Frederick Edward Beckwith (16 December 1821 – 29 May 1898) was an English swimmer who won "championship" races in the 1850s, despite only being a "passable" swimmer according to some accounts, and went on to become a popular "professor" and coach of swimming. He backed

Matthew Webb Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was an English swimmer and stuntman. He is the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. In 1875, Webb swam from Dover to Calais in l ...

to swim the channel and later managed his family members' swimming careers.

Life

Beckwith was a swimming instructor (a "Professor") at Lambeth Baths. He was an early proponent of

sidestroke The sidestroke is a swimming stroke, so named because the swimmer lies on one's side with asymmetric arm and leg motion. It is helpful as a lifesaving technique and is often used for long-distance swimming. The sidestroke allows the swimmer increa ...

which was a technique first seen in Australia with what was called an overarm recovery. This remained the best stroke for longer distances for some time even after

front crawl The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a f ...

became popular. Beckwith used the technique successfully to win the English championship. His daughter Agnes and son

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and sc ...

were also accomplished swimmers. Beckwith was a showman and he had assumed the title "Champion of the World" in 1851. Beckwith lost the first defence of this claim because he was said to be only an average swimmer. In 1874 Beckwith backed

to be the first person to swim the channel. He trained Webb and organised early publicity by exhibiting Webb as he swam up the River Thames the following year. However the number of spectators was few and Beckwith lost money after hiring a steamer for onlookers. As a result, Webb changed his allegiance and Beckwith later organised for his daughter, Agnes, to swim further than Webb. In his 1889 book Rambles of a Physician, P 324, Mathew Woods describes Professor Beckwith's Aquatic Entertainments at The London Aquarium. At one time this was believed to be the first-ever printed description of synchronised swimming or water ballet. ( see books.google.co.uk )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckwith, Fred 1821 births 1898 deaths English male swimmers Male long-distance swimmers