The rowing club was originally established at
J. Stone & Co's engineering works in
Deptford's Arklow Road and was called
Stones Rowing Club, with membership restricted to company employees. In the first years after the club was established, the boats used were heavy Clinker fours, hired from a local
waterman in East Greenwich and were used mainly on Sunday mornings. This was found to be cost prohibitive and, in time, the club applied to Stone's engineering works for a grant to purchase new equipment. This was refused, and as a result the club broke away from the works and set up independently to attract new members from elsewhere, with headquarters in the nearby Lord Clyde public house (western end of Clyde Street). The club was hence known as the
Clyde Rowing Club. During the mid-1930s, the headquarters were moved to another public house, The Globe on Royal Hill in
Greenwich (demolished ), from which the rowing club took its current name,
Globe Rowing Club. The club also had a headquarters (1947) at the nearby
Mitre public house in Greenwich; and for a time used a decommissioned landing craft moored opposite the Union Tavern (today
The Cutty Sark) at Ballast Quay. The club was also the first
rowing club in East London to use an
eight. In August 1981, members of Globe Rowing Club set a Guinness World Record for "The greatest distance for paddling a hand propelled bath tub in 24 ...by a team of 25" The record distance set was "60 miles 88 yd". In 2006, Greenwich Council granted permission, with contributions from
Sport England, and the Trafalgar 2001 Trust Ltd for the club to develop the facilities on the corner of Crane Street and Eastney Street, creating a heated, lit boathouse, indoor training room and clubhouse known as the Trafalgar Rowing Centre. In the early 2010s, Globe's Junior section began a partnership with non-profit organisation
London Youth Rowing, to bring indoor and water rowing to increase participation in the sport and allow those from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate. Many of the junior members who have gone on to achieve national and international rowing success have done so as a result of the partnership with LYR. After the pandemic, in 2020, Globe hired Maurice Coughlan who had previously only worked with the Junior Squad as an external coach to be their Director of Rowing. In the next few years, a performance squad was founded for the seniors leading to several
Henley Royal Regatta and
Henley Women's Regatta qualifications and the junior success continuing culminating in the winning of the Nina Padwick Trophy at HWR in 2022. In 2022 Globe won its first
Henley Women's Regatta title in the Nina Padwick Trophy (WJ16 4x-). In 2025 the club went on to win its outright senior open weight
British Rowing Championships in the Club coxless fours. Globe had formally had success in lightweight events in the late 90s. == Honours ==