Jesus College Boat Club (Oxford)

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The blade colours of Jesus College Boat Club
On the left is the Club's boathouse on the Isis. The right-hand half of the building is used by Keble College.

Jesus College Boat Club (commonly abbreviated to JCBC) is a rowing club for members of Jesus College, Oxford, which is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, with a boat from the college being involved in the earliest recorded races between college crews at Oxford in 1815. The college boathouse is on the Isis in Oxford.

History

The early records of the Jesus College Boat Club have been lost, but there are references to the college in material that survives from the early nineteenth century.[1] There are references to "pleasure boating" at Oxford in letters and poems written in the late eighteenth century, but races between crews from different colleges did not start until the early nineteenth century.[2] Rowing in eights (boats with eight oarsmen, each pulling one oar, and steered by a coxswain) began at Eton, where there is a record of the school owning three eights by 1811, and then progressed to Oxford. The first record of an inter-college race dates from 1815, which was a race between an eight from Jesus College and an eight from Brasenose College.[3] These may have been the only two colleges racing at that time, and Brasenose was usually victorious.[4] There were few rowers at this time and races between fours (boats with four oarsmen and a coxswain) attracted more interest than races between eights at this time.[5] Students would row to the inn at Sandford-on-Thames, a few miles south of Oxford, and race each other on the way back.[4] The races would start at Iffley Lock and finish at King's Barge, off Christ Church Meadow. Flags hoisted on the barge would indicate the finishing order of the crews.[3] Crews would set off one behind the other, the trailing boat(s) trying to catch, or "bump", the boat ahead. For identification, crews wore college colours and emblazoned the rudder of the boat with the college coat of arms. Crews from Jesus College painted leeks (an emblem of Wales) on their oars for further distinction.[6] In early races, rowers wore high hats, although many crews changed to wearing Tam o'shanters in college colours – Jesus were still wearing green Tam o'shanters with a white band in 1847.[7]

A print of eights racing at Oxford in 1822, which has been thought to depict the Jesus College boat

In 1822, Jesus and Brasenose raced each other for the headship of the river. One Brasenose rower apparently "caught a crab", slowing the boat. Brasenose were bumped by Jesus, but rowed on regardless and claimed to remain head of the river. Jesus and Brasenose men competed over which flag should be hoisted as head. One of the Brasenose crew ended the dispute by saying "Quot homines tot sententiae, different men have different opinions, some like leeks and some like onions", referring to the emblem on the Jesus oars, and it was agreed to row the race again. Brasenose won the rematch.[8] The incident has been said to be shown in an 1822 picture, which is the earliest depiction of an eights race at Oxford, painted by I. T. Serres (Marine Painter to George IV.[5][8] However, the print was published on 1 March 1822 and it would have taken several months to prepare and engrave. It also shows a summer scene. Both of these points suggest that the print depicts either an imaginary scene or an unrecorded event from 1821.[9]

Races gradually became more formalised, with regulations being introduced prohibiting colleges from using professional rowers or members of other colleges. A race for the colleges' second boats (Torpids) was introduced in 1826, and eventually boats with less than eight oars were excluded from the races.[6] During the late 1820s and early 1830s, Jesus did not take part in races, but the college was mentioned as having a second boat by 1836.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The formal foundation of the club dates from 1835.[10] Records of inter-college races begin in 1837. Jesus started the competition that year in second position, behind Christ Church, but after being ed on successive nights by Exeter, Balliol and Queens' Colleges, Jesus took no further part in that year's competition. In 1838, Jesus rowed in last place on one evening, but then did not participate until 1847. Its fortunes varied in the years thereafter, going up three places in one night in 1859, but not competing in 1860 and finishing in last place in 1864 (and again in 1889).[11][12] After that, said Ernest Hardy (in his 1899 history of the college), "the boating record of the College has not been good", although he recorded that the 1896 boat had a reputation of being one of the faster boats.[11]

By 1930, the college 1st VIII had reached its highest position on the river for thirty years.[13] In 1947, the college chaplain Leslie Cross presented a new set of oars to the club. He retired that year, and the college magazine noted that the oars had already been used to good purpose.[14] The 1st VIII progressed further in the 1950s, making five bumps in 1951 and four in 1952 to reach the first division, with a high point of seventh in 1958. It later returned to the second division, before re-entering the first division in 1970.[15] Its highest position in recent years was seventh in the first division in 2000 and in 2001; it has been back in the second division since 2004.[16] Women were first admitted to Jesus College in 1974, when the college was one of the first five men's colleges to become co-educational.[17] The college women's First VIII reached a high point of second in the first division of Eights in 1983, but have been in the third division since 2002.[18]

