New College Boat Club (NCBC) is the rowing club for members of New College, Oxford. The club's existence can be dated to 1840 when it first raced on The Isis in Oxford.

The club shares a boathouse on The Isis (part of the Thames) with Balliol College Boat Club, as well as using boat racks at Godstow for the Men's and Women's first boats.

History

New College's initial presence and performance in college bumps racing was poor, in part because the college was one of the smallest in Oxford. Their first recorded Summer Eights campaign in 1840 started and ended at the bottom of the bumps chart ('footship'), and involved several days where the college failed to put out a crew. Following this, New College entered a boat in just two of the following 23 years of Eights, despite a rule that permitted them and other weaker colleges to form composite crews.

This changed in the 1860s, when New College entered crews for every Eights campaign from 1864 to 1867 and 1869 onwards. Their fortunes were initially somewhat erratic; the club might fall or rise as many as seven spots in a given year (Eights consisted of eight days of racing until 1878 and six days thereafter). However, a rapid ascent in the Torpids chart from footship in 1875 to headship in 1882 indicated the club's changing fortunes. A few years later, Eights performance also stabilised at a high level, when NCBC climbed to third place for the first time.

1885 proved to be a watershed, after which the club enjoyed prominence at or near the top of the Eights table for decades: 1887 marked New College's first headship, one of several over the following years, with the club staying at the Head of the River for several years at a time from 1896 to 1899 and 1911 to 1913. From 1886 to 1922, New College always placed third or better in Eights.

A key feature of the pre-war era was the development of an intense rivalry with Magdalen College. Magdalen, like New, finished in the top three at Eights without fail from 1886 to 1913: in each year, the clubs raced from adjacent bunglines and either threatened or achieved a bump on each other. Given their unparalleled dominance (the remaining spot in the top three was held by several different colleges over this period), it was natural that a 1900 account referred to the two colleges as ‘the two great rivals of later days’. This sporting enmity was later cemented in the Stockholm Olympics incident of 1912.

The 1912 Stockholm Olympics

The New College Boat Club represented Great Britain at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm and won the silver medal in the men's eight.

The two British crews - New College, and a Leander Club boat largely drawn from Magdalen College, Oxford - were the favourites for gold so started at opposite ends of the draw. They both worked up through the competition to make the final.

According to New College records, the final featured controversy over lane choice. The course in Stockholm was not straight, and one of the two lanes was clearly favoured, the other requiring the cox to steer around a protruding boathouse and then back under a bridge. Before the final, the two British captains met to toss for lanes. New College won the toss and following gentlemanly tradition offered the choice of lanes to their opponents, who would - in a gentlemanly fashion - refuse this offer. However the Leander/Magdalen College captain accepted this offer and chose the better lane. Leander went on to win the gold medal, leaving New College with the silver.

According to New College tradition, King Gustav V of Sweden was so disheartened by this display of ungentlemanly conduct that, as a consolation, he presented his colours to New College; ever since then, New College have raced in purple and gold, the colours of the royal house of Sweden. A further tradition has been the adoption of the toast: 'God Damn Bloody Magdalen!', the supposed words of the New College stroke Robert Bourne as they crossed the line. The abbreviation GDBM has been used commonly ever since, and is still on bottom of the NCBC letterhead.

Recent form In the 2025 Torpids, the women's first VIII climbed four places, bumping Jesus, L.M.H., Trinity and Magdalen to finish 10th in Torpids, while the men's first VIII climbed one place and finished 9th. The men's and women's second boats are in Division 4, placing 4th and 7th respectively. The club qualified four men's and three women’s boats, making NCBC the joint largest club on the river.

In the 2025 Eights Week, the club qualified seven crews, the second most of any club on the river. The men's first VIII climbed three places to 7th and the women's first VIII climbed one place to 12th. The men's second boat finished 12th in Division 3, while the women's second boat climbed two places to finish 4th in Division 5.

In February 2025, a composite of the men's first and second Torpids crews came 1st at Hammersmith Head in the Open 8+ Development category. In March 2025, the women's first eight competed at WEHoRR, coming 2nd of 7 Oxford college crews.

In May 2026, both the men's first and second 8+ won their respective categories (Open 8+ B1 and Open 8+ B2) at Chiswick Regatta, beating Vesta BC and Putney Town BC..

In the 2026 Eights Week, history was made. A total of 10 crews were entered into Summer Eights, with 6 crews qualifying. New College was not bumped a single time over the course of the week. The men's 1st VIII climbed 3 places to reach 4th in Division 1, their highest position on the river since 1999, while the women's 1st VIII rowed over to consolidate their position of 12th in Division 1. The women's 2nd VIII bumped up 4 places to win Blades and re-enter fixed divisions for the first time since 2022, while the men's 2nd VIII bumped up 3 times. The men's 3rd VIII bumped up 6 places to win Blades, and the men's 4th VIII bumped up 2 places to become the highest men's 4th VIII on the river. These are the first blades that the club has won since their triple men's blades in 2022.

