Some early accounts of MBC

It is a well-known fact that the foundation of the MBC coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Monk's Hostel or Buckingham College - the original foundation of Magdalene in 1428. However, as rowing was still in its infancy, the first craft acquired for the Club was far from satisfactory. It was variously described as 'cumbersome', and was put on for one race on 7th March 1829, chiefly it seems because of the threat from the rest of the College to take it from the Club and appropriate it to their own use as a pleasure craft! It must also be remembered that there was little or no uniformity in the early years of College rowing, for some boats were six-oared, others eight-oared and in 1827 Trinity actually put on the river a ten-oared boat - the cheating cads!

Also the early Races were somewhat intermittent, for in 1833 they were actually abandoned in deference to the wishes of the Vice-Chancellor and the Tutors of several colleges who 'begged that the gentlemen of the University would not race on account of Cholera then prevalent in Sunderland!'

As with the establishment of any new Club or Society, rules are devised - some of which probably would not be tolerated by many a modern Magdalene rower!

Set out below are some of the early 'Laws' revised as of October 26th 1839...

Rule 14. That any members of the MBC who may take out the Racing Boat without leave of the Captain incur individually a fine of 10s.6d. for each offence.

Rule 15. That each member of the crew shall be at the boathouse every practising day during term at the hour fixed by the Captain, or provide a proper substitute. (Yes, crews rowed every single day!) However, they did tend to train at a more civilised hour for Rule 15 continues - 'The time for practising being twenty minutes past two'.
Punctuality was also most important for if any many arrived up to 10 minutes late, he was fined 1 shilling (about £50 in modern currency!) , but after that time he was considered as absent from duty and fined 2s.6d. However, to be late on Racing Days was considered sacrilege and carried a C.U.B.C. fine of 10s. 6d.! (This was an exorbitant fine, when one considers that the average unskilled labourer at this time was paid 3 shillings for a 6-day week, therefore this is the equivalent to 31⁄2 weeks wages!).

Ones conduct on the water was also dealt with, for Rule 16 stated 'That any man excepting Captain or Steersman (cox) speaking or looking back during the race shall be fined 2s. 6d.; and whilst practising after silence has been called 6d.'

Ones dress was also considered most important as Rule 17 eluded: 'That any man not appearing in proper costume on racing days shall be fined 2s. 6d.'


The final rule must surely have been devised by a corporate lawyer (or the Bursar) 'That any damage done to the boat or her equipment from carelessness or want of skill be paid for by the member who may have caused it'. And to further strengthen the MBC accounts, if any of the above fines were not settled within a week, they were liable to be doubled!

Colours and Supper:

Allied to Rule 17 is 'The Uniform of the MBC 1929'

'The "colours" in ordinary use in the Boat Club at the time of writing are as follows:
Any member of the Club: Lavender and indigo socks and scarf.

- 2nd Lent Boat: White zephyr with lavender and indigo silk trimming on sleeves; indigo blazer with lavender silk trimming round edge and cuffs.
- 1st Lent Boat: White zephyr trimmed on sleeves and breast, socks; blazer trimmed on edge, cuffs and pocket.
- 2nd May Boat: White zephyr trimmed on sleeves and breast, socks; and Lent blazer with cannibal badge on pocket.
- 1st May Boat: White zephyr trimmed on sleeves and breast, socks; blazer trimmed on edge, cuffs and pocket, and wyvern on pocket; lavender cap with wyvern in indigo on front; lavender scarf; trimmed sweater; lavender and indigo tie.'

How about re-instating MBC socks and caps - I'm sure they would be the height of fashion at Henley this season!

Whilst on the subject of early tradition, in 1837 the first of which so properly was to become a very important feature in the life of the Club took place - THE BOAT CLUB SUPPER !

