page_title: Brasenose College Boat Club
section_title: "Childe of Hale"
hierarchical_section_title: Brasenose College Boat Club / History / "Childe of Hale"
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of a wooden carving of the "Childe of Hale" in Hale, Halton, Cheshire, England
context_page_description: Brasenose College Boat Club is the rowing club of Brasenose College, Oxford, in Oxford, England. It is one of the oldest boat clubs in the world, having beaten Jesus College Boat Club in the first modern rowing race, held at Oxford in 1815. Although rowing at schools such as Eton and Westminster School Boat Club predates this, the 1815 contest is the first recorded race between rowing clubs anywhere in the world.
  In addition to the 1815 "headship", the club has won both the Summer Eights and Torpids headship many times, and has recorded numerous victories in most events at the Henley Royal Regatta.
  The club's colours are black and gold, with black blades. The 1st VIII, however, may wear the distinctive "Childe of Hale" colours — red, purple and gold — which are traditional in Brasenose rowing.
context_section_description: John Middleton, the "Childe of Hale," was a 17th-century giant, standing over nine feet tall, from Hale in Lancashire. He accompanied his landlord, Sir Gilbert Ireland, to the court of James I, where he took on the King's champion wrestler and won. Sir Gilbert, later Lord of the Manor of Hale, was a member of Brasenose College at the time, and he brought Middleton to College on his return from court, where two life–size portraits were painted of him wearing his "London costume" - a fantastic outfit of red, purple and gold. When, in 1815, the students came to establish a Boat Club, it was this story and tradition that was used as inspiration. The Childe of Hale has since been a role model for generations of rowers and a portrait still hangs in the college.
  By tradition, the First VIII is now called "The Childe of Hale," and the First VIII wears the colours of the Childe's London costume — red, purple and gold. This follows an older tradition where each new boat would be given a name.
caption: A wooden statue of the Childe of Hale, John Middleton
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