to all who take an interest in the northern wrestling ring. We are
introduced, not alone to the name and doings of Tom Nicholson, and a host
of remarkable wrestlers, his contemporaries, and the surprising manner in
which they could, with consummate dexterity, grass an opponent; but we have
graphic descriptions of many who, at an earlier period, became entitled to
the distinction of champions, in many a hard contested ring--in rings where
pecuniary prizes were rarely given, and if given at all, trifling in
amount. The great incentives to successful competition were honour and
fame, typified by a gilded leather belt, of no greater intrinsic value than
the laurel crown of the ancient Greeks. Sometimes--on very particular and
rare occasions--there was offered for the final victor a silver cup.
From Litt's description, we are familiar with the best and most renowned
men, whose stars were in the ascendant, from 1780 to 1820. From Adam Dodd,
"the cock of the north," a prime favourite, possessing all the requisites
that go to the formation of a first class wrestler; from the Rev. Abraham
Brown, a clergyman at Egremont, and previously a Bampton scholar, to Tom
Nicholson of Threlkeld, another prime favourite, whose scientific wrestling
acquirements, and wonderful success in the ring, were patent to Litt from
frequent observation. The above Abraham Brown--better known in his day and
neighbourhood as "Parson Brown"--is the self-same individual that a well
known "Professor of Moral Philosophy" designated, "the most celebrated
wrestler that the north, perhaps, ever produced." This gentlemen had no
objection to show his friends, or even a stranger, how easy it was for a
parson to upset a layman. The professor cannot find the least fault for
thus indulging in a friendly fall, and stigmatizes his detractors for so
doing, as "prim mouthed Puritans," who may "purfle up their potato traps,"
and hold their tongues till the arms of the athlete are encased in lawn
sleeves, and he becomes a--"Bishop."
Our readers, or a majority of them at least, are doubtless aware, from
witnessing the brilliant falls resulting from a vigorously put in
"buttock," that it is one of the most showy and effective chips that
wrestlers bring into play. Nothing finer than one of those dashing
somersaults, that were wont to electrify the opponents of James Little or
John Ivison. To the Bampton scholar--Abraham Brown--before settling for
life at Egremont, a remote West Cumberland market town, is due the credit
of inventing and bringing "buttocking" into use. The two men, Adam Dodd and
Abraham Brown, were certainly worthy representatives of the very best class
of wrestlers in the "olden times." They were close upon six feet high, and
fifteen stones weight; were especial favourites of the public, as well as
the historian of early wrestling. Both were straight standers, ready at
taking hold, good with either leg, and at work as quickly as possible,
following up the first attack with such rapidity, that their opponents had
but small chance of avoiding a final and fatal stroke.
After all this deserved praise, however, we cannot class them much, if any,
superior to William Litt; and if Adam Dodd was justly styled "Cock of the
North," the other is almost equally deserving of being hailed "Star of the
North." In all their contests, there is nothing to shock the most
fastidious moralist; nothing to outrage the feelings of the most humane;
nothing that the most delicate-minded need blush at. Unlike the scenes of
violence and fearful punishment depicted in the records of the pugilistic
ring--now all but abolished--they can be dwelt upon without any degrading
associations. Compare the description in _Wrestliana_, of the fight between
Carter and Oliver at Gretna Green--the head of the latter, in the fourth
round, "terrifically hideous"--and the author's eleven bouts with Harry
Graham, on Arlecdon Moor, and the reader will not find anything approaching
to cruelty in one, while the other is indeed "hideous."
WILLIAM LITT, the author of _Wrestliana_, was born at Bowthorn, near
Whitehaven, in November, 1785. His parents held a highly respectable
position in society, and he received a liberal education, with the object
of fitting him for a clergyman in the Church of England. This intention
was, however, given up, in consequence of a manifest tendency to out-door
sports, and a "loose" sort of life. The parents seeing that young Litt had
rendered himself in some measure unfit for the Church, placed him with a
neighbouring farmer to get an insight into practical, as well as
theoretical, agricultural pursuits. On arriving at manhood, with a
vacillation much regretted in after life, farming was neglected and
abandoned.
Christopher North, in old "Maga," says, "Mr. Litt is a person in a very
respectable rank of life, and his character has, we know, been always
consistent with his condition. He is in the best sense of the word a
gentleman," was an "honest, upright, independent Englishman. We remember
Mr. Litt most distinctly: a tall, straight, handsome, respectable,
mild-looking, well dressed man. If we mistake not, he wrestled in
top-boots, a fashion we cannot approve of." Top-boots to contend in on the
Swifts, at Carlisle, at the present day, when wrestlers make it a study to
don a costume that gives the greatest facility to freedom of motion, both
in the limbs and body, would undoubtedly be considered by the whole ring, a
strange spectacle, and subject the wearer to no end of chaff.