Honours Henley Royal Regatta The club has won four events at Henley Royal Regatta in its history. Event Win 2nd Grand Challenge Cup 1897 1889, 1895, 1904Ladies' Challenge Plate 1900, 1950 1908Stewards' Challenge Cup 1912, 1913 1894, 1897, 1898Visitors' Challenge Cup 1894, 1898 1899, 1939, 1946, 1948

Boat Race representatives The following rowers were part of the rowing club at the time of their participation in The Boat Race.

Men's boat race

YearName 1854 W. F. Short 1856 G. Bennett 1877 F. M. Beaumont (cox) 1878 F. M. Beaumont (cox) 1879 H. M. Robinson 1879 F. M. Beaumont (cox) 1882 G. C. Bourne 1883 G. C. Bourne 1883 Douglas McLean 1884 Douglas McLean 1885 Hector McLean 1885 Douglas McLean 1886 Hector McLean 1886 Douglas McLean 1887 Hector McLean 1887 Douglas McLean 1888 S. R. Fothergill 1888 A. H. Stewart (cox) 1889 F. C. Drake 1889 Oliver Russell 1889 J. P. Heywood-Lonsdale (cox) 1890 C. H. St J. Hornby 1890 Oliver Russell 1890 J. P. Heywood-Lonsdale (cox) 1891 Oliver Russell 1891 J. P. Heywood-Lonsdale (cox)1892 C. M. Pitman 1892 J. P. Heywood-Lonsdale (cox) 1893 J. A. Morrison 1893 C. M. Pitman 1894 J. A. Morrison 1894 T. H. E. Stretch 1894 W. E. Crum 1894 C. M. Pitman 1895 C. K. Phillips 1895 T. H. E. Stretch 1895 W. E. Crum 1895 C. M. Pitman 1895 C. P. Serocold (cox) 1896 J. J. J. de Knoop 1896 C. K. Phillips 1896 W. E. Crum 1897 J. J. J. de Knoop 1897 G. O. C. Edwards 1897 C. K. Phillips

YearName 1897 W. E. Crum 1898 R. O. Pitman 1898 G. O. C. Edwards 1898 C. K. Phillips 1899 R. O. Pitman 1899 C. E. Johnston 1900 R. H. Culme-Seymour 1900 C. E. Johnston 1901 James Younger 1901 A. de L. Long 1901 R. H. Culme-Seymour 1902 James Younger 1902 A. de L. Long 1903 A. de L. Long 1906 G. M. A. Graham 1906 J. Dewar 1910 R. C. Bourne 1911 C. W. B. Littlejohn 1912 F. A. H. Pitman 1912 A. F. R. Wiggins 1912 C. W. B. Littlejohn 1912 R. C. Bourne 1913 R. P. Hankinson 1913 H. K. Ward 1913 A. F. R. Wiggins 1914 B. Burdekin 1914 H. K. Ward 1914 A. F. R. Wiggins 1914 F. A. H. Pitman 1928 G. E. Godber 1929 G. E. Godber 1929 G. V. Stopford (cox) 1932 G. A. Ellison 1933 P. Hogg 1933 G. A. Ellison 1934 P. Hogg 1935 R. Hope 1935 D. R. B. Mynors 1936 M. G. C. Ashby 1937 M. G. C. Ashby 1946 R. M. A. Bourne 1947 R. M. A. Bourne 1950 J. Hayes 1951 J. F. E. Smith 1951 L. A. F. Stokes

YearName 1951 M. J. Hawkes 1951 C. G. Turner 1952 L. A. F. Stokes 1953 R. A. Byatt 1954 J. G. McLeod 1955 J. G. McLeod 1956 J. G. McLeod 1956 R. H. Carnegie 1957 R. H. Carnegie 1962 T. W. Tennant 1963 P. A. V. Roff 1967 J. E. Jensen 1967 Daniel Topolski 1968 Daniel Topolski 1856 P. C. Pritchard 1969 A. T. Calvert (cox) 1970 A. T. Calvert (cox) 1977 A. G. Michelmore 1978 A. G. Michelmore 1981 R. P. Yonge 1982 R. P. Yonge 1982 R. C. Clay 1983 R. P. Yonge 1983 G. R. D. Jones 1984 R. C. Clay 1984 G. R. D. Jones 1985 G. J. Cartledge 1985 G. R. D. Jones 1986 G. R. D. Jones 1987 Tom A. D. Cadoux-Hudson 1988 Tom A. D. Cadoux-Hudson 1995 Garth Rosengren 1996 John F. Hammond 2011 Sam Winter-Levy (cox) 2016 Sam Collier (cox) 2017 Sam Collier (cox) 2026 Fergus Pim

Women's boat race YearName 2016 Joanneke Jansen 2017 Rebecca Esselstein 2022 Erin Reelick

References

External links

New College Boat Club Website Oxford Bumps Charts