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Description: | Statue under a Gothic canopy. Clasper is depicted as a stocky figure dressed in normal day-to-day clothes, something which distinguishes hum from the figures on the sculptor's almost contemporary monuments to the oarsmen, Renforth and Chambers. He stands on a high pedestal underneath a canopy in the Decorated Gothic style with crocketed arches, finials and central spirelet. His right arm rests on a bollard with a rope curled round and bullrushes growing up the side. His left hand holds a piece of paper with a design on it. The monument stands in the churchyard of St Mary's, Whickham, to the north west of the church near the gravestones of several members of the Clasper family. Unfortunately the view down to the Tyne referred to in the inscription is nowadays partially obscured. Additional Information: Harry Clasper (1812-1870) was born at Dunston, worked briefly in his youth as a pitman at Jarrow, and then in 1831 moved back to Dunston to become a boatbuilder and professional oarsman. In July 1842 his four-man crew challenged the London Watermen on the Tyne and were beaten, an experience which prompted him to adopt a new and revolutionary approach to racing- boat design (keel-less boats, outriggers and scooped oars) and crew preparation (controlled diet and organised training). On 26th June 1845 his efforts and ingenuity were rewarded when his boat, The Lord Ravensworth' beat the London Watermen on the Thames. This confirmed him as the popular hero of Tyneside. In the words of one song at the time, 'Ov a' your grand rowers in skiff or in skull, / There's nyen wi' wor Harry has chance for to pull / Man he sits like a duke an' he fetchrs se fre, / Oh! Harry's the lad, Harry Clasper for me! HAUD AWAY HARRY! CANNY HARRY! HARRY'S THE KING OF THE TYEMS AN' THE TYNE.' Over the next two decades rowing on the Tyne flourished as industry along the river prospered. Indeed, until association football replaced it in the 1870s and until Armstrong's dredged the river at Dunston, rowing was the great spectator sport in the district involving vast crowds, enormous sponsorship money, huge purses and massive bets. During this period Clasper was universally recognised and feted as the sport's pivotal figure. '..what Frederick the Great was of military matters, Harry Clasper is in boat racing.' He won £2,600 in prize money during his career and came to own a string of eight pubs (the drinking trade was closely linked to rowing), one of which, the palatial Clasper Hotel, Scotswood Road, was presented to him as a testimonial on 27th November 1862. At his funeral 100,000 to 130,000 people lined the route. | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Burn, George | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7520... | Go to resource |
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