Henry Taylor

The story of Henry is incredible in many ways. An orphan at an early age who taught himself to swim in a canal, he had little schooling . He would swim in any water he could and became a member of Chadderton ASC. He went to the 1906 Athens 10th anniversary Olympics and before he won a national title he won the one mile race in rough seas and also gained silver and bronze medals.

1908 was his peak as he won three gold medals in front of the biggest crowds to ever watch a swimming event. He famously was thirteen metres down and in third place as the anchor leg of the 4x200m relay- he won and was carried shoulder high in front of a Euphoric crowd. He went on to appear in two more Olympics and win two more bronze medals. In between that he was at the Battle of Jutland in HMS Ramilles.

He also played water polo for England and still holds the record for the Cross Morecambe Bay swim of two hours and two minutes for a ten mile hazardous swim. He won this event eight times, He later coached Chadderton schoolboys to several Northern counties championships. He died a poor man in 1951 and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of fame when it was created in 1969. A Blue plaque was erected on the Chadderton pool in 2003 and the new pool named after him in 2009. There are some of his artefacts on display in the Chadderton Well being centre.

His three Olympic certificates from 1908 are still held locally. In 2014 as part of Chadderton ASCs 120th celebrations a large swimming model of Henry was made and he "swam" through Manchester along with club members. When Oasis Oldham school was opened in 2012 a huge mural of Henry was proudly painted on the refectory wall just a few hundred yards from where he was born.