Ernest Blakelock Thubron

Ernest Blakelock Thubron, also known as Emile Thubron, was an Anglo-French motorboat racer who won an Olympic gold medal. He was born in The Boldons in the United Kingdom and died in Tokomaru, New Zealand, on 22 May 1927. In 1904 he won the second running of the Harmsworth Trophy for motor powered boats aboard Trefle-a-quatre. He also worked in the boat trade in Egypt, where he was managing owner of the Boulac Engine Works in Cairo in 1898 and was still working there as a boat constructor in 1906. At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London he entered his boat Camille in Class A, the open class, and won the gold medal by covering the forty nautical miles in 2:26:53; Camille was the only boat to finish the race. He later retired to New Zealand. His son was Brigadier Gerald Thubron OBE and his grandson is the writer Colin Thubron.