The first Boat Club Dinner was attended by about 25 members and they were gifted two dozen bottles of claret by Dr Waud, one of the Fellows. (maybe we can revive this tradition?) Indeed, the MBC prowess seems to have been chiefly measured in the liquid capacity of its stalwarts rather than its performance on the Cam! The following is the account on the occasion when F C Penrose relinquished the post of Captain in 1842. 'the College Hall was applied for, but refused by the Master' (it seems the Boat had earned itself a reputation quite early on) Not a single hotel, inn or pub in Cambridge would house them either, but eventually they procured 'Swann & Garner's Auction Rooms' to hold the Bump Supper. Apart from Club members the Captains of the first 8 boats were invited as well as Mr Viallis late University Captain. Apparently, the Supper 'went down extremely well' - no doubt due to the 'Champagne which was sent for from London (Nisbet's) and needless to say was 'universally approved of '. On this occasion 54 bottles of champagne, 12 sherry, 12 bottles of wine and 20 bowls of punch 'were emptied'!

Interestingly though, the first boat that Magdalene put on the river in 1828 was nicknamed the 'Tea Kettle' by many other colleges owing to the preference that the Simeonites (Methodists) who abounded in the College, had for tea over beer! There also used to be a rumour that punts would become grounded on the tea leaves deposited in the river near Quayside. My. How things quickly changed in such a short period!

MBC certainly had mixed fortunes during the first hundred years of its existence.

Some of the earliest rowers in the College are amongst its greatest. Take the like of F.C. Penrose for example (late Fellow), who was jointly Captain and Secretary of MBC and the University Boat during the three years he was up 1840-2! Incidentally his portrait painted aged 71, hangs in the MCR common, and belies little of his former rowing prowess. Penrose, it was he too, who devised the system of recording bumps which is still used in the coloured charts hanging in the rooms of the Union Society.

He was succeeded as MBC Secretary by Mynors Bright, well known later as munificent benefactor to the College. 'Bright's Building' perpetuates his name of course. Although he never gained his Blue, on several occasions he came very near it, and was amongst those who one year practiced during December for the next University Boat Race and rounded off this period of practice by rowing a course in the driving snow on Christmas Eve! Bright re-deciphered Pepys's Diary and later became President and Tutor of the College. He was in turn succeeded by L.W. Denman, another first-class Secretary and Captain, who as a Blues rower, actually rowed in two, and would have rowed in three, University crews had there been a race in his last year - oh and by the way, he was a Blues cricketer and played cricket for England too! He also enjoyed the reputation of being 'the most stylish oar of his day'.

Charles Kingsley the literary genius (Westward Ho! And Water Babies fame) also rowed in the second or 'Cannibal' crew, for 3 years during this time up at Magdalene. All College 2nd boats were known as Cannibal. This name that has now disappeared, originated from the name of the captain of the first second boat to appear, who was known as 'Cannibal Carlton'. Of all the colleges Magdalene was the last to have kept the traditional Cannibal badge of 3 shark's teeth as the emblem of the second crew.

George Mallory:

Another rowing great at the College was George 'I climbed Everest 'cos it was there' Mallory, who rowed in the 1st Boat in all three of his years at Cambridge and was also Captain.

The picture below shows the May Boat of 1908 which was 'universally recognised as the fastest boat on the river' at the time.


However, it must also be stated that in former years, the rowing standard has also been inconsistent, with varying degrees of 'shabbiness' being well documented by past Boat Club Secretaries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of 'shabbiness' occurred during a race in 1842, when the MBC boat 'foolishly had their floor boards out', and so spoiled the run of the boat that they never took off Jesus but succumbed to a bump between the Stile and the Willows'. Exactly a decade later another bazaar incident occurred in November of 1852, for it is recorded that 'the Magdalene Boat, while proceeding down river, the rudder broke and the boat swerving, the bow went between the fore and hind legs of a horse which was standing in the river offloading goods from a barge'. Apparently, 'most fortunately little damage was done (to the boat that is!); however, 'bow and two were sent flying into 3 feet of water and the skin was taken off the horses belly! - Even the Graduate Novice have not collided with the equine species on the river: other boats, moving and stationary, yes, ducks and other various waterfowl, yes, but horses, never. (But there is always a chance?!)

