Roy Finlay (19 November 1881 – 20 February 1952) was born in Australia of Scottish descent and is best known for dedicating his life towards creating and sustaining the Phyllis Court Club and its emerging role in the Henley Royal Regatta from 1906 to 1937.
Life and works
Reginald Gedye Finlay was born in Woollahra in 1881, the elder son of Reginald Edmund Alexander Finlay and Laura Mary Gedye. At the age of 14, Finlay emigrated with the rest of the family to live with their grandfather in London. In 1901, the Finlays purchased a portion of the Bolney Estate in Shiplake, where they constructed five residential houses, laying part of the estate over to fruit farming with orchards and glass-houses. Finlay moved into one of the houses (Trevone) but the life of a fruit farmer was not to be for him.
Phyllis Court Club
In 1905, Finlay noticed a "To Let" hoarding on the river bank at Phyllis Court, a substantial mansion that enclosed a significant length of the shore of the River Thames adjacent to the finish line of the Henley Royal Regatta. He persuaded his father to underwrite the purchase of a lease on the property and to establish the creation of a sporting club, which Finlay would manage in his father's name. The family agreed to the plan and on June 7, 1905 a celebration was held and the club was born. Over the next few years, Finlay devoted his life to refurbishing the house to make Phyllis Court stand out as a venue for the week of the Henley Regatta and to establish it as part of the London Season. Landowners, society courtiers, military officers and racing-men flocked to the club, with applications greatly exceeding the allocation of places, which said as much about the personal charm and charisma of Finlay as it did about his business sense and attention to detail. The promise of strong returns encouraged Finlay to offer debentures for members to underwrite enlarging the business whilst taking much of the running of the Club upon himself, aged just 23. A Founder's Committee was installed to improve governance by giving some control back to members, and in 1907, a full-time secretary was appointed.
The robustness of the new governance structure was put to the test in 1910 when Finlay became gravely ill from typhoid, putting him out of action for the entire summer season. With Finlay absent, the committee made key changes to the club's revenue stream reducing the club to the brink of bankruptcy. Finlay slowly recovered his health in October and took immediate corrective action, sacking the secretary and inviting the entire committee to resign before dissolving it. He spent the next three years successfully tackling the huge debt, managing creditors, recovering the damaged reputation of the Club and, reclaiming his own health as well as restoring the Club back to profit.
First World War
Finlay had been attending Army camp for two weeks every year as a reservist for the King's Colonials since 1903. In 1911, the regiment became King Edward's Horse and in 1913, Finlay was placed on the reserve's list and received orders to hold himself in readiness in August 1914. The Phyllis Court Club was only eight years old when Finlay was compelled to wind down activities, handing over the day-to-day running of the Club in 1914 to the care of his sister Mimi Burke in Shiplake (photograph right) and a skeleton administrative staff at Henley composed mostly of women. In November, Finlay was assigned to the Western Front and, ill-prepared as he was for action, he adapted fast. By January 1915, he was held back behind the lines as a cavalry officer, training for a long-awaited big assault. There was talk of the Regiment being transferred to Egypt, which Finlay favoured over a promotion in Kitchener's Army in the trenches, but it wasn't long before he joined his brother Alan back in the trenches at Ypres.