Alister Kirby went up to Magdalen College, Oxford from Eton, where he was Captain of the Eights, and was in the eight that won the Ladies’ Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta in 1904 and 1905. With Magdalen, he enjoyed success in eights and fours and won the Stewards’ Cup at Henley in 1907, in the four stroked by Guy Nickalls, and the Grand Challenge Cup in 1911. He was a four-time Blue 1906-09 but was only once on the winning crew, in 1909, when he was president of the Oxford University Boat Club. A leading rowing coach, Kirby was captain of the Leander eight that won the gold medal at the 1912 Olympics. On the outbreak of war he was commissioned into the London Rifle Brigade and promoted to captain, and later died of a war illness.
Great Britain