I think a lot about Miriam Wannop when I’m writing about Jack. I’ve spent two years on him and could probably (and will probably) bash out 100,000 words, given the time. Here is all that I have managed to find out about his wife: Miriam Allen was born in Durham in October 1858 and was… Read More The Fighting Wannop Boys
Hello Grappling With History readers. Apologies for my lack of updates in recent weeks. The plan as it stands is to write one more article documenting the boxing match between Jem Smith and Jack Wannop and to then put the blog on hold for six months or so while I work on my MA essays… Read More “DUCKS HAVE PARROT DISEASE!” A diversion…
The month of May ended as badly as it had begun for a despondent Jack Wannop. In a step down from the 3,000 seats sold for his match with Lewis, his next appearance was at Milwaukee’s much smaller opera house. In front of a tiny crowd Wannop was once again beaten, at catch-as-catch-can for $200… Read More Back in New Cross – George Steadman v George Brown for England’s heavyweight wrestling championship
I love local newspapers. From their late teens onward both my parents (@coxchat and @stage_review) spent their careers as reporters, editors and film/theatre critics on the Luton News, Dunstable Gazette and Leighton Buzzard Observer. Since 2011 a large part of my day job has involved trying to get the public interested in fun and educational… Read More Grappling With History in the Lewisham Ledger
If there is any mystery that has taken me as many hours of research and head-scratching as the disappearance of Hezekiah Moscow, it is the search for Wannop’s Gymnasium. It’s not quite as exciting a story, but I have at least come closer to a resolution. In the early to mid 1880s, Jack Wannop managed… Read More Finding Wannop’s Gymnasium
This is the third and final chapter of Ching Hook / Ching Ghook / Hezekiah Moscow’s story. You can read the first part (which includes information about why I’m researching him and what on earth all the name variations are about) here and the second part here. There has been a relatively huge amount of interest… Read More Where Did You Go, Hezekiah Moscow? (Part III: Some Final Thoughts)
A post-script to yesterday’s blog post. A newly found clipping that has left me rather shaken by these ghosts from 140 years past. Three months of research and this did not come up in a single British Newspaper Archive search until now. Here we have it: The Sporting Life, Wednesday 13 July 1892: Read Part… Read More CHING GHOOK WANTED
This is the second chapter of Ching Hook / Ching Ghook / Hezekiah Moscow’s story. You can read the first part (which includes information about why I’m researching him and what on earth all the name variations are about) here. The year 1888 started well for Ching Hook, with a week-long residency at the Sebright… Read More Where Did You Go, Hezekiah Moscow? The Life and Times of Ching Hook (Part II: 1888-96)
Search the internet for “Victorian boxers”, “British boxers 1800s”, or any of the related phrases comprising 90 per cent of my Googling history, and you will probably – hopefully – come across this photograph: It is held by the UK National Archives alongside pictures of boxers Toff Wall and Bill Hook (no relation), with all… Read More Where Did You Go, Hezekiah Moscow? The Life and Times of Ching Hook (Part I: 1882-87)
