He was then asked by Jack Beresford to cox the Thames Rowing Club eight in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 1928.

After winning the Grand, the crew was selected to represent Great Britain at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.

Their first son Philip also took up coxing at Cambridge, becoming captain of the Selwyn College boat club.

He also started a company nearby providing overalls rented out to firms for their work-force.

The firm after World War II opened a factory to employ women in a south Wales valley, where previously there had been no employment for women – the local MP was Aneurin Bevan, the Labour MP.