Sandford Lock - Accidental Deaths

Accidental Deaths

The pool below the weir, known as Sandford Lasher, has been notorious since the 19th century because of the number of individuals who have drowned there.

Henry Fawcett, a student of University College, Oxford, drowned while swimming in May 1833. John Richardson Currer, brother of Charles Savile Roundell and student of Balliol College, Oxford drowned in February 1840 while attempting to row a skiff through the lasher pool. A 16-year-old pupil of the Cowley Diocesan School, Edward John Templar, the son of the Vicar of Great Coxwell, drowned on 21 May 1864 after diving into the water and saving the life of another boy, a non-swimmer who had accidentally fallen into the weirpool. Clarence Sinclair Collier, a 19 year old student of Balliol College, drowned in June 1879. He and another student were boating above the weir, but the boat overturned and both they and the boat were carried by the current over the weir and into the lasher pool, where Collier drowned. He is commemorated by a memorial on the wall of the antechapel at Baliol College.

At the weir, a 19th century obelisk records the deaths of five Christ Church students who drowned here - Richard Phillimore and William Gaisford in 1843; George Dasent in 1872 and Michael Llewelyn Davies and Rupert Buxton in 1921.

William Gaisford was the son of Thomas Gaisford, the dean of Christ Church. He got into difficulties while swimming on 23rd June 1843. His friend, Richard Phillimore, entered the water to save him, but both young men drowned. Richard Phillimore was the son of Dr Joseph Phillimore, the Regius Professor of Civil Law. They are buried in Christ Church Cathedral and also commemorated by two memorial tablets in the north walk of the Cathedral cloisters.

Michael Llewelyn Davies was the foster son of writer J. M. Barrie, and one of the main inspirations for the character of Peter Pan. He and Rupert Buxton, the son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 4th Baronet, both drowned on 19 May 1921 in the Sandford Lasher in reportedly calm water. Buxton was 21, Llewelyn Davies was just short of his 21st birthday.