We will now proceed to give a few incidents that will establish Litt's
undeniable claims to superiority in the wrestling ring. We are not aware
that he ever contended in the Carlisle ring but twice--in the year 1811,
and again a few years after that date, on both of which occasions he was
unsuccessful. His appearance in 1811, was a foolish act, for according to
his own statement, he had been unwell for some time--in fact, out of form
for wrestling. After a keenly contested bout, Joseph Bird, a well known
wrestler from Holm Wrangle, succeeded in throwing him. The same year a
match--the best of eleven falls--was entered into with Harry Graham of
Brigham, and arranged to come off, on Arlecdon Moor, for sixty guineas--at
that time a larger sum than had ever been contended for in any wrestling
ring. From the celebrity of the parties, too, and the great amount of the
stake, the match created a greater interest in the wrestling world than any
hitherto contested. Harry was considered one of the most active men that
ever entered a ring; indeed, a first rate man in every respect, the
favourite and pet of a large district. He had contested many matches with
the best men going; one of which was with the celebrated Tom Nicholson, in
which he gained five falls for the Threlkeld champion three.
When Litt and Harry appeared in the ring, the former was desirous to
postpone the contest, on account of ill health; but the Brighamites, with
an absence of that good feeling generally displayed by wrestlers one to
another, refused, and insisted that the match should go on then and there.
Harry gained the three first falls, which so elated himself and friends,
that they looked on the final issue as a foregone conclusion, and indulged
in some unseemly chaff. The defeat, however, served to rouse the
energies--the courage and resolution of the loser, and he easily gained
seven out of the next eight falls. John Fidler of Wythop Hall defeated
Harry at Cockermouth, and afterwards at Arlecdon. Litt threw them both, and
had the year before, when in good health, thrown Harry with the greatest
ease. These repeated defeats of a man who could dispose of such as Tom
Nicholson, William Richardson, and others, will go far to establish our
favourable opinion of the wrestling historian. Other, and as strongly
conclusive, testimony, is at hand to be produced. John Lowden, from the
neighbourhood of Keswick, who had thrown several of the cleverest
wrestlers of his day--winner of a silver cup at Carlisle--was obliged to
succumb to Litt.
Many of our wrestling readers will have heard of the "public bridals," at
Lorton, where some of the best wrestling in the county might be seen. One
hundred and twenty names were entered in 1807. For the final fall, William
Armstrong of Tallentire, an excellent wrestler, and winner the year before,
contended with Litt, and sustained defeat. At the revival of Blake Fell
races in 1808, there were two good entries, and Litt carried off first
prize on both the first and second day, notwithstanding being drawn against
all the best men, including the two Tinians, and other well known names.
We have now to notice a series of consecutive successes, to which we
believe there are few parallels in wrestling annals. In the early part of
this century, the best meetings in West Cumberland took place on Arlecdon
Moor. The meetings were numerously attended, and held two or three times a
year. For ten years, from 1805 to 1815, Litt contended for all the
prizes--except in 1814, when he omitted to enter his name--and was never
thrown. Conceive a man being able to wrestle successfully through a really
strong ring upwards of a score of times. After such a noteworthy series of
exploits, no further testimony need be adduced--no more satisfactory
evidence wanted--to prove William Litt's claim to be ranked among the
brightest wrestling stars of the north.
In concluding this notice, we should have been glad to state that his
career through the world, in more important respects, had been attended by
gratifying results. The truth, however, is that from the time he left the
paternal roof, his course through a checkered life to the bitter end, was
marked by a series of disastrous failures. Attending wrestling and racing
meetings unfits many persons for a steady and attentive devotion to
business. This in a marked degree was the case with Litt. Farming duties
became neglected, and then given up. Next he embarked in a large brewery at
Whitehaven. A collapse, and loss of nearly all the capital employed,
followed in little more than twelve months. He then went to reside at
Hensingham, finding part employment in some triflingly remunerative
parochial offices, expecting daily that he would get an appointment from
the ruling powers at Whitehaven.
Disappointed in this expectation, he resolved on emigrating to Canada, in
1832, and retrieve his broken fortunes in taking the cutting of canals, and
works of a like description. A break down again occurred, and he tried to
gain a living by writing for the Canadian journals. This failing, he became
a teacher. Suffering, however, from "home sickness"--a craving often fatal
to natives of mountainous regions--his mental as well as bodily powers
began failing before attaining his sixtieth year.
"I gaze on the snow clad plain, see the cataract's foam,
And sigh for the hills and dales of my far distant home."
He died at Lachine, near Montreal, in 1847, when sixty-two years old;
regret and sorrow at forced banishment from his native "hills and dales,"
no doubt, hastening decay and the destroyer's final blow.
"Dearly lov'd scenes of my youth, for ever adieu,
Like mist on the mountain ye fade from my view,
Save at night in my dreams."
