The oldest boat club in Cambridge: 200 years of Lady Margaret BC

The Cambridge College boat club celebrating it’s 200th anniversary

Just before Wednesday’s luncheon break at Henley Royal Regatta, the boating area was ablaze with scarlet blazers in their dozens. Appearing from everywhere, it was a sight to behold and a special gathering for the oldest college boat club in Cambridge. Lady Margaret Boat Club is in its bicentenary year, and 2025 has been a celebration of the last 200 years of rich history for the club.

Founded in 1825 by 12 members of St John’s College, the club takes its name from Lady Margaret Beaufort, grandmother of Henry VIII and founder of the College. The boat club predates any of its Cambridge collegiate rivals, and over the years, it has produced numerous athletes who have gone on to race in the Boat Race, at the World Championships, and at the Olympic Games.

Recognisable by their striking red blazers, St John’s rowers were the ones responsible for bringing to life the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race back in 1829, and since then, it’s turned into a staple of the global sporting calendar, enjoyed by millions every year.

Many of these stars of the club were out in force at HRR earlier this year. As part of the festivities celebrating such a monumental milestone for the club, two eights were invited to row past the enclosures during the luncheon break.

The first of the crews was an LMBC ‘all-star lineup’ while the second was a mixture of more recent club members, including several club captains and committee members who have steered the club towards this bicentenary year.

For 2023/24 captain Theo Langslow, who was in one of the HRR crews, it has been an incredibly special and poignant year for the club.

“It’s been really cool to have such a successful year in the 200th anniversary and have so many opportunities to meet and mingle with older alumni, many of whom we don’t normally get to meet. You really realise how similar our experiences have been over the decades,” he said.

Coxing the first of the boats was Henrietta Butler, the first woman to cox the Cambridge men’s Blue Boat when she stepped into the driving seat in 1985. The crew also had Annamarie Phelps CBE, Vice Chair of the BOA and President of the European Rowing Board, alongside Olympians Neil Christie and Jamie MacLeod.

There was also plenty of additional Boat Race talent on board. Alongside Cambridge lightweight rower Claire Sweeney were three-time Blue and current LMBC coach Karen Wiemer, as well as fellow Blues Jo Matthews and Theo Weinberger. Rounding out the crew was Hatem Sadik, who was captain of the 2016 Headship crew.

While the crews were soaking in the applause on the water, the band was filling the air with the club song Viva laeta. It’s a song that is sung at every boat club dinner, fitting then, that it’s part of the Henley revels.

Vive laeta, Margareta, Beatorum insulis; Si possimus, Fuerimus, Semper caput fluminis.

“Live joyfully, Margaret, on the islands of the blessed; If we are able, we will have been, always the head of the river.”

The most recent of these dinners took place last weekend and welcomed 246 members back to their old university. Members spanned seven decades, and amongst the crowds was the entire crew that raced Lent Bumps in 1976, as well as plenty others who were back at Cambridge 50 years ago for the 150th celebrations.

LMBC has been a pioneering club since its origins. It was the first club to boat an eight-oared shell on the Cam. While Fours had been introduced a couple of years earlier by Trinity College, it was LMBC who paved the way with the larger boat.

In the first volume of The History of Lady Margaret Boat Club, one can find an excerpt of a letter from Archdeacon Cust (formerly Peacock, 1822) to Mr FD Johnson. It reads: “I also well remember meeting that boat coming up below Ditton, as we went down for the first time in the old Lady Margaret, which had only arrived a day or two before. The Trinity crew looked at us with astonishment. An eight-oar on the Cam! Unheard of prodigy!”

The origins of the word ‘blazer’ can also be traced back to LMBC due to the striking scarlet jacket seen wherever they go. The first recording of the word’s use is found in the London Daily News on 22 August 1889.

Last weekend’s dinner was not the first time this year the club has welcomed back its alumni. Earlier this year, the current students hosted six alumni crews for the Head of the Cam on 26 April, including several full crews from successful bumps campaigns.

For Angslow and the current crop of students, it has been important for the club to have success in recent years, and they all built towards this significant marker. At last year’s May Bumps, Angslow and his crew regained Headship for the first time since 2019 earlier this year, M1 were able to retain it in their bicentenary year. Back at Lent Bumps, M1 held Headship, which has been theirs since 2020, and W1 had a historic year, reaching their highest position for years.

Back in 1950, LMBC set a new course record on their way to winning the Ladies Plate at HRR in 1949. Two years later, LMBC won the Grand Challenge Cup and had five members in the successful Cambridge crew, which also defeated Harvard and Yale in the United States of America.

Between 1975 and 1981, Lady Margaret held on to headship at Lent Bumps for 26 consecutive days, the longest continuous defence of the Lent Headship in history.

Fast forward to 2025, and the club is getting ready for the next 200 years. Students participated in an ergathon organised by the club as part of the College’s Giving Day.

Rowers completed 438.918km over the course of 18 hours, 25 minutes, with 54 people taking part, both students and staff. The College is aiming to raise £750,000 to renovate the boathouse, of which £400,000 has been raised so far.

Celebrations will continue throughout 2025 as Lady Margaret Boat Club marks its historic milestone as one of the great clubs on the bank of the Cam.