Alderman R B Chambers

In 1982, the Ringing World Christmas quiz posed the following question:

"What do the following have in common: Rev Fish, Ald Chambers, Sir A P Heywood, J W Taylor and Edmund D Taylor?"

While the last three are reasonably well known within the ringing community, the first two are less so. One of them, Alderman Robert Baker Chambers was very influential on ringing in the first quarter of the 20th century, initially at St Peter’s, Derby and later across the East Midlands, although there is no evidence that he was ever a ringer.

After attending R N Wilson’s school in Castle Donington and Ullesthorpe House School near Rugby he matriculated at Magdelen Hall (later Hertford College), Oxford, in 1870. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1875.

While at university he rowed for his college and took part in walking races, winning the college one-mile and university three-mile races. Back at home he spent two seasons playing full-back for South Derbyshire Football Club, was captain of Sawley Football, Athletic and Rowing clubs, and was President of Sawley Cricket Club. He was President of the Derby and District Cricket League for nearly 30 years and served on the committee of Derbyshire County Cricket Club, where he was credited with preventing the club from going out of existence during the Great War. He also sponsored two trophies competed for by Derby schools: the Chambers Shield for Swimming and the Chambers Cricket Shield.

An involvement in local politics began during his time at Idridgehay. In June 1891 he nominated Victor Cavendish (later the 9th Duke of Devonshire) as Parliamentary representative for Western Division of Derbyshire (a position to which he was, perhaps not unexpectedly, elected unopposed). He was also on the Executive Councils of both the Midland and West Derbyshire Conservative Associations, and was a Chairman of the Derby & Derbyshire Conservative Club.

In 1893 the family moved to 49 Green Hill (now Green Lane) in Derby, just around the corner from St Peter's Church. Robert had represented Wirksworth Rural Deanery on the Diocesan Council while at Idridgehay, and he became a churchwarden at St Peter's in 1897, a post that he was to hold for 23 years. He was also a member of Southwell Diocesan Conference (this being before the creation of the Derby Diocese).

His involvement in local politics continued in Derby. In July 1895 he seconded Henry Bemrose as a Unionist candidate, and was the Hon Treasurer of the Derby Conservative & Unionist Association from 1895 to 1906. He was on the committee of the Derbyshire Union of Conservative Associations, President of the Babington Ward Conservative Association, Hon Secretary of the local Primrose League and President of the local Beaconsfield Club. In 1897 he was on the Mayor's Committee for the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Connections between Robert Chambers and ringing started around this time. St Peter’s church was in a poor state of repair and a restoration project was launched in 1895. This would include the demolition of the existing tower, which had been badly damaged by an earthquake in the early 19^th century. A new tower was to be built slightly further west, allowing the church to be extended. The existing five bells would be restored and augmented to eight. A total of £10,000 would be needed, and Robert became the secretary of the committee set up to raise the money. Robert and Sir Edwin Ann donated one of the bells. He would go on to donate bells to augment rings at two other churches: in 1906 he gave the tenor bell at Peatling Magna, Leicestershire, where his mother had been born and he owned some land, and in 1908 he gave the new 7th bell at Parbold, Lancashire, where his cousin, the Rev H P Owen-Smith, was vicar.

In April 1899 Robert Chambers attended the AGM of the Midland Counties Association of Change Ringers (MCA). The association had originally been formed in 1882 as the ‘The Society for the Archdeaconry of Derby and District’, soon becoming the ‘Derby and District Association’ and then the 'Midland Counties Association', its area of operation having grown to cover all of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, plus parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire. The then president of the MCA, Sir Arthur Heywood, had done much to improve its financial status by recruiting honorary members, wealthy non-ringers who supported the association by paying a relatively high membership fee. It appears that Robert Chambers was one of these, as during his response to a vote of thanks he commented that he hoped to be able to prevail on the senior churchwarden at St Peter's, Sir Edwin Ann, to join as an honorary member. He also reported on the work then under way on the tower and bells at St Peter's - work on the new tower had started the previous year with the foundation stone being laid by the Rt. Hon. Horatio Nelson, the 3rd Earl Nelson (a great-nephew of the famous admiral).

The top stone had been placed on the last of the tower pinnacles by October 1901, and a letter from Robert appeared in the Derby Daily Telegraph, appealing for help in clearing the outstanding debt of £1700. A few days later he was present at another meeting of the Midland Counties Association and told them that he hoped that the bells at St Peter's would be available by the next time that they met in Derby.

The first annual meeting of the new team of ringers at St Peter's was held in the ringing room in March 1902. Sir Edwin Ann and the Vicar, the Rev J E Matthews, were present along with Robert Chambers who had prepared some draft rules, having researched those in place at several local towers. Robert continued to take an interest in the local band, often attending their AGMs in the following years. On several occasions he took the opportunity to remind the ringers of the importance of starting and ending service ringing at the agreed times.

The restored bells were dedicated in April 1902. Robert presided over the Green Hill Wesleyan Bazaar during that month, and in a vote of thanks he was congratulated on the completion of the work on the bells. Later reports state that the success of the project was in large measure due to his efforts and donations. Robert’s contribution to the work was recognised by the church authorities when they presented him with an illuminated address and a pair of specially-made Crown Derby vases depicting the church before and after the restoration work.

On the 5th November 1902 Robert married Florence Jane Bayliss at St Werburgh's Church, Spondon. The ceremony was fairly muted due to the recent death of the bride's father, Richard Bayliss, but the bells at St Peter's "rang merry peals at intervals during the day." Shortly before the wedding, Robert and Florence presented a set of handbells to the ringers to commemorate the occasion.

