1828 – 1842 #

In a little book called ‘Facetiae Cantabrigienses’ there is an account of a water-party, dated 1822; some men of various colleges hired a six-oar, the ‘Glory’, from Cross, and rowed to ‘Backsbite’ lock; on the way they encountered the ‘Stag’ and raced her side by side. This seems to be the first account of an undergraduate race on the Cam. But rather like our colleges and University, bumping races were an importation from Oxford. In 1826 Trinity and St. John’s took to the water and casually pursued one another, using, so sound tradition says, a trumpet note to signal a challenge. In those independent days a steerer could be fined a guinea for winding his horn without the whole consent of his crew. The University Boat Club was founded in 1827 and the bumping races came within its province, though they were by no means rigidly managed, as will soon become plain. The bumping races were continuous from October to May, but 1828 saw the last of autumn races. In the Michaelmas term of 1827 there were four boats in competition, but by the following spring Caius, Corpus, Jesus, Magdalene, Trinity Hall, and Peterhouse had put boats on the river; the smaller clubs hired them for the occasion from boat builders. That year, including the Michaelmas term, Peterhouse took to the water on seven of the twelve rowing days - one of which was postponed on account of rain - and was left second. On February 28 1829 the order of boats was: St. John’s, Peterhouse, Corpus, and II Trinity; that night Peterhouse bumped John’s, rowed over twice as Head of the River, and then ‘took off’, i.e. withdrew from the races - an act neither unusual nor disgraceful in that simpler age. Bateman however reckons that the men of Peterhouse preferred the excitement of making bumps to the honour of maintaining a high place on the river. After a good rest the boat reappeared on March 21, made five bumps in succession after starting at the bottom; it then rowed over once, was twice bumped, again rowed over and then took off. There was no racing that autumn.

The bumps course fell between the Chesterton lock, which was below the ‘Pike and Eel’, and a point roughly where the Trinity Boat House stands; there was a lock by the ‘Fort St George’, and the distance is about a mile and a quarter. Because of the sharp bend in the river so soon after the start no bump could be made until the boats were past the bumping post, which was two hundred yards up-stream of the Horse Grind (the grind, or ferry, was where Chesterton footbridge now spans the river). Accounts differ about the distance between boats at starting: Armytage says that they overlapped, Rouse Ball reckons a gap of twenty yards with ten yards of rope, Bateman thirty yards and Brittain ninety; (Rouse Ball also says that boats were pushed off from both banks). Whatever the fact of the matter, the bumping post gave boats time to sort themselves out; and the narrow gaps account for the not infrequent overbumps. Indeed in May 1831 Peterhouse had the doubtful distinction of being double overbumped by the Trinity ‘Nautilus’; since ‘ye Pet’ had made its bump on the three preceding evenings, this disaster was reckoned an undeserved accident. In 1832 two divisions were formed, and this attests the rapid growth of the sport’s popularity. That year Peterhouse inexplicably bumped both St. Catharine’s and Queens’ on the same evening, March 17; other crews however also claimed two bumps in one race from time to time, so this may be seen as another license of former days. This same year Trinity challenged the University to a race and Thomas Tunstall Smith of Peterhouse rowed at 3 in the ‘Varsity crew.

During an intermission of three years in the Club’s activities, the Cam underwent important changes which in the long run improved rowing here. The ‘Fort St George’ lock was demolished and rebuilt up river, now Jesus lock. More importantly the Chesterton lock, despite the protests of oarsmen, was removed so as to leave the river unobstructed down to Baitsbite lock, a distance of three miles, three furlongs and 170 yards. The course, much as we know it to-day, was then adopted, but with only one finishing post set well below the ‘Pike and Eel’. More room to row in allowed the boats to be started 140 feet apart; there were three guns fired at three minute intervals from the lock end.

Our minute books begin when the club was firmly established in the Lent term of 1836. Those who subscribed a guinea were full members and eligible to pull; those who subscribed half a guinea were honorary, non-pulling members. Of these latter there were many for much of the last century; it must be recalled that the boat club was a social organisation loosely grouped about rowing as a pastime. Thus some members might only wish to use the boat for pleasure outings or picnics; indeed the John’s club had a very elaborate picnic set. Rowing in races formed no part of the non-pulling members’ purpose in joining the P.B.C. Along with the rules fines are detailed: 5/- for absence from the boat on a ’pulling day’ without prior notice having been given; 1/- ¬for failure to wear the uniform (this is not, alas, described, though we shall see all too much of the club’s concern with dress in later years). The steerer could fine men who were disorderly in the boat 1/-, ‘and should the steersman himself use personal or irritating language he shall be subject to the same fine at the discretion of the Captain’.

