From Hodgkin's 'Six Centuries of an Oxford College', 1949

Following a chapter entitled 'Decline', Hodgkin writes in a Chapter entitled  'The Turn of the Tide':

'But what about the undergraduates?  It was through them that new life found its way into Hanoverian Queen's.  It happened in this way.  In 1827 Queen's followed the example set by Brasenose, Christ Church, and three or four other Colleges, and trained a College eight on the river.  During the next ten years the rowing men made such great progress that in 1837, when the first official chart of inter-collegiate races was drawn up, Queen's was second to Christ Church, the Head of the River.  There had been contests between Oxford and Cambridge in 1829 and 1836, and in 1837 it was decided that the head boat of Oxford should row against the head boat of Cambridge at Henley.  The Dean, however, refused to give the Christ Church men leave of absence.  Therefore, on the last night of the 'Eights', they took their boat off, leaving Queen's at the head.

'The race between Queen's and the boat of the Lady Margaret Club was won easily by the Oxford crew, who pulled a long stroke while the Cambridge men pulled a quick one.  The records of the Lady Margaret Club give a different explanation - that their best men had not rowed together because they had been practising with a Leander crew.  As the Queen's men drove back to Oxford in their barouche and four, decorated with ribbons, they were hailed by all who saw them.  Later in Commemoration week ... all the other crews presented the Queen's men with a Boar's Head Flag and standing up in their boats with raised oars cheered 'the conquerors' as they proceeded up the river from Iffley'.  Afterwards the conquerors found to their cost that the flag presented to them had not been paid for.

This excerpt outlines the founding of the club, and its importance then and now in college life. The club still possesses the prow of the 1837 Queen's boat, the complete set of oars, and the commemorative flag prepared to celebrate the win. The flag is on display in the Old Lodgings, whilst the prow takes pride of place in the college Beer Cellar. The oars are considered to be the oldest complete set of rowing blades in existence and are racked in the boat house, to remind those that train beneath them of the many QCBC members that have gone before them.

Copies of a number of historical documents can be found on our Downloads page for those who wish to read more of the club and its role in the 1837 boat race.