By December 1902 the outstanding debt for the restoration had been reduced to £1300. At a sale of work to raise money towards this, Sir Edwin Ann gave a vote of thanks to Florence Chambers for opening the event. During this he noted that Robert had given the fund £100 on the occasion of his marriage. Responding to the vote of thanks on behalf of his wife, Robert announced that he would give a further £50 to the fund in each of the next three years, and that Sir Edwin would do the same. The outstanding debt was cleared in October 1905.

A by-election in April 1903 saw Robert elected to the town council as a member for the Babington Ward. While on the council he worked on several committees, including the Distress, Education, Free Library, Pension and Parliamentary committees. In 1905 he travelled to the United States as a member of the municipal expedition to the St Louis Exposition. After three and a half years on the council he succeeded Sir Edwin Ann as Mayor of Derby, the shortest time in which any Derby councillor had reached this office. Robert was made an Alderman in June 1907 and was to serve on the council for a total of 26 years.

In May 1919 the Midland Counties Association held its AGM in the St Peter's parish rooms. Robert attended and was elected Vice-President, with John W Taylor (of the Loughborough bell foundry) being President. John Taylor died during the year and Robert was elected to replace him as President at the next AGM.

During his time in office he took an interest in improving the finances of ringing organisations. On several occasions he encouraged members of the association to subscribe to the Ringing World, as if it was not successful it was unlikely that anyone else would try to start a similar paper. Obviously, the MCA's own finances were important to him. He continued Sir Arthur Heywood's plan of using his contacts to recruit honorary members. It was reported that during his year as vice-president he had been responsible for an extraordinary influx of new honorary members and this continued throughout his time as president. Members he recruited included the Dukes of Devonshire, Argyle and Rutland, the Bishops of Southwell and Derby, the Earl of Dartmouth, Earl Ferrers, the Marquis of Hartington, Marquis Curzon and "a well-known merchant of Barbados." 1921 was reported as a record financial year for the Association. In September 1923, a Ringing World article, ‘Sources of Revenue’, reported that while finance was a problem for most ringing organisations, the MCA had been able to invest £80 in savings certificates, and that this was largely due to the energy and powers of persuasion of the president in building up the number of honorary members.

Robert also represented the MCA on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. He again took an interest in the finances of ringing organisations, writing to the CC with a proposal that all affiliated associations should maintain a bell restoration fund. As he was not at the 1921 meeting it was agreed to let the proposal lie on table. In July 1921 an editorial supporting his proposal was published in the Ringing World, while the Midland Counties Association was in the process of setting up its own fund. An amended version of the proposal was carried at the CC meeting in Lincoln the following year.

At the January MCA meeting in 1925, the MCA treasurer suggested that the association had too much money! He made various suggestions for what might be done, including making the annual report free (the price had already been reduced), a reduction in the membership fees, a rebate for members at the end of the year if a profit had been made, or making the annual dinner free. The Ringing World picked up on this in an article the following month, suggesting that other ringing organisations could do more to improve their finances. It concluded: “An equivalent to Alderman Chambers is not available to every association, but we are convinced that much more might be done by way of gaining honorary members than is currently done by many of the ringing organisations.”.

Another mention of Robert's fundraising abilities was made at the 1926 annual dinner of the Nottingham-based Society of Sherwood Youths. Albert Coppock, the Master of the society, speaking to welcome the Mayor of Nottingham (who was himself an honorary member of the MCA) said that "they could compare the Midland Counties Association with a valve set, with Alderman R B Chambers as the detector valve, and if there was any money about he found the carrier wave."

Robert had to send his apologies to MCA meetings in 1927 and 1928 due to "advancing years and feeble health." At the January 1928 meeting it was unanimously agreed that he should be asked to retain office for at least another year, and that "all members be prepared to co-operate with his superior experience and knowledge".

Despite failing health, Robert continued to take an interest in ringing. In August 1927 he was preparing a subscription list to purchase a bell to be placed in a new church as a memorial to Sir Arthur Heywood (although this was eventually used to pay for one of the bells at Duffield, Sir Arthur's home tower, to be recast in 1933). In January 1928 he subscribed to a fund to assist a Sheffield ringer who had gone blind, Mr A T Baker who regularly wrote in the Ringing World under the name ‘Irenaeus Pistor’. A letter from Robert to the Ringing World in April 1928 dealt with recent proposals to split the MCA into smaller associations following the creation of the Derby and Leicester Dioceses from parts of the Southwell Diocese. While he was not against the proposals, he was concerned that this could cause problems for the Burton district as the MCA area only covered a small part of the Diocese of Lichfield. This letter was later quoted by Harold Poole at the 1944 AGM as the eventual splitting up of the MCA drew closer. In the same letter Robert announced that he would resign as MCA president on his doctor's advice.

At the association's 1928 AGM it was announced that Robert had written to say that he had cancelled all public engagements and resigned from many charities and institutions. Despite this, a proposal was made that he should remain as president but with a vice-president to assist with the duties, and this was carried. He had advised the secretary that he would in any case continue to look after the honorary members in the Derby area.

Robert Chambers died on the 18th April 1929. His generosity and fundraising skills were noted in his obituaries. The mayor at the time said that "he had earned the title Derby's greatest beggar" and commented that it was sad that he had not been spared to receive a portrait by Ernest Townsend which had been paid for by his friends. His obituary in the Ringing World said that he almost invariably gave a private donation whenever the MCA made a grant to a bell restoration project, and that he had given Ernest Morris, the association secretary, a silver bell-shaped inkpot to thank him for his assistance over the years. The Derbyshire Advertiser & Journal included this:

"Not a few in the local business community are thinking today with a curious pang that he will never call to worry them again with a subscription list generally headed by a handsome donation from himself. Even the hardest hearted found a refusal difficult in the face of his transparent sincerity and he rarely came away from such visits unsuccessful."

Links

Biographical details on the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers website