Sitting here almost a year into the pandemic, on a freezing, grey, miserable evening, months since I saw a friend, it seemed fitting to bring you a little story about happier, sunnier, more sociable times. I cannot find out much about why Jack Wannop started the New Cross High Hat Brigade but can deduce from… Read More Lads on tour! Introducing Jack Wannop’s New Cross High Hat Brigade
Hello readers – just a quick note to say that I am taking a little break from updating Grappling With History but hope to return in 2021 with lots of new research, including articles on the early 1900s ‘Graeco Roman Goddess’ Juno May; 1880s/early ’90s black Lambeth boxer Jem Haines and his tragic early death;… Read More A short interval between rounds
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
John William Price had a difficult start in life. He was born on 3 April 1870 in Barrowford, Lancashire, to Jane Price, just months before the death of her husband Edward. The family were soon forced to enter the Burnley Workhouse on Briercliffe Road, where Jane struggled on until 1874 with baby John, four-year-old Esther… Read More The Catch Wrestling Collier, John Willie Price
It has all gone a little quiet here on the Grappling with History blog, my apologies. I’m currently working on my MA dissertation about Jack Wannop and his New Cross gymnasiums; researching and writing a lengthy blog post on Burnley wrestler J. W. Price (1870 – 1957); and still hoping to put together an article… Read More Searching for Clever Dick Leary and George Brown, the New Cross Hercules
Trying to find the exact location of Wannop’s Gymnasium in New Cross has been one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts of my research. As explained in a previous post, which pieced together all the evidence collected on my hunt and took an educated guess at an address, Wannop doesn’t appear to have been… Read More “Here we find the courageous Cumbrian trying conclusions with half a pint of bitter” [Finding Wannop’s Gymnasium – Part II]
Herbert Placke went down in history as standing nearly seven feet tall, although other reports suggest he was probably somewhere around 6ft 6, perhaps 6ft 10. Even without media exaggerations, the Dutchman towered over Jack Davenport, who was no small man for his era at 5ft 9. Placke had arrived in England from Australia and… Read More “I’m Not So Black As I Am Painted” – The Violent Life of Jack Davenport (Part II)
Jack Davenport was angry. The young American, fortified with drink and brooding over his wrongs – real or imaginary – threw punches indiscriminately as more than a dozen policemen rained down blows with fists and truncheons. Finally, subdued, he was dragged once again to a holding cell. Did the police have it in for him… Read More “I’m Not So Black As I Am Painted” – The Violent Life of Jack Davenport (Part I)
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…
This short interview with Jack Wannop is reproduced here as it appeared in The Sporting Life on Saturday 28 September 1889. My only edits are the paragraphing and photographs. It was published after this wonderful interview with his opponent Jem Smith, under the headline A Chat with the Champions. We learn very little, but it… Read More A Chat With the Champions Part II: JACK WANNOP IN TRAINING
