Thomas Edwards-Moss

1855 - 1893

Thomas Cottingham Edwards-Moss (1855-1893).
Thomas Cottingham Edwards-Moss was a distinguished British amateur oarsman and later a Conservative Member of Parliament, remembered as one of Eton and Oxford's outstanding Victorian sportsmen. Educated at Eton College and later at Brasenose College, Oxford, he rowed in the Eton Henley Eight from 1871 to 1874, whilst at Eton other victories included the School Pulling (1873-74), Sculling (1872), the Walking Race (1874), and the Oppidan and Mixed Wall matches (1872-73), as well as the House Football Cup for three consecutive years (1871-73).
At Oxford, Edwards-Moss rowed in the University Boat Race four times between 1875 and 1878, securing victories in 1875 and 1878, suffering defeat in 1876, and competing in the 1877 race, famously recorded as the only dead heat in the Boat Race's long history. He was also a formidable single sculler, winning the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta twice, in 1877 and 1878, and finishing runner-up in the Wingfield Sculls in 1878 to Frank Lumley Playford.
Outside the river, he pursued a political career, serving as Member of Parliament for Widnes from 1885 to 1892. Edwards-Moss's record embodies the athletic and academic ideals of his generation - combining Etonian tradition, Oxford distinction, and competitive excellence on the Thames.

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