Trinity College Boat Club (TCBC) is the

rowing club A rowing club is a club for people interested in the sport of Rowing. Rowing clubs are usually near a body of water, whether natural or artificial, that is large enough for manoeuvering the shells (rowing boats). Clubs usually have a boat house w ...

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The club's members are students and staff from Trinity College and, occasionally, associate members from other colleges. The boat club is based in its boathouse on

the Isis "The Isis" () is an alternative name for the River Thames, used from its source in the Cotswolds until it is joined by the Thame at Dorchester in Oxfordshire. It derives from the ancient name for the Thames, ''Tamesis'', which in the Middle ...

, which is shared with

Lady Margaret Hall Boat Club Lady Margaret Hall Boat Club (LMHBC) is a rowing club for members and staff of Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), Oxford. It was founded in 1899. History LMHBC first competed in inter-college OURCs racing events in 1977, when a women's division ...

(LMHBC),

Linacre College Boat Club Linacre College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 Fellow#Oxford.2C Cambridge and Dublin, fellows and 550 Postgraduate education, postgrad ...

and

Magdalen College Boat Club Magdalen College Boat Club (MCBC) is a rowing club for members of Magdalen College, Oxford. It is based on the Isis at Boathouse Island, Christ Church Meadow, Oxford, Oxford. History The club founded in 1859 shares a boathouse with Linacre Col ...

History

Rowing as an organised inter-collegiate sport became increasingly popular in Oxford during the early decades of the nineteenth century; the first organised bumps races was held at around that time. A Trinity rower in 1831 by the name of

James Pycroft James Pycroft (1813 – 10 March 1895) is chiefly known for writing ''The Cricket Field'', one of the earliest books about cricket, published in 1851. Pycroft mythologised cricket as a noble, manly and essentially British activity ("Cricket is e ...

detailed how the men in the crew would pay for a college boat themselves, and would levy a rate upon all members of the college to help pay for it, "it being considered that the boat and its anticipated victories were for the honour of the college generally".J. Pycroft, ‘Memoires’ Even at the outset of rowing at Trinity in the 1830s, Pycroft records in his memoirs an incident in which a scholar named Thomas Lewin "had thoughts of joining the boat, but received a hint that it would not do"; because members of the boat club were known to be uproarious, riotous and generally interested in having a good time while they studied. In 1838 Trinity join the records, which can still be seen in the college's

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

, and moved up three places over the week's rowing from eighth to fifth. Trinity's first rowing

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

are both depicted in the earliest known depiction of a Trinity crew, from 1842. John Cox and Edward Breedon both rowed in the sixth

boat race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

on the Westminster to Putney course in 1842. Another nineteen years passed with rowing at Trinity growing in its importance within the college, until finally during the Eights in 1861, Trinity bumped

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and finally

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

to go Head of the River. The run of great rowing continued until 1865, which marked the beginning of a disastrous few years of racing at Trinity. However, the period at the head was matched with a similar stretch of dominance at the top of Division One, just a few months before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939. Several of Trinity's former members rowed at that time and experienced being the best of the Oxford college crews on the Isis. In addition to this, past Trinity crews were involved in many regattas outside of the college, including the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

and the Thames Regatta.

Results

*Men's Summer Eights Headship: 1861–64, 1938, 1939, 1946–49 *Men's Summer Eights Spoons: 2016 *Henley Royal Regatta

Stewards' Challenge Cup The Stewards' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two or more clubs may combine t ...

: 1949 *Henley Royal Regatta

Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup The Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless pairs at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two clubs may ...

: 1923 *Henley Royal Regatta

Ladies' Challenge Plate The Ladies' Challenge Plate is one of the events at Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. Crews of men's eight-oared boats below the standard of the Grand Challenge Cup can enter, although international standard ...

: 1923 *Henley Royal Regatta

Thames Challenge Cup The Thames Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's eights at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club A rowing club is a club for people interest ...

: 1894, 1898 *Henley Royal Regatta

Wyfold Challenge Cup The Wyfold Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from a single rowing club. Boat clubs from any university, college ...

: 1896, 1928 *Henley Royal Regatta

Visitors' Challenge Cup The Visitors Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs and has similar qualifying rules t ...

: 1895, 1897,

Equipment

Fleet

*2019 Hudson 8+ "De Jagerbomb" *2014 Filippi 8+ "Spirit of Myrtle" *2008

Empacher Empacher (company name Bootswerft Empacher GmbH) is a manufacturer of boats. Today, they produce racing shells for the sport of rowing. History Originally building sailing yachts, Willy Empacher founded his boatyard with Wilhelm Karlisch duri ...

8+ "Parni" *2008 Stampfli 8+ "Magnificat" *2008 Stampfli 4+ *2003 Janousek 4+ "Judith Beloff" *2000 Sims 8+ "Lady Elizabeth" *c.1990 Janousek 8+ "Richard Hillary"

Blues

References

External links

* {{United Kingdom rowing clubs Rowing clubs of the University of Oxford Trinity College, Oxford 1837 establishments in England Rowing clubs in Oxfordshire Rowing clubs of the River Thames