A Few Punches More - The Fairground Boxing Shows
The fairground boxing booth for over two hundred years
was a cradle for many of the great British boxing hopes. During its illustrious
history fighters such as Jem Mace, Kid Furness, Jimmy Wilde and Tommy
Farr all fought, exhibited on or ran boxing shows. Indeed the greatest
Champion of them all Muhammad Ali in 1977 displayed his skills for charity
on the front of Ron Taylor's Boxing Emporium. In their heyday each region
of the country would have three or four main booths travelling the fairground
circuit with the boxers fighting for Championships at both a regional
and national level. In Lancashire, showmen such as the Hughes family,
Len Johnson, and perhaps the greatest of them all Harry Kid Furness became
renowned for the quality of their fighters and Champions who had started
their career on them. In the West Country Jack and Alice Gratton travelled
Gratton's boxing show and their son "One Round Gratton" was a legend from
Poole to Penzance because he always knocked out his opponents in the first
round. Taylor's Boxing Emporium under the ownership of the late Ronnie
Taylor travelled Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom for well over
a century with the Hickman family were dominant in the Midlands. The list
is endless and A Fair Fight: An Illustrated Review of Boxing on British
Fairgrounds contains interviews with many of the leading proprietors and
overviews of some of the champions of the booths.
Billy Wood's Show, Goose Fair, 1959.
Pat McKeowen's Show, Goose Fair, 1961.
The fairground boxing booth with its brightly coloured
frontage displaying the names and faces of boxing's heritage is now a
fading memory on the fair and has gone the way of other side-shows. Boxing
shows flourished on the fairground from the Restoration onwards. Indeed
Hogarth's famous picture of Southwark Fair demonstrates how long boxing
booths have been on show on the fair. Boxing historians like many others
working in the area of sporting history and popular entertainment tend
to overlook the importance of such shows. Unlike the recent promoters
who dominate the fighting game, Ron Taylor interviewed in 1999 like many
of the boxing booth showmen could trace his heritage in the noble art
to the mid nineteenth century:
"My great granddad was a mountain fighter, and
fought when it was illegal in the days of bare knuckle fighting. My dad
used to tell me all about this and this is what his dad told him. They
used to stick four sticks in the ground, put a rope around and then they
had backers or challengers and the nobility would back them and most of
their payments would be the nobbings. The nobbings are when they used
to go round with the hat, because they used to fight mostly on grass so
they couldn't chuck money in the ring, and that was the bare knuckle days.
So if they'd put up a good fight, they used to have the nobbings."
After the introduction of the Marquis of Queensberry
rules in 1867, the sport gradually changed and eventually ended the old
days of bareknuckle pugilism. According to Ron Taylor this also had an
effect on the fairground shows and eventually led his family into purchasing
their first show:
"When they bought out the Queensberry rules, the
Marquis of Queensberry rules where they wore gloves and the legalised
it my great grandfather could see that there was potential in it so he
opened a booth on the fairgrounds. So my great grandfather and some of
his friend, they challenged anyone out of the crowd to fight and of course
the public paid to go in and see them. Before this they didn't pay to
see the fight and the boxers relied on nobbings and the showman got nothing
because all the money was made on the betting. So that's how my family
graduated then to the fairgrounds."
Mickey Kiely's loads arrive at Nottingham, 1962.
Boxers on a Variety Show, circa 1913.
One of the greatest fighters in the days of the bare
knuckle champion was Tom Hickman known as the Gaslight Champion. The origin
of his nickname is obscure but the chronicler of Famous Fights claims
he was so called because the speed of his punches caused the gaslights
to go out. In his short but glittering career he was one of the greatest
bare knuckle champions of his day until his death at the age of twenty
seven when he was crushed to death by a carriage. Tom Hickman was involved
in one of the most famous fights of the nineteenth century and the wagers
laid on the outcome were reputedly in the region of a £150,000. In 1821
he fought Bill Neat on Hungerfound Downs, near Newbury in front of 25,000
spectators where after a long battle he was eventually urged by the thousands
watching to admit defeat. From the 1830s onwards interest in prize fighting
declined as a sport, but once again the fairground provided a ready home.
After the death of Tom Hickman at the age of twenty seven the boxers who
had known Tom collected money for his widow and children in order to purchase
a boxing show and volunteered to fight on the booths free of charge for
the first year to guarantee them a good start. From this tragic beginning
the Hickman Boxing Show went from strength to strength and travelled until
the mid twentieth century. This is one of the more romantic and tragic
stories connected with an association between a family and a particular
fairground show. The Hickman family entrance to the life of a travelling
showman was owing to their ancestor Tom Hickman, the Gaslight Man. His
grandson Charlie Hickman first travelled penalty shoots, and after running
a variety of shows including "Teeny Tiny Tony the World's Smallest Pony,"
he travelled his boxing booth with Pat Collin's run of fairs in the Midlands
from the 1920s onwards. Many famous boxers were associated with the family,
not least Charlie Hickman, great grandson of Tom the Gaslight Man who
won the Lonsdale Championship at Crystal Palace in 1931, a feat his illustrious
ancestor never achieved. However, the showman who really bridged the gap
between the bareknuckle days and the introduction of the Queensbury rules
was Jem Mace a man who many boxing historians see as the pioneer of the
modern travelling boxing booth with its exhibitions fights, stage show
and the introduction of inviting all challengers into the ring.
