Eights 1940

BUMPS CHARTS

STANDINGS
	Start		Finish
Pos	College	Pts	Pts	College
1	New & Magdalen	34	37	New & Magdalen
2	Trinity & Balliol	33	32	Trinity & Balliol
3	S.E.H. & Queen's	32	26	Christ Ch. & BNC
4	Oriel & Hertford	26	26	S.E.H. & Queen's
5	Christ Ch. & BNC	21	25	Oriel & Hertford
6	St John's & Worc.	20	20	St John's & Worc.
7	Exeter & Lincoln	17	17	Exeter & Lincoln
8	Keble & Wadham	13	15	Keble & Wadham
9	C.C.C., Pemb.& S.P.C.	12	12	C.C.C., Pemb.& S.P.C.
10	Jesus	10	10	Jesus
11	University & Merton	9	8	University & Merton
12	St Catherine's	6	6	St Catherine's

STATISTICS
College	All Crews
[ ]=ranking	Crews	Bps	Avg
Christ Ch. & BNC	2[ 7]	3[ 1]	1.50[ 1]
Keble & Wadham	3[ 1]	3[ 1]	1.00[ 1]
Oriel & Hertford	3[ 1]	1[ 3]	0.33[ 3]
New & Magdalen	3[ 1]	1[ 3]	0.33[ 3]
Jesus	2[ 7]	0[ 5]	0.00[ 5]
C.C.C., Pemb.& S.P.C.	1[11]	0[ 5]	0.00[ 5]
St John's & Worc.	3[ 1]	0[ 5]	0.00[ 5]
Exeter & Lincoln	3[ 1]	-1[ 8]	-0.33[ 8]
St Catherine's	2[ 7]	-1[ 8]	-0.50[ 8]
University & Merton	1[11]	-1[ 8]	-1.00[ 8]
Trinity & Balliol	2[ 7]	-2[11]	-1.00[11]
S.E.H. & Queen's	3[ 1]	-3[12]	-1.00[12]

Notes

Wed 22nd – Sat 25th May 1940
Bumps racing continued sporadically during WWII, with many colleges combining to form crews
The start order is from an unfilled bumps card from the Brasenose BC archives (image supplied by William O'Chee). I've filled in some results based on the entries in the Diary of Robert Giles (St Catherine's 2nd Eight) and Brasenose minute books, reproduced below, but probably missed many bumps.
In particular, although I've marked Keble & Wadham as bumping Univ & Merton as the simplest way of finishing head of Div 2 (as in The Times summary), judging by the following year's start order it seems more likely that both New & Magd II and Univ & Merton bumped up and Keble & Wadham moved up 1 place towards the end of the week either by bumping CCC etc or St John's & Worcester.
Wed 22nd May

The Daily Telegraph lists the starting order, consistent with the BNC bumps card, although the names of some of the combined crews are switched around. Division times given as 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm
Brasenose Minutes
[1st Eight] We did a very bad start and between the Weirs Bridge and the New Bridge a series of bad crabs were caught. The result was that we fell to within ½ a length of John's and Worcester. We picked up and went well to the Pink Post when we were just overlapping Oriel and Hertford, here there was another crab which lost us 6 feet however we bumped them opposite the O.U.B.C.

[2nd Eight] rowed over. Caths caught Trinty II early ahead of us.
St Catherine's Diary
Breakfast at 8 o'clock. Rain has broken the spell of beautiful weather, steady downpour till 2.00. We are rowing in three divisions. The first VIII is in 2nd division and we are in the third with four boats below us.
We [2nd Eight] had a strenuous day as we rowed the whole course chasing Keble & Wadham III and being chased by Worcester & John's III. The first VIII bumped Balliol & Trinity II. We have hired Salter's Green Barge for these four days.
The Daily Telegraph report on Wednesday's racing
Oxford Summer Eights began yesterday when 28 crews raced in three divisions. There were three bumps in each division.
Thu 23rd May

