Hugh Mason

Hugh Mason was educated at Clifton College before going to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He had the first of two Henley wins in 1935 when he was in the Trinity Hall eight that won the Ladies’ Challenge Plate. He won his Blue the following year and was originally a reserve for the Great Britain eight at the Olympic Games that year, but got a seat in the boat just one week before the start of the regatta when Donald Wilson fell out with his coach and returned to England.

Having been elected secretary of the Cambridge University Boat Club in 1936, Mason won a second Blue in 1937 when Cambridge lost for the first time in 14 years. Mason nearly missed the race because he broke a leg while skiing in Austria in the January when Boat Race practice was in full swing. However, he recovered to take part in the Boat Race and also went on to win the Visitors’ Challenge Cup at Henley with the Trinity Hall four that summer.