_The Emigrant._
_ADDENDA._
The following extracts from letters, are quoted from a
controversy which sprung up between WILLIAM LITT and
some one who signed himself ATHLETICUS, in the columns
of the _Carlisle Patriot_, November, 1824:--
Mr. Litt deems me but a "_theorist_ in matters
appertaining to the ring." His own athletic feats, as
detailed in _Wrestliana_, are heroic and numerous, and
it would be presumptuous in me to attempt comparison;
therefore, compared with Mr. Litt, I must (borrowing a
phrase from the ring) consider myself as a _fallen
man_. But, notwithstanding the vaunted achievements of
the champion of Arlecdon Moor, there are those now
living old enough to remember his being thrown in the
Carlisle ring by very ordinary wrestlers, when in the
zenith of his fame. The village green on a summer's
evening or during a holiday, is frequently the scene of
many a rustic amusement. And on this arena, when
athletic exercises were going on, I have often borne a
part--where the old men inspired the young with
emulation, by reciting the achievements of their
youth--and the applause of the rustic spectators was
the only meed of victory. Here, sir, I have seen many
a manly struggle; and though I have never entered a
public prize ring, I flatter myself I have gained
something more than a theoretical knowledge of athletic
science. An ardent temper, and the buoyancy of youthful
spirits, no doubt gave considerable zest to the sports,
and my memory fondly recalls, and dwells with peculiar
delight, on the hours which I have spent amidst happy
villagers engaged in these rustic scenes of innocent
amusement. I will also venture to assert, that amongst
the peasantry assembled on the village green, not only
Weightman, Cass, Abbot, Wright, and the Dobsons of
Cliburn, but even Mr. Litt himself, imbibed his
earliest knowledge of the rudiments of wrestling.
ATHLETICUS.
"Athleticus" says, and thinks he is cutting deep when
doing so, "there are those now living old enough to
remember my being thrown in the Carlisle ring, by very
ordinary wrestlers, when in the zenith of my fame."
Now, Mr. Editor, do you not think this is rather a
stinging remark, as it relates not to any point of
issue between us, and was therefore as uncalled for as
unnecessary?... I never wrestled but twice in the
Carlisle ring, and never saw it when "in the zenith of
my fame." The first time was in 1811, when, as I have
stated elsewhere, I was thrown by Joseph Bird, who was
surely no very _ordinary_ wrestler. When taking hold,
Bird got below my breast, and pinned my right arm close
to the elbow, down to my side; and a person, ignorant
enough, surely! insisted, that because he found by
pulling my left arm over his back, that he could make
my fingers meet, I should either take hold or be
crossed out. I foolishly chose the first, thinking that
I perhaps might better myself after. I was mistaken;
though those who are "old enough" to remember the
circumstance, may remember likewise that, considering
the situation in which I was placed, I was not disposed
off easily.... The other time I entered the Carlisle
ring, I met one of the Fosters--no ordinary men--and I
can only state that after our contest, I was ordered
by one of the umpires to wrestle the fall over again,
and I waited until the end of the round in expectation
of doing so, when I found that a bet of half-a-guinea
made by the other umpire, (and which I was aware of at
the time,) had turned the scale against me. I can, if
required, name the umpire, and the person he betted
with; which bet, however, he never recovered, and this
circumstance deterred me from wrestling the next day,
and determined me never to wrestle more at Carlisle.
This was in 1815. My best day was in 1806, 1807, and
1808; therefore the assertion of "Athleticus" is doubly
incorrect.
WILLIAM LITT.
Mr. Litt admits being thrown in the Carlisle ring by
Joseph Bird of Holm Wrangle, in 1811, which he says in
_Wrestliana_, was a "smartish contest;" and he adds
that his "best day was in 1806, 1807, and 1808." But,
sir, this is only three short years past the time when
Mr. Litt was in the zenith of his fame; so that even
writing from recollection, my assertion is not
altogether incorrect, and certainly not intentionally
so. Mr. Litt and Joseph Bird had some dispute, it
appears, about taking hold: be this as it may, I was
justified in stating that Mr. L. had been thrown at
Carlisle by _ordinary_ wrestlers; for Bird was never
considered more than a third-rate player in the
Carlisle ring. He was a powerful man enough, though not
heavier than Mr. Litt at that day--possessed little or
no activity, and scarcely any science as a wrestler. I
have no account of the wrestling in 1811 in my
possession; but I have an account in 1815, and strange
as it may appear, Mr. Litt's name is never mentioned!
It would be well, sir, if my opponent would recollect
that his statements have to meet the public eye. In the
year 1815, Bird, in the first and second rounds, came
against Byers and Grisdale, both of whom he threw, and
was himself thrown in the third round by Thomas Peat.