Jem Mace worked as both a showman promoter and pugilist
and became the bridge between the old style boxing arenas and boxing as
part of the entertainment route. During his colourful and often controversial
career, from 1858 onwards Jem fought for many unofficial title and championship
battles and despite "retiring" in 1867 he still travelled to America in
the 1870s and beat Tom Allen for the Championship of the World. He travelled
with both Ginetts and Pablo Fanque's circuses and was a popular and charismatic
figure. In the early 1900s, poverty and destitution caused by bad management
and high living resulted in Jem Mace at the age of seventy-six yet again
travelling the fairs, circuses and music halls. However, this time it
was as a lecturer with Billy LeNeve's troupe of lady athletes and gentleman
boxers where he played to packed houses. In a series of features on Jem
Mace that appeared in the World's Fair in 1910, the reporter describes
Mace's popular appeal:
"Jem Mace was appearing with his troupe of lady
athletes and gentleman boxers. It was here that the crowds were flocking
to, irrespective of party politics. They did not want to be bothered with
political speeches, all they wanted was to see and hear the unconquered
champion of the world. Their sole ambition was to gaze upon the veteran
of the pugilistic ring, so that every day, and at every performance throughout
the week, the standing order at this world-famed establishment was either
standing room only or house full."
Jem Mace died not long after this appearance shortly
after his eightieth birthday and the reporter recalls the ringing chorus
that used to accompany Jem as he took the stage:
Good old Jimmy, Brave old James,
Take a list and run all down the pugilistic names,
Search through Fistiana and see if you can trace
A man with such a record as old Jem Mace.
Kid Summers, no date.
Hughes' Boxers, 1916.
Another character associated with Jem Mace at the twilight
of his career who went on to surpass Jem as a showman and proprietor but
not perhaps as a fighter was Harry Kid Furness, who claims to have been
taught by the master himself. During his illustrious career as a boxing
booth proprietor, matchmaker, referee and promoter he was one of the leading
figures in the world of boxing. Denis Fleming, in his book The Manchester
Fighters wrote the following tribute to Harry Furness, the Mighty Atom:
"Furness was irrepressible. Even in this age of
hyperbole, he would have eaten any modern day promoter for breakfast.
He retained astonishing self confidence throughout his career ... The
little man is still remembered and for old-time fighters of the thirties
his wheeling and dealing were an essential part of the golden tapestry
of their days in the ring. Harry Kid Furness had three things going for
him: his endless energy, his overall knowledge of the game and above all,
his genuine love affair with the ring.."
Harry Furness became involved in the boxing booths as
a one time fighter who then went on to promote and manage boxers. His
booth was often a means of spotting raw talent and then training and developing
any potential champions. The shows he operated were only one aspect of
his involvement in the fight game and a later article will cover in detail
his career as a boxer, showman and promoter. In the case of Matt Moran
and Len Johnson it was through fighting on the booths which eventually
led to them ending up running their own show. Len Johnson's life as a
fighter and showman has been excellently covered in Michael Herbert's
Never Counted Out, The Story of Len Johnson Manchester's Black Boxing
Hero and Communist, published in 1992 and includes never before published
details of his family background and fight record. Len Johnson's father
William came to England in 1897 and initially earned a living as a seaman.
He then took up boxing and fought both in the ring and on the fairs. After
his marriage to Margaret Maher, Billy worked with many famous showmen
including Gal Hague, Harry Hughes and Jim Watson. Their four children
included Len who claims he first went on the booth at the age of two where
he was announced by his father as "Len Johnson the Youngest Boxer in the
World." Both Len and his brother Albert became successful fighters often
starring on the same bill but it was Len who would go on to scale even
greater heights. Despite initial setbacks when he lost some of his early
fights in 1922 at the Alhambra Hall in Manchester he then joined Bert
Hughes who travelled a booth round the Manchester area with his brother
Harry and Billy. According to extracts of Len's unfinished autobiography
in Michael Herbert's account of his life, on joining the fair at Burnley
Bert Hughes greeted him with the words:
"Don't punch the locals too hard Len, or they'll never come near the show again! They're only novices."
Stewart's Booth, 1950.
Stewart's Booth, 1950.