We endeavour to move on half a century to a period when the Magdalene crew were most definitely 'not too shabby' and were variously described as 'undoubtedly the best on the river'. This was achieved under the supreme leadership of George Mallory who placed great stock in the coach acquired from Jesus College. His account of the activities during the Lent Term of 1907 is some of the most eloquent prose ever written:

'What great things are now expected of this Jesus method of rowing! The style of the captain, the style of the secretary, the style of stroke, all imaginable styles except that peculiar to Mr Rogers, all are to be blended in an homogeneous, ergocosmic device, the ingenious and possibly ingenuous Quintessence of a Facile, Indefatigable Compendulum. We are to have a Jesus coach. Goldsmith has said: 'God will provide. But alas, how fickle, how selfish the Theocracy'. A fortnight has passed, and still no god to coach us. And so perforce we must go to the Hall, and get some sturdy unintelligent to 'bid him forward, breast and back as either should be', and teach us to shove it along by sweat and swearings, with all the horror of the ancient Swinck Misspent. And yet when he is secured he makes us row not a whit differently from the elegant, divine way, the way we rowed at Henley. He is none of your cursing, blustering, hell-for -leather, body-swing-overdone-at-all-costs, stupendous-recovery fellows at all. He is shy and rosy-checked, modest as any maiden, and makes a considerable effort to be sensible when sober and obscene when drunk'.

He certainly did the trick because 'We become a very decent crew and go up three places'.

Mallory, ever the gentleman, further informs us, 'Selwyn who were behind us were such a boat that it would be unkind to tell the truth about them. ... on the second day we bumped Kings in 45 strokes"

Even though they was a minor panic just prior to the May bumps for 'On the evening before the races AP Edgecumbe entered a room in which several gentlemen were making money and somehow cut his head severely on a broken champagne glass. DH Thompson took his place'

It was also traditional at this time, to light a bonfire in the College grounds immediately after the Boat Club Supper. However, during the period 1906-8 they got somewhat out of hand. At the 1908 fire for instance, wooden panelling set aside specifically to repair the College Chapel was 'borrowed' for the Boat bonfire!

However, after the charismatic Mallory graduated, events seem to have taken a distinct downturn, as penned by G.L. Winterbotham, the Boat Club Secretary during Lent Term 1910. 'The members of the 1st Boat came up early 'on promise of good behaviour' (reprobates or what!) He then continues, 'the 1st Boat were a rum lot until just before the Races: what there was in the boat was plenty of leg-work and shove- what there was not was rhythm, time or style'! On the first night several members of the crew got tired and forgot that it was necessary to keep time'. Our only success seems to have been at the expense of others misfortunes, for on the second night 'Christ's ran into the bank at the start & our second boat having paddled past were able to claim a comfortable and not over-tiring bump'. The 1st Boat again started well & 'bumped Emmanuel in the Gut' - the Secretary obviously had a sense of humour too for he adds a footnote 'the Gut is often the downfall of the gutless!' On the 3rd day though, Christ's re-bumped Magdalene at Ditton, and Mr Winterbotham again adds his usual rhetorical comment thus, 'the less said about this the better'.

On the 4th day MBC fared no better, being bumped by LMBC. The crew were obviously anxious too, for 'the language of the Hall cox and I, in the Magdalene Boat must have given the spectators plenty to think about'. This state of affairs naturally gave cause for concern as 'the second boat is now bottom of the river, and only a miracle (or energetic freshmen) will save it from going off the river next year'.

Sadly in the Mays, the same year, there was little sign of improvement as 'the crew never really succeeded in mastery or getting control ... owing to a universal lack of watermanship'. Even the following year at the Lents of 1911, the standard was still well below par, as Secretary FA Doria Pamphili so eloquently illustrated: 'GL Winterbotham coached the 1st Boat with assiduous care and unfailing patience, trying to instil in the various members of the crew, some of the principles of the noble art of rowing which he possessed in non small degree, but the crew did not respond with adequate keenness to the mentor's exhortations and made very little progress. Fortunately abundance of beef made up for the lack of science and the boat certainly travelled fairly well'. This hypothesis was proven correct on the 2nd day for 'In the Reach they (Caius) spurted, but our men rose to the occasion and answered spurt for spurt and just managed to get home by less than a second'.

Even when the eloquent Mr FA D-P was elected Captain and coach in 1911, little improvement was apparent for at the Mays 1911 - 'Although more stylish than most Magdalene crews we displayed a most remarkable lack of watermanship, were inclined to bucket, miss the beginning, wash out & make little use of our legs. Any idea of rhythm, though frequently mentioned on the tow-path, was altogether banished from the boat. From the above evaluation of our short comings it will be easily deduced that a fast stroke was absolutely out of the question.'

