Shropshire Channel swim hero Captain Webb honoured

And in doing so he became the first person ever to take on the mammoth distance.

Now, 140 years later, county residents and historians have united to celebrate his incredible achievement.

Historians Alan and Barb Heighway, of St Georges in Telford, have spent the last 30 years – and thousands of pounds – building up their collection of Captain Webb memorabilia.

From original lithographs, portraits, personal possessions, commemorative postcards and plates, silver medals and matchboxes to books, drawings and newspaper pages from the time, Mr Heighway wants everyone to know about one of Shropshire's most famous sons.

And people will gather tomorrow to watch a new film about Webb's life at Dawley Town Hall in the town where he was born.

The screening marked the start of celebrations over the weekend in the build-up to Tuesday, the anniversary of the Channel swim.

Mr and Mrs Heighway, both aged 68, will be on hand across the events, which include a street party on Monday, with his exhibition of memorabilia.

Everybody knows Edmund Hillary was the first man to conquer Everest, and that Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Indeed, pretty much everyone knows that Buzz Aldrin was the second.

But Matthew Webb? In the late 19th century he was a household name, his picture adorning everything from matchboxes to souvenir crockery. Today? He is world famous only in Dawley.

Film director Justin Hardy is hoping his new movie, simply entitled Captain Webb, will propel the first man to swim the English Channel back into the spotlight.

"He is a forgotten hero, whose story simply had to be told," he says. Hardy struggles to explain Webb's swift fall from the public consciousness.

"At the time, Webb was known to every smoker in the UK, he was on the front of almost every box of matches. But then he fell off. Not just off the box, but off the radar."

Warren Brown, who plays the title role in the film, himself admits he had not even heard of Webb before he landed the role.

"I wasn't familiar with Captain Webb prior to filming, so his story was the thing that sparked my initial interest," says the actor, best known for playing Det Sgt Justin Ripley alongside Idris Elba in the television series Luther.

He adds: "To cross the English Channel even today is a huge task, but in 1875 when no man had attempted it and swimming wasn't even recognised as the sport it is today, was an even greater achievement."

Strictly speaking, Webb was not the first man to swim the Channel. Three months earlier, the American Paul Boyton had achieved the feat, but he did so wearing a special inflatable suit, which Webb did not consider to be a proper swim. Much of the film examines the rivalry between the two men, as well as Webb's struggle to come to terms with his waning public profile once the initial euphoria about his feat had died down.

Georgia Maguire, who plays swimmer Agnes Beckwith, daughter of Webb's coach, says: "People like Webb had a genuine sense that anything was achievable.

He was also a showman who had swum the Channel and that kind of feeling is addictive."

It was this addiction to the limelight which ultimately cost Webb his life.

In 1879, Webb beat Boyton in the Championship of the World swimming contest. However, he was accused of cheating and his prize money withheld.

Furious about the slur, he decided that the only way to recapture the world's imagination was to try a feat that nobody thought was possible – a swim across the Whirlpool Rapids below Niagara falls.

On that fateful day Webb grinned and waved as he entered the water, but shortly afterwards he was dragged into a whirlpool where the pressure of the water crushed him to death. His body was discovered four days later.

On August 24, 1875, Dawley-born Webb smeared in porpoise oil, dived into the water near Dover's Admiralty Pier.

Twenty-one hours and 45 minutes later he waded ashore at Calais.

In his diary he wrote: "I felt now I should do it, and I did it."

He died eight years later when he drowned in a whirlpool at the foot of Niagara Falls.

He had hoped to earn a £12,000 fortune by swimming under and across the swirling water.

Mr Heighway said: "He was incredible and we should be really proud that he was from Telford.

"He really was famous at the time, he joined the Merchant Navy when he was 12 and left as a Captain.

"In the years that followed he swam many long distances and appeared in newspapers regularly in his day.

"I've built up the collection over the last 30 years and spent thousands of pounds on it.

"The most expensive was probably a 1909 commemorative plate and mug, which was made when a monument to Webb went up in Dawley. Other prized items include a solid silver matchbox with his face on and a silver medal Webb awarded to people who won long swimming races."

The couple's interest was sparked when they discovered Mr Heighway's great-uncle Charles Bartlam, a photographer, was involved in the famous "Pig on the Wall" postcard mocked up to mark the installation of the monument in Dawley.

Mr Heighway said: "It's so interesting to see all of the old newspaper stories on Webb.

"On one occasion he swam for 60 hours in a whale and seal tank and people paid to go and watch him – the tank was free of sea creatures, of course.

"When he died he left his eight-month-old baby daughter, his wife and son.

"He was buried in America but they put a monument up in Dawley to commemorate him in 1909."

Mr Heighway and his wife, who were professional line dancers before they retired, said they would continue on their quest to find as much Captain Webb memorabilia as possible.

He added: "Please come along and learn about a real Shropshire hero."

The exhibition will be on show at Dawley Town Hall during the celebrations and the couple will host a talk at 2pm on Monday.

For more information contact Mr Heighway on 07832 928445.