Richmond v Shelton: preview and tale of the tape

This Saturday marks the 200th anniversary of the Bill Richmond v Tom Shelton bare-knuckle boxing contest. By way of a celebration, I will be tweeting a live recreation of the fight, including many illustrations and images, via my twitter page @boxianajournal.  

Below I imagine what a preview of the fight back in 1815 may have looked like ...

Richmond v Shelton: the Tale of the Tape

Name: William 'Bill' Richmond
Nickname: 'The Black'
Born: 5 August 1763, Staten Island, United States
Age: 51
Height: 5 feet 9 inches
Weight: 12 stone, 2 pounds
Career record: 17 mills, 15 wins, 2 losses
Boxing style and qualities: Expert in hitting and getting away, possessor of a terrible right-handed hit.
Typical quote: "A gentleman, sir, only uses his hands to defend himself, and not to attack; we call the pugilistic art, for that reason, the noble science of defence."
Career summary: After several impromptu set-tos in the north of England, where he was raised, educated and apprenticed after arriving on these shores with Earl Hugh Percy, Richmond entered the lists with a defeat against the seasoned George Maddox in January 1805 in a close contest. Thereafter, a run of three unbroken successes secured a contest with rising talent Tom Cribb, a tiresome contest in October 1805 which he lost. Since then, Richmond's science has become manifest to all and he has won all seven of his mills, albeit with several periods of inactivity. Richmond also won much notoriety when he mentored fellow former slave Tom Molineaux to the brink of championship honours, only for the American pretender to be vanquished by Cribb in two mighty contests in 1810 and 1811. Richmond is now an esteemed and respected member of the pugilistic corps, renowned for his good manners, milling anecdotes and tactical acumen.

Name:  Thomas 'Tom' Shelton
Nickname: 'The Navigator'
Born: 1 May 1787, Wrotham, Kent,
Age: 28
Height: 5 feet 10 inches
Weight: 12 stone, 7 pounds
Career record: 3 mills, 2 wins, 1 loss
Boxing style and qualities: Scientific boxer, good in-fighter, left-handed hitter.
Typical quote: "I like fighting; but I hate animosity."
Career summary: Shelton’s eccentric nature is best summed up by a series of events in September 1812; by the end of a day’s drinking in Hampstead, the Navigator had gambled away all his worldly possessions, whereupon he risked the only thing he had left – namely his life – on the roll of a dice. The luckless Shelton lost that wager too and, bound by a
twisted sense of honour, tried to hang himself on a street lamp. His first attempt failed, so he tried again, at which point a passing police officer intervened. Although the policeman succeeded in preventing Shelton’s suicide, he received two black eyes and a broken nose for his troubles. Thereafter, Shelton threw his hat into the prize ring, defeating Fitzgerald at Tothill Fields in August 1812, before losing a distinguished battle to Harry Harmer in April this year. In June, Shelton bounced back to the top of the lists by vanquishing a Suffolk farmer by the name of Studd.
 
Verdict: Private pique between Shelton and Richmond resulted in this contest, which now unreservedly occupies the attention of the Fancy. Odds were even until Shelton injured a knee in training, meaning  Richmond is now the slight favourite. Both men are first raters, and much hinges on whether the Black's considerable advantages in science will compensate for his deficit of youth compared to his opponent.

Richmond v Shelton is recreated this Saturday on www.twitter.com/boxianajournal
Richmond Unchained is published on 15 August

Richmond v Shelton: 200th anniversary

This Saturday marks the 200th anniversary of the Bill Richmond v Tom Shelton bare-knuckle boxing contest. By way of a celebration, I will be tweeting a live recreation of the fight, including many illustrations and images, via my twitter page @boxianajournal
 

Richmond versus Shelton was a fascinating event from both a sporting and a sociocultural perspective. In purely pugilistic terms, the fight represented the perfect conflict between 'youth' and 'experience' that has become such a trope of sporting discourse - taking place as it did just two days before Richmond's 52nd birthday, while Shelton was a mere 27 years old. The contest would ultimately prove to be the final official contest of Richmond's stellar career, and the only time that he fought at the iconic venue of Moulsey Hurst in Surrey on the southern banks of the river Thames.

Significantly, the bout took place less than two months after Britain's triumph in the Battle of Waterloo. The militaristic context of this, and many other Georgian prize fights, enables us to understand that for many people bare-knuckle boxing was a natural expression and off-shoot of Britain's military might and prowess.