Blame it on the weather:

In fact the coach even tried to blame the crew's shortcomings on the weather! '3rd day. We started well, but our old enemy the following wind was again in evidence and considerably interfered with the steadiness of the crew and boat' and 'The first day of the races was the beginning of the hottest spell of weather in an English Summer, that I (coach) for one have ever experienced in this frigid country'. I assume from the above that Mr P A Doria Pamphili was of Italian extraction and therefore used to warmer climes.

In 1912, things looked to be on the up, for Secretary AE Collier inform us 'The term started in a very promising manner, most of the freshmen evincing a desire toward the river - (in some cases encouraged by judicious bursal persuasion) Eventually there were about 20 men tubbed fairly regularly, excluding those who, on to the charms of the 'muddy' game (rugby), were rather compelled to neglect rowing' - Even though he remarks on the eternal problems beset between Rowing versus Rugby allegiances. - as well as 'horsemen', for there was also a strong element of 'riding' or 'hunting' men at the college who would have nothing to do with the Boat Club. It used to be rumoured that if a Magdalene man put in an appearance in College during a horse race meeting at Newmarket he feared being gated or even fined!

Again they under-achieved at the Lents, 'We started off fairly fast but again became paralytic, and succumbed to Hall', and by the Mays of 1912 they had serous moral problems for, ' a member of the boat of found that the call of, 'Work!' was too incessant to be neglected, and so retired from the rowing world'. This seems to have had a knock-on effect - 'Unfortunately the rest of the boat showed on the whole they were a faint-hearted lot and coaches exhortations to them after half a minutes rowing were pitiful to hear'.

After the Great War, the Captain of Boats made the point of 'practice makes perfect' and during the Lent term of 1919 reiterated his sentiments thus, 'it is impossible to deny that rowing demands a very stern apprenticeship which it is impossible to carry out except [on] a crew [that] is out together every day? there is no solution in the 3-days-a-week scheme. (I suppose one could argue that they needed all the practice they could get!)

By the Lents of 1921 recruitment was again a major problem, for Mr Page-Phillips the Secretary records that 'The two gentlemen took great trouble with their eights, and spent almost every afternoon bicycling up and down the tow path, endeavouring to explain the art of rowing to them. There task was not easy, for several oarsmen suffered at intervals from some malady or other, in fact at one time it was feared one eight would fade away altogether, but some noble second and third year men kindly came forward and offered themselves up to be slaughtered'. However, a solution was affected the following years for 'After much canvassing and conference with the Captain of 'Rugger' we managed to get enough men'.

Mr Page-Phillips again uses his acid pen a year later to inform us of the 1922 Lents - 'To make matters worse, only a few days before the races, a certain individual was found to be utterly and entirely devoid of 'guts'. Not only was he a useless passenger when rowing, but what is more unique, he stopped when paddling. So a change had to be made in the crew. The second boat was [also] a decidedly ugly crew.

Again, the Secretary the following year was obviously not easily enthused for he tells us that during October 1923 -'Nothing exciting happened except one of the cox fell in owing to 2 and 4 catching a crab. Next day the Secretary took the boat out, but unfortunately at the Railway bridge fell in himself'!

During the Lent Term of 1924 the Boat Club seem to have had the most appalling bad luck (and health) for we are notified that, 'this (training) was interrupted, as 7 had a bicycle accident, 5 shed pints of brood from the nose, and 6 on the Monday and Tuesday before the Races developed and had to have lanced a boil on a certain part of the human anatomy which most oarsmen find somewhat delicate after rowing on a fixed seat'. Who said rowing was a safe sport!

John Compton-Davey
Grad boat 2000

Magdalene College Win the Visitors at Henley 1967:

In 1967 the Magdalene first four went to Henley entering the visitors challenge cup (which is the middle difficulty of the 3 coxless fours events at Henley). The crew won beating Trinity college Cambridge in the final.

The photo below is a picture of that crew in the final against Trinity (Trinity are in their dark blue singlets with yellow hoops.)

The crew was:
S: Lubbock
3: Davis
2: De Sola
B: Crichton

with thanks to magdaleneboatclub.com