"One of the fancy, but not a fancy man...” That was how Pierce Egan described his hero
in Life in London; or, The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and
his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in
their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis.
Egan's Tom and Jerry appeared in 1821.
Prior to this, Egan wrote for various newspapers boxing and horse racing
events in England, and published Boxiana; or Sketches of Modern Pugilism
as a serial put out between 1811 and 1813. As shown in Life in London,
no gentleman could consider him a sporting man if he could not box. Egan
defined "the Fancy" in his Boxiana as: "..it simply
means, any person is fond of a particular amusement, or closely attached to
some subject."
In this case, to boxing.
Fist fighting had begun to replace sword or cudgel sports during George
I’s reign. Though it was illegal--for
fights often became drunken brawls--betting made it enough of an attraction to
draw nobility as well as common folks.
The first official champion of England was James Figg, who was also an
expert swordsman and who later opened a School of
Arms (called either Figg's Academy or Figg's Amphitheater).
Promoting "the nationality" of boxing, Egan even reported in
Boxiana of female pugilism, quoting from a newspaper advertisement of 1722
which held a challenge from Elizabeth Wilkinson of Clerkenwell to Hannah
Hyfield of Newgate Market to "box me for three guineas" and stating
that "she may expect a good thumping!"
The science of boxing is generally attributed to Jack Broughton, champion
of England from 1734 to 1750. Called “the father of British pugilism” Broughton
drafted the rules that were used before and during the Regency. (It was not until 1866 that the Queensberry
Rules were developed by the Eighth Marquis of Queensberry and John G.
Chambers.) Broughton also invented the “mufflers” or boxing gloves that were
used for practice since all prize-fights were fought with bare fists.
Broughton’s rules outlawed hitting below the belt, striking an opponent
who was down (which included being on his knees). Wrestling holds were allowed
only above the waist. Every fighter had
a gentleman to act as umpire, with a third to referee disagreements. When a
fighter was knocked down, he had 30 seconds to get up—or have help getting
up—and then he had to be placed at the corner of a 3-foot square that was drawn
in the center of the ring.
Egan reports that boxing was so popular in 1791 that the champion Dan
Mendoza "was induced to open a the small theater at the Lyceum, in the
Strand, for the express purpose of public exhibitions of sparring."
Many retiring champion boxers found more money to be had in sparring, or
if they had business sense, in opening schools, as had Broughton and Figg. During the Regency, the most famous of boxing
schools was opened John Jackson, who retired after winning the championship in
a hard-fought match with Daniel Mendoza. Jackson opened the Bond Street School of Arms at Number 13, next door to
his friend and fencing instructor Henry Angleo, who urged his students to
alternate with lessons from Jackson—which made sense for Jackson advocated
footwork and the science of targeting a hit.
Everyone went to Jackson’s, even Lord Byron, the lame poet. When tasked with keeping such low company
Byron insisted that Jackson’s manners were “infinitely superior to those of the
fellows of the college whom I meet at the high table.”
Egan wrote of Jackson in Boxiana, "In the pugilistic hemisphere,
Jackson has long been viewed as a fixed star...To Nature he is indebted or an
uncommonly fine person; his symmetry of form is attractive in the extreme, and
he is considered one of the best-made men in the kingdom..."
Other boxing champions of the Regency era included: Jack Bartholomew,
champion from 1797 to 1800.
Jem Belcher
who often wore a blue scarf marked with white spots and blue centers around his
neck, which became known as the Belcher neckcloth, and soon sporting mad young
bucks were wearing any scarf of garish color with spots. “Hen” Pearce, “The Game Chicken,” who held
the title from 1803 to 1806 when he retired. John Gully who won the championship in 1807 and retired in 1808 to open
a racing stable. And Tom Cribb became the champion in 1808, winning a famous
bout against African-American Tom Molineaux on December 18, 1810. Cribb went on
to hold the champion title until 1822. (As an interesting footnote, Tom’s less famous
brother, George had about five fights, and lost all of them.)
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