Early Life
Henry Taylor was born in Hollinwood in Oldham, Lancashire, on 17 March 1885 to James, a coal miner, and Elizabeth Taylor. Henry's parents died when he was young and he was raised by his older brother, Bill. Taylor learned to swim in the Hollinwood Canal, and practised in Alexandra Park's boating lake. At the age of seven Taylor swam in his first race.
Bill became his coach and Henry trained in the Oldham Baths and, from 1894, in the Chadderton Baths. During this time he continued to train in the canal and when he got a job at a cotton mill, he spent his lunch times swimming in the canal. At 5' 5'' (1.65 m) and weighing 10 stone 6 pounds (66 kg), he wore a hand-woven silk swimming costume weighing about an ounce.
Read more about this topic: Henry Taylor (swimmer)
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“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
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