Pembroke College Boat Club (Oxford)

College Boat Clubs of the University of Oxford Pembroke College Boat Club
Boathouse (left half) and rowing blade
Established	c. 1842 (1842)
Head of the River – Men	1872, 1995, 2003, 2013
Head of the River – Women	2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2012
Location	The Isis
Sister college	Queens' College, Cambridge
Senior Member	Prof. Ben Davis
Men's Captain	Chris Liang
Women's Captain	Anna Carbery
Captain of Coxes	Ben Donaghue

Pembroke College Boat Club (PCBC) is the rowing club for members of Pembroke College, Oxford, one of the college boat clubs in Oxford.

Although the exact date for foundation of PCBC is unclear, the club was competing in Eights and Torpids as early as 1842 and had adopted its modern-day flag with the "Rose Gules" (Red Rose) taken from the Pembroke heraldic shield by 1846.

Amongst the giants in PCBC history, two leading Pembroke oarsmen of the 1870–1873 period were the three times President of the Oxford University Boat Club, Robert Lesley, who came up from Radley College and R S Mitchison, an old Etonian. Rowing historians indicate that sliding seats were first used during the Fours racing at Oxford in 1872 by PCBC and that “the new system of sliding seats was first used in Oxford by Lesley’s crew and also by the College (Pembroke) Eight at Henley “. Pembroke were the first known crew to use seats with wheels. In the club minutes it is recorded that the Pembroke crew were the pioneers of the sliding seat at Oxford, using it in the Fours before they left for Henley, and of the seat with wheels for the first time worldwide.

Dodd states that London Rowing Club and Pembroke were the first to use the sliding seat at Henley. Pembroke’s win of the Visitors’ Cup at Henley has been described as "one of the best races of the whole Regatta". Pembroke won by approximately half a length from University College Dublin, who were using fixed seats. The Dublin crew were regarded as one of the best ever sent to Henley. What is also significant is that Pembroke were using wheels, which were soon discarded by boat builders in favour of greased glass or steel grooves or tubes, but wheels were to return to favour again in 1885. Pembroke then, were not only early adopters of the sliding seat, ahead of others in Oxford, but also pioneers in terms of the materials being used, as they anticipated the later wheeled models of sliding seats which did not become current until 1885 and remain until the modern day.

In 2003, Pembroke achieved a historic victory in the Oxford Summer Eights competition by becoming the first college to win the 'Double Headship', having both men's and women's first boats end the week at the 'Head of the River'. Double Headship has yet to be repeated by any college in the Summer Eights competition, although the competitive years since 2003 has seen both men's and women's boats remain within striking distance of the Head of the River. Consistent ambition to go Head has been the goal: the Men's First Summer Eight (M1) has remained within the top 5 since 1992 and within the top 3 during that time in all years except 2008. In 2013, the 1st VIII bumped Oriel to regain the Head of the River whilst the First Torpid also retained the Torpids Headship.