Lewis Clive

Who was Lewis Clive?

Lewis Clive was a British rower who won a gold medal in the 1932 Summer Olympics. He fought for the republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was killed in action.

Clive was the son of Lt-Col Percy Clive, a Liberal Unionist then Conservative MP for Ross who was killed in the First World War. He was educated at Eton where he was captain of both Oppidans and Boats.

Clive studied at Christ Church, Oxford and rowed in the losing Oxford boats in the Boat Races in 1930 and 1931. He partnered Hugh Edwards to win the Silver Goblets at Henley in 1931 and 1932. They were selected to compete in the coxless pairs rowing at the 1932 Summer Olympics, where they won gold medal with a comfortable victory in the final at Long Beach, California.

Clive was a member of the Fabian Society and was elected as a Labour councillor for St Charles' ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Kensington.

He joined the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. As a company commander of the British Battalion of the IB, he was killed in action at Hill 481, near Gandesa, August 1938, during the Battle of Ebro. He is named on a memorial in the foothills of Ebro mountains.