Brasenose College Boat Club 1923 Rowing Oar, Summer Eights

Brasenose College Boat Club 1923 Rowing Oar, Summer Eights

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Reference

28016

Rowing Oar Blade, Brasenose College 1923, Oxford University.
The full length oar is an original traditional Brasenose College (Oxford University) presentation rowing oar with gilt calligraphy and college insignia. The writing on the trophy blade is in good condition. The oar is numbered 2 so would have belonged to E.D. Wetton, as that was his position and we acquired five other oars at the time all with Wetton's name on them.

The trophy blade reads:-

'Brasenose College Boat Club - 1923, Summer Eights' 5 Bumps
Bow.D.C. Bennett.....10st..6lbs
2..E.D. Wetton.....11..2
3..A.R. Armitage.....12..5
4..O.C. Sewall.....12..3½
5..W.T. Lindesay.....13st..7lbs
6..G.J. Mower-White.....13..8
7..P.R. Wace.....12..3
Str..W.P. Mellen.....10..12
Cox......A.C. Nisbet.....9st..2lbs
Bumped - Queen's I, University I - Balliol I, St. John's I, Corpus Christi.

Brasenose College Boat Club (BNCBC) is the rowing club of Brasenose College, Oxford. It is one of the oldest boat clubs in the world, having beaten Jesus College Boat Club in the first modern rowing race, held at Oxford in 1815. Although rowing at schools such as Eton and Westminster School Boat Club predates this, the 1815 contest is the first recorded race between rowing clubs anywhere in the world.

In addition to the 1815 "headship", the club has won both the Summer Eights and Torpids headship many times, and has recorded numerous victories in most events at the Henley Royal Regatta.

The club's colours are black and gold, with black blades. The 1st VIII, however, may wear the distinctive "Childe of Hale" colours - red, purple and gold - which are traditional in Brasenose rowing.

Any crew which records four consecutive bumps is said to have 'gained their oars'. The prize being a full-size oar decorated with the names of the full crew in gold lettering on the college colours for each rower. The cox is given a decorated rudder and the coach receives a decorated wooden shield with a mock-up of the bow end of a boat.

Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities host two university bumps races yearly, each lasting several days. The races are for eights (i.e. eight rowers and a cox), each representing one of the university's various colleges. One of the races is held in early spring and the other in early summer, in Oxford they are called 'Torpids' in the spring and 'Eights' in the summer, in Cambridge these are called 'Lent Bumps' and 'May Bumps'. The leading crews of the Lent Bumps go on to race the leading Oxford Torpids crews at the Henley Boat Races around Easter.

The first attested bumps race took place in Oxford in 1815 and was between two eights from Brasenose College and Jesus College. Twelve years later Lent Bumps racing commenced at Cambridge University. As the Isis and Cam are long narrow rivers, not ideal for normal side by side racing, Bumps racing evolved. The competing crews line up bow-to-stern in order, one behind the other with gaps of about 1½ boat lengths between them. The start of the race commences with the firing of a cannon, the idea to progress up their division by attempting to catch and Bump (touch) the boat in front whilst simultaneously trying not to be Bumped by the boat behind. The ultimate aim becoming top of the first division and "Head Of The River". When a bump has taken place both of the crews involved in the Bump pull over to the river bank and take no further part in that race, allowing the rest of the division to pass. The only difference is in Torpids where the crew whose boat was Bumped has to continue racing (and is liable to be bumped again). It is possible to "over bump", if the 2 crews involved in the Bump have pulled over and the crew behind them manage to catch the boat that was in front of them, this is an "over bump".

Dimensions:

Height 365.5 cm / 144"
Period

1900-1949

Year

1923

Medium

pine

Country

United Kingdom

Condition

Very good.

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