Somerville College Boat Club (SCBC) 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 ...

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

. The club was formed in 1921 as one of the first women's clubs on the

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

, however was unable to compete in bumps until 1969. The women's team has won the title ''Head of the River'' eight times in

Summer Eights Eights Week, also known as Summer Eights, is a four-day regatta of bumps races which constitutes the University of Oxford's main intercollegiate rowing event of the year. The regatta takes place in May of each year, from the Wednesday to the ...

and five times in

Torpids Torpids is one of two series of bumps race, bumping races, a type of rowing (sport), rowing race, held yearly at Oxford University; the other is Eights Week. Over 130 men's and women's crews race for their colleges in six men's divisions and fiv ...

, more than any other women's rowing team from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Due to fears that it might harm their reproductive abilities, women's rowing clubs were banned until 1921. A member of the club was first permitted to take part in Summer Eights in 1927, following the rejection of an earlier request in 1922. Now there are 6 women's divisions in

and racing in the top divisions is as competitive as the men's. However, when women were first given their own division, only 12 colleges competed - Somerville, as an all women's college, was one of them. Within four years the W1 were Head of the River. Somerville College Boat Club shares the University College Boathouse with

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 ...

, St Peter's College and Wolfson College. The building is owned by University College and won a

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

prize and has enjoyed a very favourable reception in the architectural world.

Notable alumni

Somerville College Boat Club has produced four

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

rowers: *

Fiona Freckleton Fiona Freckleton (born 6 November 1960) is a British rower. She competed in the women's eight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Freckleton is a bronze medalist in the Women's Pairs at the 1991 World Rowing Championships in Vienna, Great Br ...

, bronze medalist in the Women's Pairs at the

1991 World Rowing Championships The 1991 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 19 to 25 August 1991 in Vienna, Austria. The regatta was held on the New Danube. Medal summary The finals were raced on Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 August ...

in Vienna - Great Britain's first medal in a major World Championship women's rowing event - also competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and

1993 World Rowing Championships The 1993 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 5 September 1993 at Račice, Czech Republic. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References {{World Rowing Cham ...

. * Patricia Reid also competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics, having achieved silver and bronze at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

. *

Luka Grubor Luka Grubor MBE (born 27 December 1973) is a retired rower, born in Zagreb, who competed internationally for Yugoslavia, Croatia and Great Britain, as well as for Oxford in the 1997 Boat Race. Grubor won a gold medal in the men's eight at the ...

, gold medalist at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, 2002 World Rowing Championships and 1993 Nations Cup, silver medalist at the 1999 World Rowing Championships. *

Jennifer Goldsack Jennifer Carroll "Jen" Goldsack (born July 12, 1982, in Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London B ...

, competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

; gold medalist at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

and silver medalist at the

2007 World Rowing Championships The 2007 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 26 August to 2 September 2007 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course near Munich, Germany. Medal summary Men's events Non-Olympic classes Women's events No ...

. Other notable members of the SCBC were

Lucy Sutherland Dame Lucy Stuart Sutherland (21 June 1903 – 20 August 1980) was an Australian-born British historian and head of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Career Sutherland was born in Geelong, Australia, but brought up in South Africa where she attended ...

and

Dominica Legge Professor Mary Dominica Legge, FBA (26 March 1905 – 10 March 1986), known as Dominica Legge, was a British scholar of the Anglo-Norman language. Life Legge was born in Bayswater in 1905. Her grandfather was Professor James Legge, and her f ...

References

External links

* * {{United Kingdom rowing clubs Somerville College, Oxford Rowing clubs of the University of Oxford Sports clubs established in 1921 1921 establishments in England Rowing clubs in Oxfordshire Rowing clubs of the River Thames