Francis Prout (7 July 1921 Greenwich, Greater London, England – 23 February 2011 Woodbridge, Suffolk, England) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

sprint canoer who competed in the early 1950s. He was eliminated in the heats of the K-2 1000 m event at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Francis moved to Canvey Island as an infant with his parents, Margueritte, a native of Switzerland, and Geoffrey Prout, a writer and boat builder. During World War II Prout served as airframe fitter with the RAF in southwest Asia and then went to Rhodesia where he became a flying instructor. After the War, he married Erica Hawks and had two children, Jane and Stephen. Together with his brother

Roland Prout Roland Prout (1 March 1920 – 24 April 1997) was a British sprint canoer who competed in the early 1950s. He was eliminated in the heats of the K-2 1000 m event at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Together with his brother Francis Pro ...

, in the family firm of G. Prout & Sons (founded in 1935 by their father, Geoffrey Prout), he developed the pioneering ''

Shearwater III The Shearwater III is a type of two crew racing catamaran, produced originally by G. Prout & Sons of Canvey Island, Essex, and was first sold in kit form. It is a "restricted development class". According to the UK's National Maritime Museum, Th ...

'' racing

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...

in 1956 and several later designs. He set a Guinness record for having the most title wins in a year.

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* 1921 births 2011 deaths English male canoeists Canoeists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists of Great Britain People from Greenwich British male canoeists British yacht designers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II British expatriates in Rhodesia {{UK-canoe-bio-stub