Frederick I. Pitman

Frederick (Freddie) Islay Pitman (18 April 1863 – 22 January 1942) was a British rower who rowed in the Boat Race three times and won the Diamond Challenge Sculls and the Wingfield Sculls in 1886. Biography Pitman was born at Edinburgh, the third son of Frederick Pitman of 11 Great Stuart Street, and was one of eight brothers. His father was a Writer to the Signet and a director of the Union Bank of Scotland. He was educated at Eton and was in the crew that won the Ladies' Challenge Plate at Henley Royal Regatta in 1882. He then went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Pitt Club and rowed for Third Trinity. He stroked Cambridge University in the Boat Race over three years. In 1884 Cambridge won the Boat Race, and in the same year Pitman won the Colquhoun Sculls and was in the winning crew in the Visitors' Challenge Cup at Henley. Cambridge lost the 1885 Boat Race and in the same year Pitman challenged in the Diamond Challenge Sculls and the Wingfield Sculls but was beaten in both by the holder W. S. Unwin. Pitman was Cambridge University Boat Club president in 1886 and his crew achieved a rare feat of winning that year's Boat Race after being behind at Barnes Bridge. In 1886, he also won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley and the Wingfield Sculls. In 1888 Pitman became a Writer to the Signet but later became a stockbroker, eventually as a co-founder (with George Duncan Rowe) of the firm of Rowe & Pitman of Austin Friars. In 1896 Pitman was elected to the Henley Royal Regatta management committee, filling the vacancy caused by the death of J. H. D. Goldie. Pitman umpired at the regatta from 1896 onwards. Pitman also umpired every Boat Race between 1903 and 1926: a total of 19 altogether. In 1903 Pitman umpired his first University Boat Race, and was to start the race with an ancient pistol, which had worked perfectly for the previous umpire Colonel F. Willan. He pronounced the "Are you ready?", at which stage both crews squared their blades, and raised the pistol, but it stuck at half-cock and refused to fire. The boatman holding Cambridge could not hold them with squared blades in the fast tide and they slipped out of his hands while Oxford were being firmly held awaiting the pistol shot.