Boat Race poster 1928 – Percy Drake Brookshaw

This superb reproduction is of a poster created in 1928 to promote the 1928 Boat Race. It was produced by the Underground Group who on this occasion commissioned Percy Drake Brookshaw to illustrate it. Brookshaw was a London-born graphic designer, lithographer, and illustrator. Brookshaw was responsible for many posters created for the various London Transport company’s. For this poster, Drake Brookshaw has used a palette of orange, blue and black to create a stylish graphic image of the two competing university teams as they appear from under one of the bridges crossing the River Thames.

Over the years many well-known poster artists including Charles Sharland, Anna Katrina Zinkeisen, Charles Paine, Anne Hickmott, F.H. Stingemore, Bernard Leslie Kearley & Kate M Burrell, and Richard T Cooper,  took a turn at creating their own versions of a University Boat Race Poster

Saturday March 31st 1928 Boat Race

The Drake Brookshaw poster advertises the 1928 Boat Race that took place on March 28th, 1928. It was the 80th Bath Race between the crews from the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, since its inauguration in 1829. The traditional rowing competition took place on the usual 4.2 miles or 6.8km Championship course on the River Thames in South London.

Cambridge entered the race as reigning champions. They had beaten Oxford in the 1927 race by three lengths. However, Oxford were leading the overall race victories with 40 wins compared to Cambridge’s 38. The race was umpired by former Oxford rower Charles Burnel.

Cambridge ended the race ten lengths ahead of Oxford, the largest winning margin since the race in 1900. It was completed in a time of 20 minutes and 25 seconds, the slowest winning time since 1925. However, it was Cambridge’s fifth consecutive victory taking them to within one race of Oxford’s 40 overall wins.

Where does the University boat race start and finish?

The London Boat Race Course is known as The Championship Course. It takes place over a 4 mile, 374 yards stretch of the River Thames. The University Boat Race starts at Putney on the river in South West London and is rowed upstream, timed to start on the incoming flood tide. There have been just three occasions, in 1846, 1856, and 1863 when the race was rowed on the ebb tide, from Mortlake to Putney. The race finish is just before Chiswick Bridge and is marked by the University Boat Race Stone on the Surrey bank and a race post on the Middlesex river side.

For the 1926 Boat Race, the poster promoting the race was produced by the artist F.H. Stingemore. It features an illustration of the famous rowing competition race course along with the rivers surrounding environs. It of course also prominently displays the names of suitable Underground railway stations suitable for attending your choice of viewpoint.