Oxford people stones: Gilbert Charles Bourne, Thames towpath
This stone stands on the Thames towpath near Iffley. It reads:
THIS STONE
IS PLACED
HERE BY HIS
FRIENDS IN
MEMORY OF
GILBERT
CHARLES
BOURNE
F.R.S.
1861–1933
A DEVOTED
FRIEND OF
OXFORD
ROWING
FAC
PRO VIRIBUS
[= Act according to your strength,
or with all your strength
]
Not a listed structure
Gilbert Charles Bourne (1861–1933) was born at Grafton Manor, Worcestershire on 5 July 1861, the son of a Lieutenant-Colonel in the army.
He came up to New College, Oxford as an undergraduate in 1881, and rowed for Oxford in the University Boat Race in both 1882 and 1883.
From 1887 to 1899 he served as the first director of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Plymouth, and then returned to Oxford, where he became Fellow and Tutor at New College. He also served in the South African War.
He was Linacre Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford from 1906 to 1921, and was elected FRS in 1910. He served in the First World War, but was wounded at Sulva Bay in 1915.
He coached rowing eights, and in 1925 he wrote his Text Book on Oarsmanship.
He died at his home, Tubney House near Abingdon, on 8 March 1933.
See the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for a full biography of Bourne. He also has a Wikipedia page.