The Boat Race 1840
| 4th Boat Race | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 15 April 1840 | ||
| Winner | Cambridge | ||
| Margin of victory | 3/4 length | ||
| Winning time | 29 minutes 3 seconds | ||
| Overall record (Cambridge–Oxford) |
3–1 | ||
| Umpire | C. Bewicke (Oxford) C. J. Selwyn (Cambridge) W. H. Harrison (referee) |
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The 4th Boat Race took place on the River Thames on 15 April 1840. It was the third of the University Boat Races to be held on the Thames, between Westminster Bridge and Putney Bridge. Oxford University Boat Club was formed to assist in the selection of the Oxford crew. Nevertheless, Cambridge won the race by three-quarters of a length to lead the overall record at 3–1.
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and takes place on the River Thames in southwest London.
Following heavy defeats in the 1836 and 1839 races, and in order to improve the selection of the crew, Oxford University Boat Club was formed on 23 April 1839, to which anyone at the university could subscribe and which was governed by the various college boat club captains. The initial letter of challenge was delivered to Cambridge from Oxford in February. After considerable discussion, mainly about the restriction of crew selection to undergraduates only, the date of the race, 15 April 1840, was agreed sixteen days prior to the race itself. The umpires for the race were Calverley Bewicke (for Oxford) and Charles Jasper Selwyn (for Cambridge), while W. H. Harrison, the Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, was the referee. The race was to take place on a five-and-three-quarter-mile (9.2 km) stretch of the Thames between Westminster Bridge and Putney Bridge.
The Oxford crew weighed an average of 11 st 10.5 lb (74.4 kg) per rower, 2.5 pounds (1.1 kg) more per man than their opponents. Cambridge saw former Blues Alfred Shadwell and cox Thomas Selby Egan return, while Oxford's crew also contained two veterans of the race, in Samuel Maberly and R. G. Walls.
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