Henry
Robert
(Bobby)
Pearce
Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Ancestors 
Son of Henry William Pearce
and Lilly (Shankelton) Pearce
Brother of
Ernest W Pearce
Husband of
Reita (Hendon) Pearce
— married
10 Dec 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
[children unknown]
Died
at age 70
in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Profile last modified
| Created 3 Jul 2020
This page has been accessed 719 times.
Bobby Pearce was born in New South Wales, Australia
Bobby Pearce is Notable.
Biography
Australian Olympic gold medal winner sculler and three-time world champion. His victories in the Olympics of 1928 and 1932 made him the first Australian to win gold at successive Games, and the only single sculler before World War II to win the event twice.
Bobby was born in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1905. He was born Into a family of impressive athletes including his grandfather, father, uncle, aunt and cousins. One cousin, Cecil Pearce, was also an Olympic sculler and Cecil's son, Gary, would row in three Olympic Games from 1964 to 1972.
After a stint in the Australian Army and a successful boxing career while in the services, he first gained selection for the Olympics in 1928 after winning the Australia amateur national sculling championships in 1927. In the 1928 Olympics he was the only rower selected in the Australian team. And to top his rise to fame, he carried the Australian flag at the opening ceremony.
In 1930 he moved to Hamilton, Ontario, where he worked as a salesman. He became a professional rower in 1932 and was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete of 1938.
During World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was made a lieutenant in charge of training new soldiers and also did public relations work for the Royal Canadian Navy. By his retirement in 1956, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant commander. He then resumed his work as a liquor salesman, and in 1972 became a Canadian citizen.
Pearce died in Toronto of heart disease in 1976 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. His second wife Velma (née Whelpton), their son and the children of his first marriage to Reita Hendon survived him.
He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1952, into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, and into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986.
Sources
- Wikidata: Item Q1607151, en:Wikipedia
- Scott Bennett, Pearce, Henry Robert (Bobby) (1905–1976), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pearce-henry-robert-bobby-7997/text13933, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 19 September 2020.
- ANDREW MCDONALD's Blog: 101 Greatest Olympic Moments
- Karl Smallwood's posting on the TODAY I FOUND OUT website:
- The OLYMPIC GAMES website
- GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE website
- Bobby Pearce Foundation
- Record breaking Australian sculler's gold medals to go under the hammer
- WORLD ROWING website
- Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame
- Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11 , 1988 https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pearce-henry-robert-bobby-7997
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Rejected matches › Thomas Henry Pearce (1906-1972) › William Henry Pearce (1906-) › Edward Henry Pearce (abt.1905-) › Henry Pearce (1906-abt.1974) › Henry Piercy (1905-1976) › Noel H. Pearce › Richard Henry Pearce (1905-1975) › Walter Henry Price (1903-1978) › John Henry Pierce (1903-1978) › John Henry Price (1905-)
This week's featured connections are Canadian notables: Bobby is 26 degrees from Donald Sutherland, 24 degrees from Robert Carrall, 16 degrees from George Étienne Cartier, 28 degrees from Viola Desmond, 35 degrees from Dan George, 18 degrees from Wilfrid Laurier, 20 degrees from Charles Monck, 22 degrees from Norma Shearer, 27 degrees from David Suzuki, 22 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve, 25 degrees from Angus Walters and 23 degrees from Fay Wray on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
P > Pearce > Henry Robert Pearce
Categories: WikiGames | Popular Poplars | Canada, Sports Hall of Fame Inductees | Ontario, Athletes | Olympic Gold Medalists | Olympians Representing Australia | Australia, Notables in Sport | Sport Australia Hall of Fame | Notables | Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
this is the record of his birth from NSW BDM RECORDS
hope it is of help to you regards Rita
Thanks for looking after this Australian notable! I'm not sure if you're aware, but the Australia Project has recently changed their Australian Notables categories. We are now moving all the profiles currently under the Australia, Notables category to one or more of the sub-categories - see Australia, Notables category for the sub-categories and Australian Notables for information on how to include an Australian Notable category as part of the Notables sticker. You can also check if you have any other profiles that need moving from under this category by going to the category and choosing 'Limit to Watchlist' on the top RHS.
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Thanks so much! Gillian, co-Leader, Australia Project