Oxford Inscriptions: Sculpture on bridge at Iffley
This bronze sculpture of an ox, known as the starting ring, is under the stone bridge near Iffley Lock, down the steps and near the River Thames. It was presented by Lord Desborough to the Oxford University Boat Club (O.U.B.C).
On the left is an interlocked pair of Ds, representing Lord Desborough, and on the right is the crest of the University of Oxford. The ring that used to be in the bull's nose has disappeared.
The inscription under the ox's head reads:
PRESENTED BY
LORD DESBOROUGH 1924
The inscription on the wall underneath the sculpture reads:
STARTING RING
PRESENTED TO THE O.U.B.C.
BY
LORD DESBOROUGH
1924
William Henry Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough (1855–1955)
While an undergraduate at Balliol College William Grenfell rowed for Oxford in the Boat Race in 1877, when there was a dead heat, and again in 1878, when Oxford won. He was also President of the Oxford University Boat Club that year.
He was Chairman of the Thames Conservancy Board from 1904 to 1937, and hence held that position when the above starting ring was erected in 1924. He had been raised to the peerage as Baron Desborough, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham on 30 December 1905.
Desborough Bridge at the end of Mill Lane and Desborough Crescent in Rose Hill were named after him.
- See Wikipedia: William Henry Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough for more information about his long career dedicated to public service