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Oxford University - Pembroke College (England)

The Master, Fellows and Scholars of Pembroke College

image by Randy Young, 4 July 2016

Description of the flag
Boat club flag
Blades

Description of the flag

On a recent trip to Oxford, I noticed that most of the colleges of the universities had armorial banners flying. The Pembroke College flag is a banner of arms quartered white-yellow-blue-red. In the white quarter is a red rose; in the yellow quarter is a thistle; in each of the blue and red quarters is a white lion rampant, and a third lion rampant lies on the join between the red and blue quarters.
Dave Fowler, 4 July 2016

The flag is a banner of arms (ratio 1:2).
Coat of Arms:
Shield parted per fess; above parted per pale; at dexter Argent a rose Gules, barbed Vert and seeded Or (acc. to blazon: proper); at sinister Or thistle proper, i.e. Vert blossomed Purple; beneath parted per pale of Azure and Gules three lions rampant Argent.
Broadgates Hall was succeeded by Pembroke College which was founded by King James I in 1624 “at the costs and charges of Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick.” The arms used were granted by Richard St. George in 1625. The lower part of the shield shows the arms of Herbert Earls of Pembroke, as at the time of foundation William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke was Chancellor of Oxford. The lower partition is referring to the founder, the rose representing England and the thistle Scotland.
Source: John P. Brooke-Little: Oxford University and its Colleges, Oxford 1962(?), available online at https://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/oxford-university-and-its-colleges/.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 February 2019

Boat club flag

image by Rob Raeside, 13 June 2025

Flag like Isis Societies flag with a Tudor Rose but with a different ratio (1:2). Maybe the Lancaster Rose in the 1930s flag had been depicted erroneously.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 March 2019

The china beaker was made by the W. H. Goss of Stoke-on-Trent. The Registration Number 60863 on the piece was first used in 1886. The Goss Factory produced boat club flags for Oxford boating clubs - this one for the Pembroke College.
David Wiscombe, 4 and 13 September 2017

image by Ollie, 13 June 2025

The boat club uses pink for the flag and for the tips at the ends of the oars, as can be seen on their website, https://pcbcoxford.org.uk. Alongside the flag, the zephyrs worn by the first VIIIs and the blazers are also white and pink. The wider college uses dark blue, white and pink as colours for merchandise as can be seen in the images below.

The flag in the image above is quite old and has faded significantly. The pink used for most rowing activities is quite ‘pastel’ if I’m using that word correctly, (light / subdued) the football team uses hot pink though. I guess there is the potential that the use of pink came from originally faded red. But pink is firmly at the centre of the culture at Pembroke and has been for a few lifetimes at least. Cries of “bleed pink” are regularly heard throughout collegiate sports.
Ollie, 13 June 2025

Blades

Current
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 March 2019 and Rob Raeside, 13 June 2025
Blade is white with pink washboard..

1930s
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 March 2019
Blade is blue with two yellow stripes.

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 March 2019
Blade is white.

Sources: (for 1930s): https://www.alamy.com and http://www.rowing-memorabilia.de
Source: (for current versions): https://www.reddit.com
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 March 2019