Ill Health
By this time his health was in serious decline. In his youth he had worked in an iron foundry, in hot, dirty conditions that may have damaged his lungs. In any case, he had developed tuberculosis. At the time, he was the landlord of the King’s Head pub, St Anthony’s in Newcastle and, in an attempt to improve his health, he briefly moved to Croft Spa near Darlington. However this was to no avail and he moved back to St Anthony’s, where he died on 4 June 1868, at the age of 37.
He was buried in Walker Churchyard and a magnificent memorial was erected over his grave, showing him in repose, with sculling oar lying alongside him. The memorial, somewhat vandalised, can be seen there today.
At his funeral, one of the mourners was a young sculler called James Renforth. He would soon take over where Robert Chambers had left off and become equally famous.
Read more about this topic: Robert Chambers (oarsman)
Famous quotes containing the words ill and/or health:
“How ill this taper burns! Ha! Who comes here?
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
That shapes this monstrous apparition.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In our great concern about the mental health of children, however, we have overlooked the mental health of mothers. They have been led to believe that their children’s needs must not be frustrated, and therefore all of their own normal angers, the normal ambivalences of living, are not permissible. The mother who has “bad” feelings toward her child is a bad mother.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)