Bert Bushnell

Bertram Harold Thomas Bushnell (3 September 1921 – 10 January 2010) was a British rower who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal alongside Dickie Burnell in the double sculls, having had hopes to compete in the single sculls following a series of victories whilst competing in South America.

Having initially competed in athletics whilst at school, he took up competitive rowing in 1939, and during the Second World War he worked at John I. Thornycroft & Company's shipyard as a marine engineer and was involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk. He retired from rowing in 1951 and ran his own company renting cabin cruisers, and had three children.

Early life

Bushnell was born in Wargrave, Berkshire, the younger son of John "Jack" Henry Bushnell (born 17 January 1885 in Richmond, Surrey; died March 1970), a ship builder who had operated his own boatyard at Wargrave since 31 December 1917, and was a former rower who gave up his own Olympic dreams in order to provide for his family, and Lena Simmonds Bushnell (born January 1893 in Richmond, Surrey; died December 1957), who had been a shorthand typist and an opera singer. His older brother was Leonard John Bushnell (born 19 May 1918; died 1974). The Bushnell family have had a Royal Warrant since before the First World War and this has continued into the present generation with the senior member appointed a Royal Waterman to the reigning British monarch.

John Henry Bushnell carried on the business of renting self-propelled rowing boats, dinghies, skiffs, punts, camping punts, until the early 1920s when he obtained electric canoes followed closely by motor-driven launches. Both the motor-propelled craft could be hired for self-drive or with drivers. During this time boat building of various types was carried on at the site and, as years passed, larger and more sophisticated craft were constructed for both sale and hire. In the mid-1930s the first self-drive holiday hire cruiser was built and thereafter others followed up until 1939 when the boatyard took on rapid expansions to cope with Admiralty contracts to build fast motor boats for both Naval and RAF air/sea rescue.

Bushnell attended Henley Grammar School where he excelled at sport, including running the 100-yard dash in "evens" at Palmer Park. In his youth he was coached by sprinter Sandy Duncan. He became an apprentice at ship builders John I. Thornycroft & Company at the age of fourteen at the Southampton Docks.

Career

Bushnell first competed in rowing in August 1939 at the Maidenhead Regatta. In order to retain his amateur status under the rules of the Amateur Rowing Association, Bushnell was ineligible to work for his father's shipbuilding business as a boat mechanic and instead continued to work for Thornycrofts, becoming a marine engineer. During the Second World War, Bushnell tested motor torpedo boat engines and worked a 52-hour week for £3 10s. He was also involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk. attaining the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Following the war, Bushnell began to compete in rowing once more. At the 1946 Henley Royal Regatta, Bushnell (representing Maidenhead Rowing Club) lost to Burnell in the Diamond Challenge Sculls. While at the Marlow Regatta in 1946, he accepted an offer to travel to Argentina to train and compete there. While in South America in the summer of 1947, he was undefeated in several single scull races on the Rio Tigre and met Juan Perón, President of Argentina, and his wife Eva Perón. He won the Wingfield Sculls in 1947, but lost to Jack Kelly in the semi-final in the Diamond Challenge Sculls in 1947.

1948 Summer Olympics

Bushnell hoped to compete at the 1948 Summer Olympics in the single scull event. However, after he was a distant runner-up