Brasenose Minutes
[1st Eight] An uneventful fast but uncomfortable row ending by bumping Teddy Hall and Queen's before the Pink Post.
[2nd Eight] All races annulled owing to a false start 10 secs early. The eight was not ready and were soon caught by Keble II
St Catherine's Diary
We [2nd VIII] were unfortunate today. At the start we went up on Keble & Wadham III but in the Gut Kahle's feet came out of the straps and we went all to pieces. Worcester & John's III came up to within a canvas; we held them as far as the OUBC and were then bumped. In the second division the starting gun was fired 10 seconds early. Oriel & Hertford were not ready and St Edmund's & Queen's rowed past and easied. Our first VIII, coming close behind, bumped them so hard that our bows went through their no.7 rigger and were all smashed up. The two boats went up to the OUBC together and then Mac [J. MacDonald] and Habgood rowed her home. The race was declared 'no race' and will be rowed again tomorrow.
The Daily Telegraph report on Thursday's racing:
Owing to the Starter's mistake, rowing in the second division of the Oxford Summer eights was declared void, and will be decided to-day.
Fri 24th May

Brasenose Minutes
[1st Eight] Rowed over.Got within one length of New College and Magdalen and left Teddy Hall about 3 lengths behind.
[2nd Eight] Started in same position as on 2nd night. Bumped Trinity & Balliol II by the Pink Post. Well away from Keble and Wadham II.
St Catherine's Diary
We seem to be out of luck. Today we [2nd Eight] made a good start and got three guns on Worcester & St John's who bumped us yesterday, but coming out of the Gut cox couldn't see his way clear and we easied with the result that Oriel & Hertford III came up and caught us by the OUBC.
The first VIII made a poorer start than usual but came up on St Edmund's & Queen's II, looked like bumping them at the Gut but fell back and rowed over. When they got in they found that they had taken in a lot of water through the repaired bow and attribute their failure to being waterlogged.
Sat 25th May

Brasenose Minutes
[1st Eight] Rowed over, a very good row we got within ⅔ length of New College and ended up about 5 lengths away from Teddy Hall. A satisfactory 'Eights Week' as far as the 1st VIII was concerned. We were the fastest crew on the river over a course, since we gained on New who gained on Trinity, but not fast enough to go to Head.
[2nd Eight] Rowed over after Caths. Just outside distance.
St Catherine's Diary
The first VIII again rowed over. We (the 2nd eight) bumped Oriel & Hertford III just past the OUBC but when we got in we found that an appeal had been made and that there was to be a re-row between we two together with Worcester & St John's III at 4.30. We got four guns on Oriel & Hertford but didn't manage to bump. Booth says he has now been bumped about 26 times, he also says we have rowed 65 miles since we started training.
From The Times Mon 27 May
OXFORD SUMMER EIGHTS At the end of four days' racing Trinity and Balliol finished Head of the River in the Summer Eights after a good race with New College and Magdalen, who finished within a third of a length. Keble and Wadham headed the Second Division and St. John's and Worcester the third.
FromThe Daily Telegraph Mon 27 May
Oxford Summer Eights ended on Saturday when Trinity and Balliol repeated their success in the Torpids by finishing at the head of the river after a thrilling finish with New College and Magdalen.
In other news ... [1940]

May 22
WWII: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939, giving the government full control over all persons and property.
May 24
WWII: The Anglo-French Supreme War Council decides to withdraw all forces under its control from Norway.
May 24
Hitler issues Der Halte Befehl, a stop order preventing his Panzer divisions advancing on Dunkirk.
May 25
The Crypt of Civilization time capsule at Oglethorpe University, Brookhaven, Georgia in the United States, is sealed shut, with a projected opening date of 8113 CE.
May 26
WWII: The Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force begins.
May 26
The first free flight of Igor Sikorsky's Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter is made.

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