Kenneth Victor Dwan (born 6 July 1948) is a British former

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

who competed in the Olympic Games in 1968 and 1972 and won the

Wingfield Sculls The Wingfield Sculls is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake. The race is between single scullers and is usually on the Saturday three to four weeks before the Sc ...

six times.

Rowing career

Dwan was born in

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...

, London to a family of

lightermen A lighterman is a worker who operates a lighter, a type of flat-bottomed barge, which may be powered or unpowered. In the latter case, today it is usually moved by a powered tug. The term is particularly associated with the highly skilled men ...

in the

Port of London The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North Sea ...

. He joined

Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club is a rowing club in Millwall, on the River Thames in England, on the northern bank of the Thames opposite Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs, London. Club history Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club was ...

at the age of 12, initially as a cox but soon as an oarsman. When he was 15 he was apprenticed as lighterman to his grandfather Williams and this allowed him to enter the novice sculls in the National Dock Labour Board (NDLB) regatta at Putney. He won the race which included contestants of that year's

Doggett's Coat and Badge Doggett's Coat and Badge is the prize and name for the oldest rowing race in the world. Up to six apprentice watermen of the River Thames in England compete for this prestigious honour, which has been held every year since 1715. The 4 mile 5 ...

Race. While he was sculling he continued working as a lighterman and worked for Humphrey & Grey starting as a boy in the tug Sir John. After two year with Humphrey & Grey he obtained his lighterman's licence and went on the dock labour pool to experience a variety of firms. During 1967 the decasualisation scheme following

Devlin Devlin may refer to: * Devlin (surname) * Devlin (given name) * Devlin (rapper), a British rapper * ''Devlin'' (TV series), a 1974 animated TV series by Hanna-Barbera * ''Devlin'', a 1988 novel by Roderick Thorp * ''The Devil and Max Devlin '' ...

's report was implemented and all dock workers had to be allocated to an employer. Dwan was allocated to F.T. Everard at Greenhithe, of whom he said “The management were very good to me in allowing me time to train. I could not have wished for better employers”.PORT OF LONDON, MARCH/APRIL 2003
/ref> In 1968 Dwan was runner-up in the

Diamond Challenge Sculls The Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. First run in 1844, it is open to male scullers from all eligible rowing clubs.

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

. He also competed for Great Britain in the

single scull A single scull (or a scull) is a rowing boat designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to minimi ...

in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

in Mexico. He reached the final and came 6th overall. Also in 1968 he won the

for the first time. He won the Wingfield Sculls again in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972, and won Doggett's in 1971. In 1972 he won the inaugural national single sculls title, at the 1972 National Championships before he competed again for Great Britain in the single scull in the Summer Olympics in Munich when he came ninth. The following year he won a second single sculls title at the 1973 National Championships and then went on to win a third consecutive title at the 1974 National Championships. Dwan was runner up in the Diamond Challenge Sculls in 1974 and won the Wingfield Sculls for the sixth time in 1975 and the national single sculls for a fourth time at the 1975 National Championships (a record equalled in 1990 by Simon Larkin).

Business career

In 1977 Dwan was accepted as one of Royal Watermen during the Queen's Jubilee Year. Dwan continued to work as a lighterman, but with severance at the docks, he decided to work for himself and withdrew from lighterage and rowing at the same time. For a while he worked on the building of the

Thames Barrier The Thames Barrier is a retractable Flood barrier, barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When n ...

, and then on pleasure boats on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. He then went into business with Bill Ludgrove and set up their own company Thames Cruises. The business grew and they bought a repair yard at

Eel Pie Island Eel Pie Island is an island in the River Thames at Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is on the maintained minimum head of water above the only lock on the Tideway and is accessible by boat or from the left (generall ...

. Thames Cruises owned the pleasure boat Marchioness which was sunk with loss of life in the

Marchioness disaster The ''Marchioness'' disaster was a collision between two vessels on the River Thames in London in the early hours of 20 August 1989, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people. The pleasure steamer ''Marchioness'' sank after being hit twice by ...

when the pleasure boat collided with a dredger ""Bowbelle" in August 1989. The disaster was found by the

Marine Accident Investigation Branch The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is a UK government organisation, authorised to investigate all maritime accidents in UK waters and accidents involving UK registered ships worldwide. Investigations are limited to establishing cau ...

to have been caused by the poor visibility from each ship's wheelhouse, the fact that both vessels were using the centre of the river, and that no clear instructions were given to the look-out at the bow of the ''Bowbelle''. Twelve years later another report by Lord Clarke also blamed poor lookouts on both vessels for the collision and criticised the owners and managers of both vessels for failing to properly instruct and monitor their crews. In 2004 Dwan was appointed Queen's Bargemaster, being responsible for the safety of the Queen when she travelled by water. However in the light of protests because of his involvement with the Marchioness disaster, he resigned. In 2020 Dwan was hospitalized due to becoming ill from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and recovered.Kenny Dwan Tells His Emotional Story of Recovering from Coronavirus
''Good Morning Britain'', 22 April 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwan, Kenny 1948 births Living people English male rowers British male rowers Olympic rowers for Great Britain Rowers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1972 Summer Olympics People from Rotherhithe Sportspeople from the London Borough of Southwark