History
The idea of inter collegiate racing was pioneered by Brasenose College Boat Club and Jesus College Boat Club in 1815. In 1827, it was decided to form a University College eight. The origins of UCBC can be attributed to one student, William Roper, who supervised the raising of £100 to build a boat and select a crew. Whilst the crew did not compete in 1829 or 1832-8 it has done so almost continuously until the present day, first going Head of the River in 1841. By the mid-1850s the Boat Club was enjoying a centrality to college life that it has not lost. The mid nineteenth century was a period of great success for UCBC being Head of the River in 1869–71, 1874–5 and 1877–8. One undergraduate Charles Cree recorded the celebrations in 1871:
"Univ. Head in the Eights. Univ, though Balliol came near them were never in danger…The Eight supped with Snell and the rest of us joined them after supper, and had a glorious evening. Singing and shouting as well as our voices would let us — Everything went off well no one being drunk."Univ won the headship in 1914, the college now being in possession of an original commemorative blade from that time. Sadly, many of that crew did not live to see the end of the Great War.
Univ was last Eights Head of the River from 1990 to 1991.
Read more about this topic: University College Boat Club (Oxford)
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