Tragedy hit the Cambridge squad just over six weeks before the Race.

The Hon. James Gordon, a key Blue from the previous year shot himself accidentally while cleaning his Volunteers’ rifle and died from the injuries.

A cancellation of the Race was proposed but not agreed, but the Cambridge squad was deeply disturbed.

Moreover their preparations were not helped by their difficulty in finding coaches, though the great Thomas Egan eventually came back from retirement to take the last three weeks.

Oxford on the other hand, where Frank Willan, President for the second year, had three old Blues (as opposed to the one now available to John Still the Cambridge President) had no such difficulties in practice, though their boat did not really run well until Samuel Darbishire took over the stroke seat from the previous year’s stroke, Reginald Marsden.

Cambridge, winning the toss for the first time for five years, chose the Middlesex station in calm weather and went off smartly, leading by a few feet past the boathouses. But by the end of the Fulham Wall, Oxford had pulled them back and taken over the lead.

From there on to Hammersmith there was a very thick mist and the coxes, particularly Charles Tottenham, in the Oxford seat, had great difficulty in finding his way, despite the fact that this was the fifth Boat Race in which he had coxed Oxford.

The Dark Blues moved over far too close to the Surrey shore in the early part of Crabtree reach, losing Oxford some of the lead which they had earlier gained.

However by the time that they reached the Soap Works (where Harrods Depository was to be built subsequently) they had moved off again and the unhappy Light Blues were a broken crew. Oxford shot Hammersmith Bridge two lengths ahead and the Cambridge predicament was made even worse when one of their crew caught a bad crab along Corney reach, completely stopping the boat, giving Oxford plenty of opportunity to row home comfortably by six lengths in 20 minutes 56 seconds to give Charles Tottenham his record fifth coxing victory.