewley Cathie, an Olympic fencer. They had one daughter, Atlanta Jane Kenyon Wardell-Yerburgh, born in 1969, who was educated at Worcester College, Oxford and became a chartered accountant.[5][1]

Wardell-Yerburgh died in a traffic accident in 1970, aged only 32.[3][7] He was then living at Mallards Reach, Ham Island, Old Windsor, and left an estate valued at £22,570.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b Maarten Kloosterman Archived 17 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
  2. ^ a b c Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage (Debrett's, 1969), p. 623
  3. ^ a b Hugh Arthur Wardell-Yerburgh at douglashistory.co.uk, accessed 3 April 2019
  4. ^ "WARDELL-YERBURGH Geoffrey Basset of Carlingford House East Harptree" in Wills and Administrations 1944 (England and Wales) (1945), p. 606
  5. ^ a b c d Peter Yerburgh, Vol. 134, yarbroughfamily.org, p. 33
  6. ^ "Diamond Challenge Sculls, List of past winners". Henley Royal Regatta. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  7. ^ Abilene Reporter-News. 29 January 1970. Page 29
  8. ^ "WARDELL-YERBURGH Hugh Arthur of Mallards Reach Ham Island Old Windsor Berks… £22570" in Wills and Administrations 1971 (England and Wales) (1972), p. 576