The Lonsdale belts were set up in 1909 and despite the
tradition of black boxers on the fairgrounds and in the later half of
the nineteenth century, the organisers operated a colour bar prevented
Len Johnson fighting officially for the British Championship until the
1940s.. This was not lifted until 1948 when Dick Turpin, brother of Randall
and another boxer who appeared on the booths, defeated Vince Hawkins to
take the middleweight championship and became the first black champion
to be recognised by the British Boxing Board of Control. Len Johnson had
an illustrious career as a fighter and during his time beat Len Harvey
who went on to beat Alex Ireland to take the British middleweight title
and the World light heavyweight title. Between 1927 and 1928 Len Johnson
was recognised as being one of the most talented boxers in his division
in the world and the continuing refusal of the boxing authorities to allow
him to fight for the Lonsdale belt caused anger and controversy especially
in Manchester where Len was considered a local boy:
"Johnson has won his way to the front of the middleweight
division and yet is denied the opportunity of competing for the coveted
Lonsdale Belt which would set the seal on his fame ... All of which strange
in a country which has invariably bestowed honours on men irrespective
of race and creed, the sole consideration being outstanding merit in the
particular spheres of life in which they have distinguished themselves."
Over the next few years Len became disillusioned with
the authorities, after a series of fights including the second fight against
Len Harvey which he lost on points, he retired from the ring in 1933.
However, Len still had a home and a place in boxing through his fairground
booth and from the late 1920s until the early years of the Second World
War he travelled with his show throughout Lancashire and the North West
and appeared at Nottingham Goose fair where he regularly put on fourteen
shows a day.
The world of Len Johnson's show and the later days of
the booth in the 1950s have been revealed in great detail by Matt Moran
in his in his autobiographical account of life on the boxing shows titled
Shamrock Gardens: From Boxing Booth Fighter to Travelling Showman, published
in 1988, and by Harry Legg, a former booth fighter who travelled with
Esther and Sam McKeowen and published two accounts of his life A Penny
a Punch, and the follow up A Few Punches More. The careers of the Matt
Moran, the McKeowen family and other prominent boxing booth proprietors
are covered in detail in A Fair Fight.
The decline of the boxing shows on the fairground is
linked to the decision by the Boxing Board of Control in 1947 to limit
and partially restrict the use of licensed boxers in the booths despite
the fact that Randall Turpin an ex-booth fighter with the Hickmans won
the Middleweight Championship of the World in 1951 by beating Sugar Ray
Robinson. In 1951 in discussion with the British Boxing Board of Control
the Showmen's Guild published a series of conditions for the booth proprietors
to adhere to. However, by the late 1950s the Board had ruled that no licensed
fighters could fight competitive bouts in the ring other than exhibition
rounds. One of the many misconceptions about the boxing shows and perhaps
this was a factor in the Boxing Board of Control's restrictions on the
fairground shows, is that they were often the unsavoury side of the fight
game. The last refuge for "worn out pugs" with cauliflower ears and broken
hands. However, Michael Herbert in his biography of Len Johnson writes
gives greater credit to the fairground booth and writes:
"A boxer had to be fit strong and healthy to make
a living on the booth ... it offered an unrivalled opportunity to acquire
good experience in a short space of time and to develop his skills."
Furness' Show, 1947.
Furness' Show, 1947.
Although the restrictions placed by the Board of Control
did not immediately affect the booth showmen, many of them agree that
it was a element in the shortage of good fighters coming up onto the shows.
A factor Esther McKeowen mentioned when interviewed in 1997:
"It's an impossible task now, apart from the boys,
the British Boxing Board of Boxing Control will not let you have licensed
boxers, they said they didn't want them going on boxing booths apart from
exhibitions. So it's no good, you don't want exhibitions when you want
them to take on challengers so it was making it a hard thing. It's just
an impossible thing to run in this day and age, years ago there was men
around, and they just wanted to earn a few bob."
Over the past two hundred years the boxing booth has
been a home to future champions, past champion and eager young fighters
determined to achieve the ultimate crown the Championship of the World.
The recent debate regarding the British Boxing Board of Control and the
licensing of women boxers has received a large amount of media coverage
but women boxers were a feature on the fairground as far back as the 1880s
when Polly Fairclough appeared at Burton Statute Fair as the Female Champion
of the World. Showmen such as Professor Moore in 1910 and Charlie Hickman
in the 1930s allowed their daughters to fight on the show and Ester McKeowen
involvement over the century illustrates that ability not gender has always
been the more important issue on the fairground.
During its long illustrious involvement with the sport
of boxing the fairground booth as seen many changes and its place in boxing's
history should never be forgotten. In finishing this overview of boxing
on the fairground I will conclude with the words of Len Johnson, perhaps
one of the greatest fairground fighters of them all, who when interviewed
in 1932 stated:
"Anything that I have and anything that I am, I
owe unconditionally to the booth. The booth with its work, with its careful
living and above all its frame of mind ... I am here to meet all comers
and all comers I must meet."
For a Belarussian translation of this article please click here.
Vanessa Toulmin's book 'A Fair Fight' can be purchased
here.
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