Background
Burnell was born at Beckenham, then in Kent.
Burnell was born at Beckenham, then in Kent.
He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and was a member of the winning Oxford crews in the Boat Races of 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898.
After the war, he rejoined the family firm of stockbrokers in the City. He was Chairman of the Wokingham Rural District Council for 35 years. In 1954 he was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for public service in Berkshire.
Burnell died at Blewbury, Oxfordshire, at the age of 93 on 3 October 1969.
He became a member of Leander Club and was in the Leander crew which won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta for four consecutive years from 1898 to 1901. He was also a three-time winner of the Stewards" Challenge Cup at Henley. In 1908 he was a crew member of the Leander eight, which won the gold medal for Great Britain rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics. During World War I. Burnell served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the London Rifle Brigade and won a Defence Science Organisation in 1918. They had four children and their son Dickie Burnell was also an Olympic rower, winning a gold medal in 1948 in the double sculls.
