Henry Richardson Chamberlain

Background

Henry Richardson Chamberlain was born on August 25, 1859 in Peoria, Illinois, United States where his father, Thomas Chamberlain of Boston, was spending a few months with his family.

Education

He was educated in the public schools of Boston.

Career

Henry first began his newspaper work by hunting up news independently and turning it over to the Boston Journal. At eighteen he was a full-fledged reporter on that newspaper. Attracted by the larger salaries paid in New York City he came to the metropolis in 1888 as managing editor of the Press--a position he later resigned to make a tour of Europe. Returning to New York, he became associated with the Sun, for which he had done considerable work as special correspondent while in Boston. This connection with the Sun lasted until 1891 when Chamberlain went back to Boston to become managing editor of the Journal. A year later he again returned to the Sun as its correspondent stationed in London--possibly the highest reportorial honor in the power of any newspaper to bestow. In addition to his work as London correspondent for the Sun, he had general oversight of the European news service of that newspaper, a service that was syndicated to many papers throughout the United States. Important crises in European history Chamberlain reported in person, such as the Russian political crisis of 1906. For him the Balkans and their petty feuds had tremendous interest: he was constantly forecasting the possible results of these feuds because the quarrels of the little states were so entangled with the relations of the great European nations. Not only in London, but also in New York, newspaper men were inclined to smile over the seriousness of "H. R. C. 's war-cloud articles, " even though their author was not a wailing Jeremiah. In press circles the remark was frequently made, "H. R. is always seeing things. " Even his friends, believing that a general war in Europe was impossible, were often skeptical of the dispatches which Chamberlain cabled to America. He died in London in 1911, still in active service for the Sun, and to the very last he insisted that the great war was coming. Author of many short stories, he left only one book, Six Thousand Tons of Gold (1894). His best work as a reporter may be found in his accounts of the Macedonian disturbances, the Messina earthquake, and the Panama Canal scandal in France.

Achievements

• He achieved his greatest distinction as a reporter of the political situation in England and also as an expert commentator upon European politics in general.

Works

More photos

• book

  • 6000 Tons of Gold

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

Connections

In 1883 he married in Boston Abbie L. Sanger.

Father:

Thomas Chamberlain

Spouse:

Abbie L. Sanger.