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Description: | A statue of Chambers, now headless, under a vaulted Decorated Gothic style canopy. This has ogee crocketed arches on four sides and corbel heads (two female and two male) at each corner. Dressed for rowing (breeches, bare torso), Chambers rests on a verdant bank beside the river, his oar by his side. The oar has a masonic emblem on the blade which may be a clue that the freemasons were one of his sponsors. It is also broken at the handle, possibly a reference to his untimely death. Additional Information: Robert Chambers (1831-1868), from Pottery Bank, Walker, was one of the most successful oarsmen in the 1850s and 1860s when professional rowing was Tyneside's major spectator sport. A protégé of the legendary Harry Clasper, he specialised in single sculls. His most famous feat occurred on the Tyne in 1859 when he managed to pull back his opponent's seemingly unassailable hundred-yard lead to win the race. He later went on to win the World Sculling Championship, the first Tynesider to do so. When he died of tuberculosis five years later, he was given what at that time was the most elaborate funeral ever accorded to a sportsman in the area; over fifty thousand people lined the route from Pottery Bank to Walker Cemetery.(10 'Revered be the name, unalloyed be the glory / Of honest "Bob Chambers", the pride of the Tyne.'(2) | Subjects: | Sculpture | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Burn, George | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7523... | Go to resource |
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