The overall number of members from both groups was about thirty-four. At this point a caution must be made: it is impossible to be precise about numbers because men often went out of residence to study for examinations, or because for various reasons migrations to and from colleges were rather more common, or because, like one Bythesea, they were ‘plucked for copying at Little-go’. As will be seen there was as yet little restriction upon terms of eligibility for rowing, but after 1841, when Caius secured the Headship by summoning up three old members from London, only residents of the University might race. One of this Club’s earliest members was W.S. Parish whose three sons were in time also members. In April of 1836 it was resolved to practise every evening at six o’clock which, if adhered to, was for the time unusual diligence. (Hall in those days was a late afternoon meal; the men found supper for themselves at a later hour).

In 1838 the Club reorganised itself after a short dissolution, and forty-seven men proposed themselves for membership; of these eighteen were prepared to pull on race days. (One was Sir Matthew Begbie, later Chief Justice of British Columbia, where the memory of him as a hanging judge is still fresh). The subscription was now 10/- a term with an entrance fee of a sovereign. On March 21 1838 ‘it was agreed that the uniform of the crew be a grey whalebone hat’ - perhaps worn whilst rowing - ’white shirts, white trousers, and blue handkerchief with white border.’ The colour may have been settled upon at an earlier date but this is the first reference to blue as the club’s colour. In the minute, however, this is altered to read ‘black’; the likely reason is the death of the Master, Dr Barnes, whose notorious election in 1788 was followed by a tenure of office lasting half a century.

An eight-oared boat was hired from Cross for £12 and was named ‘ye Pet’. It started bottom of the division and in the eight racing days of the Easter term rose eleven places, though only five were won by bumps. The Secretary proudly concluded his term’s notes thus: ‘It appears that ye Pet bumped on every occasion on which any chance was afforded them (always without difficulty) and ye boat as then manned was capable of better things having once when pulling against time to decide a bet pulled over ye racing distance in 7’ 28” (by a stop watch) and on another occasion when practising pulled over ye same distance in 7’ 11” (Bateman cites for 1837 a time of 7’ 40”). ‘Having then as is evident, made a good start, after ye fame of ye “Old Pet” had so long subsided, as-well-as-under,… it is most sincerely hoped that all ye members of ye College both present and future will support and emulate ye good example which ye above crew have set, and improve on that place.’ This exhortation was not long from its fulfilment. (Betting, by the way, seems not to have been reprehensible in boating circles; even in 1862 bets were apparently made on the outcome of a College fours race.)

In the Lent term of 1839 ‘it was resolved that five gentlemen… should go round to the Master (W. Hodgson) and Fellows for the purpose of raising some money to purchase a boat; after meeting with incivility from the Master and Senior Tutor and refusals from all the Fellows with the exception of Mr Parish (Treasurer of the Club, and, in October 1838, Fellow) and Robinson it was found that with great exertion the sum of £42 might be raised in the College’. In the event thirty-eight men contributed, on average, a guinea. Incivility from Senior Members is never again recorded, for members of the P.B.C., as in the case of Mr Parish, were assumed gradually into the ranks of the Fellowship and even became Master, so that support of all kinds from above continues to this day to animate the Club. (For the sake of comparison, however, it should be noted that in the late 1820’s, at Trinity, the resident fellows contributed money to support the boat club). The boat continued to rise through the ranks. On May 6 1840 R.H. Cobbold was elected Captain. He had been a notable oar at Shrewsbury and rowed twice against Oxford: in 1841 when Cambridge won, and in 1842 when they did not. In 1843 he was President of the CUBC; there was no official boat race that year, but members of the Cambridge Subscription Rooms met an Oxford crew in the final of the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley: they lost. It was under his skilled leadership that the College boat went head in 1842. On March 6 1841 a new boat was ordered to be built ‘according to the old system with the planks overlapping one another’. The subscription came to £61 7/-. In this Lent term J.C. Conybeare rowed at 3; he twice won the Chancellor’s Prize for an English poem. The boat moved in eleven racing days from eleventh to third, and might have gone further if Caius had not brought in its myrmidons from the London Subscription Rooms. In November of 1841 Caius accepted a general challenge from Peterhouse to race in four-oared boats. Ominously Caius lost by eighty yards. On Monday February 28 1842 they were bumped by Peterhouse who continued Head of the River over the succeeding nine racing days (Lents and Mays not yet being severed). And so after the last race Peterhouse for the only time rowed at the head of Procession, an often disorderly progress of the flower-decked boats up the Backs. The Procession is noticed by Gwen Raverat in ‘Period Piece’ (p.24). Our account books often mention the claret cup drunk on this occasion, which was abolished in 1892 as disreputable. The racing time of the Head boat this year was 7’ 10” over the course; in the following year the Head boat’s time was 6’ 45” and in 1844 6’ 30”. The names of the crew were: bow: S. East, 2: J. Best (also a noted Salopian oar), 3: B.H. Puckle, 4: L. Fry, 5: R.H. Cobbold, 6: E.J. Reeve, 7: E.A. White, stroke: J. Beresford, cox: W.G. Blake. Beresford was also President of the CUBC from November 1843 to May 1844. (T.A. Walker asserts wrongly that another Salopian, R. Potter, rowed in this crew; he was Captain of the Club however in 1838.)