The Boat Race 1839

The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues")^[1] and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues").^[1] The race was first held in 1829, and takes place on the River Thames in southwest London.^[2][3] No race between the two universities was held in 1837 or 1838, instead Cambridge raced against Leander Club those years.^[4] The umpires for the race were C. B. Wollaston (for Oxford) and C. J. Selwyn (for Cambridge), while W. H. Harrison acted as referee.^[5]

Cambridge's boat was constructed by Searle of Stangate, while Oxford's "beautifully constructed" vessel was built by King of Oxford.^[6] The race was scheduled to take place on a five-and-three-quarter-mile stretch between Westminster Bridge and Putney Bridge.^[7] Oxford were trained by a Thames waterman while Cambridge were guided by their cox, Thomas Selby Egan.^[6]

The Oxford crew weighed an average of 11 st 10.5 lb (74.4 kg) per rower, almost 10 pounds (4.5 kg) more per man than their opponents.^[8] None of the Oxford crew from the 1836 featured in this year's race; however, both the stroke Edmund Stanley and cox Egan returned for Cambridge, the former being described by Bell's Life as "really terrific, one of the severest we ever saw".^[9] Oxford's boat club president was Calverley Bewicke who rowed at stroke for the Dark Blues, while Cambridge had a non-rowing president in Augustus Granville.^[10]

Seat	Cambridge			Oxford
	Name	College	Weight	Name	College	Weight
Bow	Alfred Hudson Shadwell	St John's	10 st 7 lb	Stanlake Lee	Queen's	10 st 4 lb
2	Warington W. Smyth	Trinity	11 st 0 lb	Berdmore Compton	Merton	11 st 5 lb
3	J. Abercrombie	Gonville & Caius	10 st 7 lb	Samuel Edward Maberly	Christ Church	11 st 4 lb
4	A. Paris	Corpus Christi	11 st 4 lb	Wm. Jas. Garnett	Christ Church	12 st 10 lb
5	C. T. Penrose	Trinity	12 st 0 lb	R. G. Walls	Brasenose	13 st 0 lb
6	W. H. Yatman ‡	Gonville & Caius	10 st 10 lb	R. Hobhouse	Balliol	12 st 0 lb
7	W. B. Brett	Gonville & Caius	12 st 0 lb	Philip Lybbe Powys	Balliol	12 st 0 lb
Stroke	E. Stanley	Jesus	10 st 6 lb	Calverley Bewicke (P)	University	12 st 0 lb
Cox	T. S. Egan	Gonville & Caius	9 st 0 lb	Woodforde Ffooks	Exeter	10 st 2 lb
Source:[8][11] (P) – boat club president[10] ‡ – Yatman replaced Vialls of Trinity College through illness two days before the race[12]

The umpires for the race were Charles Woolaston and C. J. Selwyn, while W. Harrison Esq, the Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, fulfilled the position of referee.^[12] The race was held on a Wednesday, 3 April 1839, the start time of "precisely" 4.47pm, in conditions described by MacMichael as "cold, cloudy and windy, and just the very worst sort of day for an aquatic expedition".^[12][14] According to Bell's Life, Cambridge were slight favourites.^[15] Oxford won the toss and elected to commence closest to the Middlesex shore of the river.^[12] After a close start, the Cambridge boat started to draw away and by Vauxhall Bridge were "several boats' lengths" ahead.^[16] They increased their lead further by Battersea Bridge and shot Putney Bridge 1 minute 45 seconds ahead,^[17] and won by a margin of 35 lengths which remains, as of 2023, the largest in the history of the event.^[18] Cambridge's victory took them to an overall lead in the event of 2–1.^[19]

Notes

• Official website