John Lander

After his fine performance as stroke in the coxless fours at the 1928 Olympics, John Lander of Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Cambridge seemed assured of a blue in 1929. However, Richard Beesly, the Cambridge President and Lander’s fellow gold medalist in Amsterdam, called on Tom Brocklebank as stroke for the centenary year Boat Race, which Cambridge won by four lengths. On leaving Cambridge, Lander took up a business appointment in Hong Kong where he was killed in defense of the colony during the Japanese invasion. While no less than thirteen British Olympic gold medalists lost their lives in World War I, John Lander was the only one to be killed in action in World War II.