Indeed, throughout the early part of the 19th century, the exploits of the country's leading pugilists inculcated many of the general public with a feeling of self-confidence that the nation would ultimately repel the challenge of France and Napoleon. Such confidence had been legitimised by the sensational events of Waterloo - hence by August, when Richmond fought Shelton, there was a sense of widespread pride and joy among the Fancy. No wonder, then, that over 10,000 spectators gathered on Tuesday 1 August to watch the contest!

As you would expect, newspapers published on 1 August were heavily preoccupied with the political and military fall-out from Waterloo and Napoleon's surrender, and speculation concerning 'Boney''s ultimate fate was a running theme in many journals. As the extract below from The Times of 1 August shows, some believed (or perhaps hoped!) that the former French emperor might end up in the Tower of London!

How then, did Bill Richmond - a black prize fighter who began life as a slave in the United States - fit into the celebration of British military and physical might that the sport of pugilism so often symbolised?

It's a fascinating question, and one which is examined in depth in my upcoming book Richmond Unchained. As a black celebrity within white-dominated Georgian England, Richmond was certainly in an unusual position; the Slave Trade Act of 1807 may have abolished the slave trade, but slavery itself still existed throughout the British Empire, as made clear by this advertisement which appeared in The Times the same day that Richmond faced Shelton.

 

Despite the continuing spectre of slavery, Richmond had achieved such a position of respectability and fame within sporting circles that his ethnicity was not mentioned or referred to in disparaging terms in reports of the Shelton fight. For example, the Morning Post's 1 August preview of the fight referred to him as "the black" and a "first rater", in sharp contrast to earlier in his career when he had been routinely disparaged by newspapers as "Mungo" or "Blacky".

By this stage of his career, Richmond's talents and fame seemed to render his ethnicity unimportant to many spectators and observers - one of many amazing achievements within his remarkable life.

Richmond v Shelton is recreated this Saturday on www.twitter.com/boxianajournal
Richmond Unchained is published on 15 August

Waterloo week: Death of a pugilist

Mourners at the monument to John Shaw in Nottinghamshire

The Battle of Waterloo took place 200 years ago this week. As Britain goes Waterloo-mad,  I'll be presenting a series of features in which I look at aspects of the famous battle which intersected with the world of pugilism inhabited by slave turned boxer Bill Richmond, the subject of my forthcoming book Richmond Unchained.

Today this series reproduces The Sporting Magazine's obituary of John Shaw, the boxer and lifeguardsman who was tipped for highest pugilistic honours, before his untimely death at Waterloo ... 

More on John Shaw here
More on pugilism and Waterloo here

The Sporting Magazine, July 1815,

pages 147-148

As well as the above obituary, The Sporting Magazine also published the following verse about Shaw, although the pun contained therein was in decidedly questionable taste ...

The same issue of The Sporting Magazine also found space to announce the upcoming Bill Richmond v Tom Shelton bout, which would be the first major pugilistic contest after the Battle of Waterloo. Waterloo Week here will conclude later this week with a look at that epic battle.

Waterloo week: Richmond rallies for the national cause

Bill Richmond and the rest of the Fancy often rallied to causes of 'national object' during the Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Waterloo took place 200 years ago this week. As Britain goes Waterloo-mad,  I'll be presenting a series of features in which I look at aspects of the famous battle which intersected with the world of pugilism inhabited by slave turned boxer Bill Richmond, the subject of my forthcoming book Richmond Unchained. Today this series continues with a look at how the Fancy rallied their charitable instincts during the Napoleonic Wars, and Bill Richmond's role in all of this ...

Although boxing was a wildly popular sport in Georgian England, its questionable legal status mean that many viewed it as something of a rogue pursuit. This was in sharp contrast to the sport's participants and supporters, who passionately believed that pugilism was an elevating pastime, essential in breeding a fighting spirit among all right-thinking and patriotic Englishmen, and thus preventing the rise of effetism, a quality traditionally linked by the English to the French, of course. As Pierce Egan once declared, the ‘practice of boxing through the means of the prize-ring is one of the corner stones towards preventing effeminacy from undermining the good old character of the people of England.’

In 1814, several elder statesman of the sport, led by former champion John Jackson, attempted to rid pugilism of its frustratingly notorious reputation by forming the 'Pugilistic Club' - the sport's first ever governing body. Horse racing and cricket were sports that had made moves towards greater central governance of their rules and administration, and Jackson believed boxing should follow suit.

