Championship of The Thames & World Champion
Chambers continued to win sculling races until he was considered an eligible challenger for the Championship of the Thames. The champion at that time was Harry Kelley and a race was arranged for 29 September 1859 from Putney to Mortlake. The stake was £200 a-side. The race was close for the first mile, but then Chambers began to pull away from Kelley and finally won by 200 yards. He was the first oarsman from the provinces to win this prestigious title and his backers rewarded him with a purse of 100 gold sovereigns. Chambers was now undisputed champion of the Tyne and Thames. Before 1876, the English Sculling Championship was considered to be the premier event in professional sculling. In 1876, the English Title gained the World status and earlier winners were retrospectively given the title of World Champion.
"Honest Bob's" success against the Thames scullers was recorded for posterity in verse by Geordie Ridley, the music hall poet:
- O, ye Cockneys all,
- Ye mun think't very funny,
- For Bob he gans and licks ye all,
- An collars all yer money
Another match was arranged with Tom White, this time on White’s home water, the Thames. This took place in September 1860 for a stake of £200 a side. Chambers won an easy victory. In April 1863 Chambers sculled against another challenger from the Thames, named George Everson, and won by 100 yards.
In 1863 the Australian sculling champion, Richard A.W. Green, travelled to England for a match with Chambers, to be rowed on the Thames, from Putney to Mortlake i.e. the Championship Course. The race was the first overseas challenge for the English Championship Title and the stake was £400. Chambers won easily.
Chambers subsequently lost the Championship to Harry Kelley, the Thames sculler, in 1865, in a race held on the Thames. Kelley retired but Chambers then won the title back in an open race with Joseph Sadler in 1866. Chambers was defeated by Harry Kelley, (who had come out of retirement) in 1868, in a race held on the Tyne.
For further details of the seven World Title races that Chambers was involved in see World Sculling Championship.
Read more about this topic: Robert Chambers (oarsman)
Famous quotes containing the words thames, world and/or champion:
“I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“There are times when words seem empty and only actions seem great. Such a time has come, and in the Providence of God America will once more have an opportunity to show the world that she was born to save mankind.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“What a terrible thing has happened to us all! To you there, to us here, to all everywhere. Peace who was becoming bright-eyed, now sits in the shadow of death; her handsome champion has been killed as he walked by her very side. Her gallant boy is dead. What a cruel, foul, and most unnatural murder! We mourn here with you, poor, sad American people.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)