Author: Chambers, James
Biography:
CHAMBERS, James (1748-1827: “Life,” Poetical Works)
He was born in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 1748, although his baptism has not been located. His father was a leather-seller. He left home at the age of sixteen and made an itinerant living selling nets and pottery throughout Suffolk. He had no formal education but taught himself to read and write (possibly with the help of a scribe) and composed verses and acrostics for weddings, birthdays, and village occasions. He lived in great poverty and on his travels slept in barns, hay-lofts, pig-styes, sheds, and the open air, accompanied by his dogs. He had several spells in the Soham workhouse. He settled in Haverill, Suffolk, and made the acquaintance of John Webb (q.v.) who would assist and promote him from time to time. Unable to lead a settled existence, he left Haverill in 1790 and moved to a shack on the barrack ground at Woodbridge. In 1810, John Cordy, of Worlingworth, wrote an account of him in the Ipswich Journal and brought him to wider attention. This led the Duchess of Chandos, the Countess of Dysart, Lord Henniker, and local dignitaries to raise £500 (a considerable sum) for him to live comfortably in a cottage, but he resumed his wanderings. He became something of a local celebrity in Suffolk and had his portrait painted by Robert Mendham at Diss around 1825. He died on 4 Jan. 1827 in an unoccupied farmhouse at Stradbroke, Suffolk, and was buried on 8 Jan. at All Saints, where there is still a gravestone. A work listed on the title page of The Poetical Works (1820), Reflections on Storms and Tempests (1795), which was noted by Davy, Copsey and Goodridge, has not been located. (“Life,” The Poetical Works [1820)], [vii]-xix; Ipswich Journal 21 July 1810; Suffolk Chronicle 13 Jan. 1827; The Suffolk Garland [1818], 327-33; Thomas Cromwell, Excursions in the County of Suffolk [1818-19] 2: 5-7; Davy; Copsey; Goodridge; findagrave.com 22 Dec. 2022) AA