Lancaster John O' Gaunt Rowing Club

Lancaster John O'Gaunt Rowing Club is an English rowing club based at Lancaster on the River Lune. Its origins date back to 1842 making it the fifth oldest surviving rowing club in the United Kingdom outside the universities.HistoryLancaster Rowing Club was first founded in 1842 by the architect and engineer Edmund Sharpe. with the help of his partner Edward Graham Paley.Sharpe lived in one of the largest riverside houses at Halton Hall and owned two 4-oared cutters, the 'Ariadne' and the 'Lotus', which he made over to the new rowing club for £40 on 20 September 1842.At the 1865 general election there were allegation of political bribery concerning members of the Lancaster Rowing Club. After a Royal Commission's investigation in 1867 the original Lancaster Rowing Club had ceased to exist and two new clubs were established: a new Lancaster Rowing Club (Tory) and John O'Gaunt Rowing Club (Liberal).Up to 1876 the Lancaster Rowing Club, with subscriptions as high as £70 saw increasing success and the boathouse was paid for. However John O'Gaunt Rowing Club on the other side of the river was less successful and had to remove their boats from their building as rental was too high. It was then that James Williamson, 1st Baron Ashton a leader of Lancaster's new found manufacturing prosperity, came to the rescue. He bought all the riverside property on part of which stood the boathouse and leased the land and building to the club for 2/6d. (12.5p) per annum.