Eights 1822

Notes

• Information from Sherwood, citing Knollys, which only gives the finishing order and a note that the BNC stroke was 'H. B. Bulteel'
• In the main text of Sherwood

  In 1822 a dispute arose between Brasenose and Jesus. It appears that the former caught a crab and were bumped, but rowing on came in first and claimed to remain 'head'. It must be remembered that the rules were so far only in process of formation, for, of course, now [1900] such a claim would be quite indefensible. This led to a 'confusion of opinion', the Jesus men hoisting their flag as head and the Brasenose men hauling it down again. The dispute was finally stopped by one of the Brasenose crew remarking: 'Quot homines tot sententiae, different men have different opinions, some like leeks and some like onions'; the point of the latter part of the remark being that the Jesus boat had leeks painted on their oars. It was finally agreed that the race should be rowed again, when Brasnose retained their place. This somewhat comic incident had however a tragic ending, for the rival crews celebrated their reconciliation by a picnic at Nuneham, when one of their number, T. Musgrave of University, was drowned.

• Sherwood further suggests this race inspired the earliest print of the Oxford Eights: [Image] (Serres, 1st March 1822), and that the date of the print also suggests that the race must have taken place in Hilary Term.
• The painting also shows Kings Barge. The flagpole was used to show the order of the crews, hence the reference to flags being hoisted and pulled down.

• In other news ... [1822]

  23 May

  HMS Comet launched at Deptford Dockyard, the first steamboat commissioned by the Royal Navy.

  3 July

  Charles Babbage publishes a proposal for a "difference engine", a forerunner of the modern computer for calculating logarithms and trigonometric functions. Construction of an operational version will proceed under Government sponsorship 1823–32 but it will never be completed.

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