1842. This year a rule was made allowing any college to put on two boats
if it had on a Torpid, and also allowing colleges with less than forty
members to amalgamate to form a crew.
It is a matter of interest to note that the two great rivals of later days,
Magdalen and
New, are here classed amongst the weakest colleges,
below even
one of the halls. The rule runs 'That any two of the following colleges and
halls be allowed to join together for the purposes of putting on a boat,
viz.
Magdalen Hall,
Lincoln College,
Pembroke College,
Merton College,
St. Mary Hall,
Magdalen College,
New College, St. Alban Hall,
St. Edmund Hall, and
New Inn Hall;
but that the four following be not allowed to join together,
viz.
Merton,
Lincoln,
Pembroke and
Magdalen Hall. That if these colleges should
next year separate, they take the place of the joint boat, either in the
order they held before joining, if on the river, or according to the seniority
of college.
This rule appears up till 1861, except that
Pembroke is omitted from the list
in 1858, but is not in the rules printed in 1869.
Strangely enough Corpus,
which formed part of the only two amalgamations
recorded, is not in the list of colleges thus allowed to join together.
The nights of racing were reduced this year to nine.