Eights 1842

BUMPS CHART

STANDINGS Start Finish Pos College Pts Pts College 1 University 14 14 Oriel 2 Trinity 11 11 Trinity 3 Brasenose 9 9 University 4 Exeter 8 8 Exeter 5 Oriel 6 6 Brasenose 6 Balliol 5 5 Pembroke 7 St John's 4 4 Balliol 8 Christ Church 3 4 Christ Church 9 Worcester 3 3 Worcester 10 Magdalen Hall 3 2 St John's 11 Merton 2 2 Magdalen Hall 12 Pembroke 2 2 Wadham 13 Wadham 1 0 Merton

STATISTICS College All Crews [ ]=rank Crews Bps Avg Pembroke 1[ 2] 6[ 1] 6.00[ 1] Oriel 1[ 2] 4[ 2] 4.00[ 2] Wadham 1[ 2] 2[ 3] 2.00[ 3] Christ Church 2[ 1] 1[ 4] 0.50[ 4] Trinity 1[ 2] 0[ 5] 0.00[ 5] Exeter 1[ 2] 0[ 5] 0.00[ 5] Worcester 1[ 2] 0[ 5] 0.00[ 5] Balliol 1[ 2] -1[ 8] -1.00[ 8] University 1[ 2] -2[ 9] -2.00[ 9] Brasenose 1[ 2] -2[ 9] -2.00[ 9] Magdalen Hall 1[ 2] -2[ 9] -2.00[ 9] St John's 1[ 2] -3[12] -3.00[12] Merton 1[ 2] -988[13] -988.00[13]

• 7 days: Wed 11, Fri 13, Wed 18, Fri 20, Mon 23, Wed 25 and Fri 27 May 1842.
• First appearance of Pembroke
• Merton & Corpus Christi combined to form a crew
• Christ Church didn't race on day 7 so lost a place.
• St John's, Magdalen Hall and Ch.Ch. II didn't race on day 6 so each lost one place
• Wadham didn't race until day 6.
• Notes from Sherwood
  • A dispute between University and Trinity as to starting-posts. The former not in position at gun-fire.
  • 'Balliol did not throw up their oars when first bumped'
  • Fifth night: The race for head of the river on this night is that described in Tom Brown in Oxford, 'St. Ambrose' being Oriel and 'Oriel' Trinity.
• From the main text of Sherwood (p40)

  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.

• In other news ... [1842]

  Monarch: Victoria

  Prime Minister: Robert Peel (Conservative)

  June 4

  In South Africa, hunter Dick King rides into a British military base in Grahamstown, to warn that the Boers have besieged Durban (he had left 11 days earlier). The British army dispatches a relief force.

  June 13

  Queen Victoria becomes the first reigning British monarch to travel by train, on the Great Western Railway between Slough and London Paddington station.

  June 18

  A primary school system is established in Sweden.

  June

  James Nasmyth patents the steam hammer in the United Kingdom.

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