Rowers

D. W. Griffith, the stroke of the Jesus College boat, was present at the inaugural meeting of the Oxford University Boat Club on 23 April 1839.[19] However, Jesus College oarsmen played an infrequent part in university rowing in the nineteenth century. No Jesus College student served on the OUBC committee between 1839 and 1899, the last year for which Sherwood gives records.[20] Two students from the college were part of the Oxford crew in the second Oxford-Cambridge boat race in 1836; Oxford lost.[21] Seven others trialled unsuccessfully for the university crew between 1858 and 1899.[22] Since then, college representation in the Boat Race has been more frequent: M. L. Thomas and D. R. Glynne Jones (1952);[15] Boris Mavra (1992, 1993 and 1995);[23][24] Barney Williams (2005 and 2006);[25] and Brodie Buckland (2007).[26] Various women have won their "Blue" for competing in the Women's Boat Race against Cambridge: Anna Bean and Ann Bevitt (1989);[27] Louise Sanford (1997);[28] and Claire Weaver (1998).[27]

Some prominent individuals rowed whilst they were students at the college. The historian Albert Pollard was Captain of Boats in 1890, having rowed in the boat that was last on the river in 1889.[12] Alwyn Williams (later Bishop of Durham), who was at the college from 1906 to 1911, was also boat club captain.[29] Maurice Jones (later Principal of St David's College, Lampeter) was a cox. John Sankey (later Lord Chancellor) rowed in a Torpid boat that went down four places.[30] The baritone David Ffrangcon Davies rowed in a boat that went up five places in Torpids and four in Eights.[31] Angus Buchanan, who won the Victoria Cross in 1916 during the First World War, rowed in a college four in 1919, despite having been blinded in 1917.[32]

See also

References

General references
  • Baker, J. N. L. (1971). Jesus College, Oxford 1571–1971. London: Oxonian Press Ltd. ISBN 0950216402. Cited in references as: Baker
  • Hardy, E. G. (1899). Jesus College. London: F. E. Robinson & Co. Cited in references as: Hardy
  • Sharp, Richard (1992). "A Jesus College Rowing Print". The Jesus College Record: 24–29. Cited in references as: Sharp
  • Sherwood, W. E. (1900). Oxford Rowing: A History of Boat-Racing at Oxford from the Earliest Times. Oxford and London: Henry Frowde. Cited in references as: Sherwood
Specific references
  1. ^ The club's records were lost by the time that Sherwood wrote his book in 1900: Sherwood, p. x (Introduction)
  2. ^ Sherwood pp. 1–2, 8
  3. ^ a b Sherwood, p. 8
  4. ^ a b Hardy, p. 229
  5. ^ a b Sharp, p. 25
  6. ^ a b Sharp, p. 26
  7. ^ Sherwood, p. 87
  8. ^ a b Sherwood, p. 10
  9. ^ Sharp, pp. 28–29
  10. ^ "Jesus College Boat Club". Jesus College, Oxford. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  11. ^ a b Hardy, p. 230
  12. ^ a b Baker, p. 87
  13. ^ Baker, p. 130
  14. ^ Baker, p. 138
  15. ^ a b Baker, p.145
  16. ^ "Jesus Men's Eights 1980–2008". Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  17. ^ "Jesus College Oxford – The Modern Day". 27 September 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Jesus Women's Eights 1980–2008". Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  19. ^ Sherwood, pp. 20–21
  20. ^ Sherwood, pp. 361–369
  21. ^ Sherwood, p. 349
  22. ^ Sherwood, pp. 287–302
  23. ^ De'Ath, John (1993/1994). "Sports Report 1992–93". Jesus College Record. Jesus College, Oxford: 70. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  24. ^ De'Ath, John (1995/1996). "Sports Report 1994–95". Jesus College Record. Jesus College, Oxford: 75. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  25. ^ Bennett, Ivor (2006). "Sports Report 2005–2006". Jesus College Record. Jesus College, Oxford: 91. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ "The Boat Race". Jesus College, Oxford. 22 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  27. ^ a b Beer, Peter (1999). "Sports Report 1998–99". Jesus College Record. Jesus College, Oxford: 105.
  28. ^ Beer, Peter (1997/1998). "Sports Report 1996–97". Jesus College Record. Jesus College, Oxford: 70. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  29. ^ Baker, p. 108
  30. ^ Baker, p. 84
  31. ^ Baker, p. 106
  32. ^ Baker, p. 116

51°44′37″N 1°15′00″W / 51.743503°N 1.249915°W / 51.743503; -1.249915

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