The daughter of Major General George Hallowes, Sophia Hallowes married John Gorham in 1906 when she was 25, and he was 53. With her husband, she took part in the 1908 Olympic motorboating competition in the under-60 feet B-Class in her husband’s boat Quicksilver, but they did not finish the race on Southampton Water after being forced to abandon after a couple of laps. However, she earned her place in Olympic history as the only woman to compete in the short-lived motorboating events. John Gorham died in 1929 and three years later Sophia married the Reverend Cuthred Compton, Vicar of Hawkhurst, Kent.