Chapter III A content warning – this story includes mentions of, and a newspaper sketch showing, male-on-female violence Chapters I and II can be read in The Short Life and Long Death of Jem Haines (Part I) As reported in the London Weekly Dispatch, a constable on duty in Charing Cross heard a woman screaming,… Read More The Short Life and Long Death of Jem Haines (Part II)
From Tuesday 30th July to Thursday 1st August 1889 a Grand Assault-at-Arms was held at the Corn Exchange in Chichester, with boxing, wrestling, Indian clubs and fencing on the bill. An advert in the Chichester Observer encouraged ladies to show up, and admission was charged at between two and 10 shillings depending on your spot.… Read More The Short Life and Long Death of Jem Haines (Part I)
<< READ PART I HERE >> By January 1907, Apollo Magazine (“the most practical Physical Culture Guide in existence”) considered Juno well known and admired enough to include her illustration among the great and good of British bodies, and promoted her inclusion in the magazine’s advertising on the front page of the Sporting Life. The… Read More “Six Foot Thriller is Coming from London!” Introducing the Graeco-Roman Goddess, Miss Juno May (Part II)
The whole point of my research project is to focus on wrestling in the 1880s and early 1890s. 1902-ish onward has been ‘done’, hasn’t it? Early Edwardian performers (Hackenschmidt, Gotch et al), born quarter of a century after Jack Wannop, were well photographed, documented, and if a written wrestling history exists without them it’s a… Read More “252 Pound English Girl Seeks Fame on the Mat!” Introducing the Graeco-Roman Goddess, Miss Juno May (Part I)
Grappling With History 