John Jackson, leading light of the Pugilistic Club

The aim of the Pugilistic Club was not only to ensure sound financial governance and the sporting probity of major fights, but also to add a veneer of respectability to boxing. Annual subscriptions from its 120 or so founder members, including the famous black pugilist Bill Richmond, ensured that the PC would not only act as a guardian of the sport, but was also in a position to promote its own fights.

Even before the 'PC' was founded, there had been an inescapable air of patriotism about many of pugilism's leading practitioners. On 7 May 1812, for example, Jackson had organised a charitable sparring exhibition at the Fives Court in aid of British prisoners being held in France. The event raised the handsome sum of just over £132 (easily the largest sum on a 'subscription' list published in the Morning Post on Thursday 18 June) and was patronised by over twenty ‘noblemen’ and many members of the House of Commons. (Just four days after the exhibition, incidentally, the Commons would be rocked by the assassination of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval).

The Morning Post's account of donations received for the 'relief of the British prisoners in France', including over £132 raised by the 'Pugilistic Exhibition at the Fives Court' (Thursday 18 June 1812)

At this point in time, Bill Richmond was viewed by many within the Fancy with suspicion, due to his association with fellow former slave Tom Molineaux's twin title challenges to Tom Cribb in 1810 and 1811. Nevertheless, Richmond was among those who appeared at the prestigious sparring event in May 1812, perhaps as part of an effort to mend his public reputation.

The Sporting Magazine observed that Richmond’s performance ‘gave satisfaction’, while condemning the selfishness of absent Jewish pugilists ‘Bitton, Dutch Sam, Mendoza &c’ who it claimed were in the ‘habit of repeatedly soliciting public favours’ yet ‘did not condescend to make their appearance for this national object’.

The Fives Court - the famed home of London's most prestigious pugilistic exhibition events

Two years later, Richmond's career once again intersected with events of the Napoleonic Wars. In the wake of the foundation of the 'PC', Richmond had the honour of being one of the first combatants to fight under the aegis of the new governing body, when his comeback contest against Jack Davis on 3 May 1814 at Coombe Warren was organised and sanctioned by the organisation.

A mood of festivity prevailed that glorious day in Kingston-upon-Thames, not only because of the excitement surrounding the fight, but also because of the mood of nationwide exultation that still prevailed following Napoleon’s abdication of the thrones of France and Italy and his subsequent exile to Elba.

England was in the mood to acclaim its heroes and the very same day that Richmond faced Davis, it was announced that the Prince Regent had conferred the title of Duke of Wellington upon Arthur Wellesley, the hero of the Peninsular War.

Remarkably, the fifty-year-old Richmond won a spirited contest against his far younger opponent, winning plaudits in the press for a contest which one writer argued "afforded a striking specimen of what a man upwards of 50 (like Richmond) of first-rate science, could do against a fresh man under 30, of superior weight, length, and strength".

Richmond’s victory restored his reputation within the Fancy, a dramatic rehabilitation which was further emphasised the following month. As part of the celebrations relating to the Treaty of Paris, various royals who had allied themselves with Britain against Napoleon were welcomed to London, including King Frederick William III of Prussia and Czar Alexander of Russia.

On 17 June, Frederick William was among the members of the group who visited Lord Lowther’s rooms in Pall Mall for a display of sparring organised by Jackson. Richmond was there, alongside Cribb, Tom Belcher and several others.

Among the other events mounted to celebrate the ‘Glorious Peace’ was a recreation of the Battle of Trafalgar in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. A wide array of tents, stalls and booths housing refreshments, entertainments and amusements were also erected throughout the park, including the ever-enterprising Richmond, whose displays of his pugilistic and acrobatic skills made him ‘one of the most successful sutlers in this huge camp’.

An image of the celebrations of the 'Glorious Peace' in Hyde Park, at which Bill Richmond was present

Three years later, exactly a month after the Battle of Waterloo, the Fancy once again rallied to the national cause, this time by holding an exhibition in aid of those unfortunate women and children widowed or orphaned by events on the battlefield. Richmond spared at this event, along with many other stars of the London prize ring. The Sporting Magazine reported in detail the events of this 'grand occasion':

All that was needed now was a grand competitive spectacle at which the Fancy could truly celebrate Britain's glorious victory at Waterloo. As luck would have it, a falling-out between Richmond and a fighter he had formerly trained, Tom Shelton, provided just such an opportunity and a grudge match between the two men was duly brokered for 1 August. Only a bare-knuckles showdown between champion Tom Cribb and Napoleon himself could have caused more excited expectation and anticipation among the Fancy ...