Mr Bossum and the Boat Race

Shouldn't the Faculty have an eight on the river? Kathryne Crossley explores the precedents


July 15th, 1850 might have been the best day of John Bossum's life. Speaking at a dinner in Cambridge celebrating Oxford's victory in the first College Servants' Boat Race, Bossum declared that in the forty years he had been a college servant, that day was the happiest he had ever spent. The evening's entertainment concluded a successful week for the Oxford servants' cricket and rowing teams, victorious in both matches.

I first encountered John Bossum in the records of the College Servants' Provident Institution, where he served as treasurer, and then again in the history of Brasenose College, where he worked as a porter. I must, however, confess my surprise upon meeting him at a boat race in Cambridge; his description in the college's history notes that he weighed twenty-two stone. He was one of several servants who attended the historic events as a spectator rather than as a participant.

The history of Oxford college servants includes a long and vibrant athletic tradition. My doctoral research is a study of the distinctive and peculiar labour market experienced by college servants from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, and organized sports are an interesting subtheme in which paternalism, class ambiguities and social controls can be explored. Although I have only completed archival research in about half of the colleges included in my study, the importance of college servants' sports became clear quite early on. Many of the photographs of college servants that survive in the archives are of their sports teams, particularly cricket elevens and rowing eights. These photographs show men, relaxed and happy, in contrast to the typical somber portraits of the colleges' domestic staff.

The occasion of the first boat race against Cambridge marked the beginning of the Oxford University College Servants' Boat Club (OUCSBC) and spurred the growth of organized sports for Oxford college servants more generally. Although it is difficult to document their precise origins, college servants' sports clubs likely started informally at individual colleges. In the case of rowing, it was probably as the result of servants hiring boats for occasional recreation during the long vacations. In addition to rowing, college servants formed other sports clubs, including cricket, football, athletics, billiards, tennis and miniature rifles.

Although servants' sports began with college teams, as seen with rowing and cricket, they later became keenly interested in competing, not just against other colleges, but locally and even further afield. An amalgamated university team was then formed to play in local leagues, which enhanced the profile of the team and encouraged increased participation. It is difficult to estimate the number of servants who took part in organized sports through these teams, only the OUCSBC minutes give membership statistics, and only then for a few years. Rowing was popular among college servants, the boat club was active for over a century, only winding down in the late 1950s. Most years the boat club had about sixty paying members, with the club reaching a membership peak of eighty in 1927. There was clearly some overlap in teams, with servants playing more than one sport and it is likely that many more took part in cricket and football than rowing. The boat club minutes show that university cricket, football, tennis and athletics teams were all active during this period.

There is no evidence so far to suggest that these clubs were founded or directed by the colleges, and individual colleges offered varying levels of support and encouragement to servants' sports clubs. Even if colleges didn't explicitly direct servants' sports, they were fully aware of the benefits in pursuing cricket or rowing over some of the other amusements available to the working class in Oxford at that time. Colleges were always concerned with the moral and spiritual wellbeing of servants. Long vacations were seen as opportunities for idleness, which could lead to trouble, particularly for younger servants. Sports provided 'healthful recreation' during these weeks and an important opportunity to encourage beneficial relationships between older and younger servants. For most of my study period, colleges could be very particular about the type of employee they preferred to hire. They tried to select men who fit smoothly into college life, and their perceptions of a servant's character, habits and appearance determined opportunities for advancement. Participation in sports, particularly those enjoyed by members of the colleges, were evidence of the 'right sort' of man.

Sports provided a common ground for servants, fellows and undergraduates. Servants took an interest in undergraduate sports, particularly if their work brought them into direct contact with the athletes as groundsmen and boatmen. Their wives prepared and served picnics and teas at cricket matches and regattas; their sons collected stray cricket and tennis balls. Fellows and undergraduates attended servants' matches and were invited guests at some of the social events. The OUCSBC invited the president of the University boat club to their annual dinner and sent a telegram of support each year for the boat race. Nearly every college had friendly competitions between fellows and servants, and there is anecdotal evidence of similar matches between undergraduates and the domestic staff.

Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race dead heat finish - B&W engraving - 1877

The financial support of colleges was crucial for servants' rowing, less so, but still important for other sports like cricket and athletics. Colleges also supported servants' sports in non-pecuniary, but important ways, offering the use of rooms for club meetings and annual fundraising concerts, the occasional use of equipment and crucially, the use of the college barges and playing fields during the long vacations. Unlike college clubs, university servants' sports clubs were largely financed through membership fees and often struggled to meet expenses. In addition to regular members, all clubs solicited and recognized the ongoing financial support of individual fellows and other interested parties through honorary memberships.

Servants' sports clubs were active largely in the long vacations, with several popular events taking place during the Easter weekend. The OUCSBC hosted an annual Easter Regatta, which lasted three days and finished with a supper and a smoking concert. The biennial Oxford Cambridge Servants' Boat Race was usually held in August and was well attended, with newspapers reporting that crowds lined the banks of the river. A servants' social committee comprised of representatives from all the sports clubs met regularly and organized socials, dances and excursions.

Organized sports linked undergraduates and college servants to the wider local community as well. The Cricket Scheme for Oxford Elementary Schools, launched in 1921, paired boys from nineteen city schools with coaches, many from the University cricket club and the college servants' club. Practices and matches were all held on the college cricket grounds, the first annual report estimated that over a thousand boys participated in the scheme, and over 430 practices and matches were held in the colleges during the first year. Annual reports praised the joint efforts of undergraduates and college servants, especially the groundsmen, and their dedication and commitment to the boys. The programme received national and international attention, and ran for well over a decade.

Organization of these clubs was partly facilitated through the College Servants' Society. Founded in 1872, the society's original purpose was to assist college servants in obtaining summer employment at resorts and hotels. The society was largely a social organization, it had rooms at 2 King Edward Street, which housed a popular lending library and offered space for meetings and social gatherings. Unlike the sports clubs, the society was directed jointly by college fellows and servants, with a fellow always serving as its president. In 1894, the president of the society Rev. W Warner of Christ Church demonstrated that the colleges understood the popularity of servants' sports and their potential for mobilizing the wider community of college servants across the University. Warner sent a circular to all 800 of the University and college servants to gauge their interest in forming a 'centre of unity'. He was met with indifference, receiving only 164 replies, which was less than the membership of the society itself, generally around 180-200.

Warner's primary concern was not to encourage participation in sports, but to remedy the notoriously poor attendance of college servants at church services. He suggested amalgamating all the servants' sports clubs and bringing them into the society, expanding its reach into the community of college servants. A committee of servants and fellows was formed to look into the idea, but were met with little interest among the clubs and four years later, they gave up. The society dissolved in 1915, but the sports clubs continued well into the mid-twentieth century.

Of course, there is much more work to be done on this subject. My thesis explores in depth many of the themes mentioned here, particularly experiences of paternalism, class and social control. At the center of my research is the employment relationship, over my study period, attitudes and relationships were transformed — except where they remained stubbornly unchanged. It is the servants' view that my research seeks to recover, how they navigated this distinctive labour market, how they experienced paternalism, and how they felt about their status, both in the immediate college community and in the wider local community. At that dinner on the occasion of the first College Servants' Boat Race, Mr Bacon, offered some insight. 'Although it might be said that they were aping their superiors, he conceived that while the latter were competing for laurels in literature and art, those in a humbler sphere might without assumption contend for pre-eminence in manly and national pastimes'

- KATHRYNE CROSSLEY

Kellogg College

Kathrryne Crossley's D.Phil. research, "Social and economic history of Oxford college servants, 1850-1950", is supervised by Professor Humphries