Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race
Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race is the oldest rowing race in the world, and is also believed to be the world’s oldest sporting contest still going. It first happened in 1715 on the River Thames.
The race sees 6 newly qualified River Thames Watermen (who work on the boats taking people along the river) competing for this prestigious prize. They row along the Thames from London Bridge to Chelsea, passing a total of 11 bridges along the way.
The race is named after Thomas Doggett, an Irish actor who came to London in around 1690. Doggett lived in Chelsea, and used the Thames Watermen to get to and from work in the South Bank (Shakespeare’s former workplace) – the Watermen were the equivalent of today’s taxi drivers.
The story goes; one evening after far too many beers, Doggett was drunkenly making his way home and wobbled down to the Thames to get a water taxi. Now in those days, if a Waterman was ‘for hire’ they stuck their ore up in the air, much like how today Black taxis have their yellow light on at the front.
On seeing Doggett approach the bank and knowing they’d have to row against the tide with a drunk passenger to Chelsea, all the Watermen quickly put down their ores to show they were not for hire – all but one.
The only Waterman to keep his ore up was a young, newly qualified Waterman who struggled against the tide to get Doggett home safe and sound. Doggett was so impressed by the young lad’s commitment and perseverance that he decided to create a boat race to help young apprentices.
On 1 August 1715, to commemorate the first anniversary of the accession of King George I to the throne, Doggett organised the first race. He awarded the winner a coat and silver badge, and the race became an annual event.
Doggett left instructions in his Will that the race should continue each 1 August forever. But his executors didn’t want the burden of organising the race, so the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers took control of it.
The race is now held every July instead of August, and is raced with the tide, instead of against it, as it was in Doggett’s day. The Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race is a great way to see a different part of the Thames, and to see the world’s oldest sporting contest in action.
For more information about the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race, visit Watermen’s Hall – Doggett’s (www.watermenshall.org/history/doggett.htm).