Though I may admire Mr. Litt's general judgment on
athletic sports, I must again doubt it, if he deems any
of the Fosters first-rate wrestlers, or any more in
the ring than ordinary men; for in the scale of
athletic science, they were not even so exalted as
Bird. One of the Fosters fell in the first round, and
another in the second; but I shall enter no further
into this part of the controversy, as Mr. L's name
appears entirely unconnected with the wrestling of
1815. When I recall to my recollection the feats of
agility, science, and pith, displayed by Thomas
Nicholson in the Carlisle ring, in carrying off with
_eclat_, the first prize for three successive years;
and when I also recollect with what facility this
athletic hero discomfitted Bird, Mr. Litt's opponent, I
very much doubt the truth of the panegyric which Mr. L.
passes upon himself in _Wrestliana_ for his performance
on Arlecdon-moor, wherein he states (though in poor
health and condition at the time,) that he defeated
Harry Graham, the successful opponent of the once
celebrated Thomas Nicholson.
ATHLETICUS.
MILES AND JAMES DIXON
OF GRASMERE.
When Miles and James Dixon, whose doings in the ring we are about to
chronicle in a brief memoir, were to the fore, wrestling was a great
institution in the Lake District. Patronized and encouraged by Professor
Wilson--himself a host in upholding the manly pastime; and afterwards by
Captain Aufrere of Bowness, a distinguished and liberal patron; and
assisted by many of the resident gentry, it attained deserved eminence in
the northern parts of Windermere. In reaching this eminence, the sport was
greatly indebted to the active exertions and judicious management of the
late Thomas Cloudesdale of the Ferry hotel. Why the once popular pastime
should be almost entirely snuffed out round Windermere, is a matter of
surmise. The principal reason assigned weighs heavy on the wrestlers
themselves: it is no less than glaring collusion, engendered by
unprincipled betting men.
For a long time, wrestling in the immediate vicinity of lake Windermere,
and the adjacent parts of Westmorland, and North Lancashire, was kept up
and followed more after the amateur fashion than the professional. It was
looked on more as a thing to be enjoyed for the real love of the science,
than as a means of filling the coffers of speculators. In what may be
called its holiday aspect, the sport contrasted favourably with the art as
practised in the sister county of Cumberland. The Windermere wrestlers, in
thus shaping their courses, probably escaped many snares which those fell
into who courted more publicity, and were envious of achieving greater
fame. In fact, there were many good scientific men at the palmy period of
the lake wrestling rings, who abstained from attending public gatherings
almost entirely, and yet were quite as good as those who may be termed
professionals.
One instance we can select from many, will suffice to prove this. Jonathan
Rodgers won the championship of many local meetings in his own immediate
neighbourhood. He was born and brought up at Brotherelkeld, the highest
farm in the vale of Eskdale. In his infancy, it was a lonely farm, seldom
visited by strangers, but now well known to tourists crossing Hardknot. His
forefathers had held the fell farm--a very extensive one, carrying between
two and three thousand sheep--for generations. He once got as far as the
Flan, and won easily in a strong ring, finally disposing of Joseph Parker
of Crooklands, a really good man, supposed to be the coming champion of
Westmorland. At another time, climbing Hardknot and Wrynose, he put in an
appearance at Skelwith-bridge, near Ambleside, where Mr. Branker of
Clappersgate, and a few gentlemen, had got up a meeting. Singularly enough,
he came against four of the best men in the north, and threw the lot,
namely--William Bacon and Jemmy Little, both of Sebergham, Thomas Grisedale
of Patterdale, and finally Richard Chapman of Patterdale. Having every
requisite, he might have gone on winning--but gave up; and is now the
respected and prosperous tenant farmer of Brotherelkeld.
Towards the close of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth
century, the most distinguished exponents of wrestling in the Windermere
portion of the lake district, were John Barrow, the Dixons of Grasmere, the
Longs of Ambleside, William Wilson of Ambleside, the Flemings of Grasmere,
well to do farmers--and "Young Green." We should have felt an interest in
giving more lengthy sketches of the more prominent men, but, unfortunately,
there exists a great paucity of information. Every exertion has been made
to gather together whatever was available; but the gleanings are
exceedingly imperfect and fragmentary. Local newspapers did not then
collect much local intelligence; and although they kept a keen eye to
business as regards wrestling advertisements, they scarcely ever mentioned
even the names of any prize winners.
The celebrated Windermere champion, John Barrow, flourished in the
wrestling ring in the early part of the present century. The author of
_Wrestliana_--one whose judgment may be relied on--pays him a deserved
compliment, when he rates him as "the most renowned wrestler of this
period," and "a match for any man in the kingdom." He stood fully six feet,
and weighed fourteen stones. His favourite chip was the inside
stroke--indeed, it was generally considered he invented the inside chip,
and that "Belted Will" got it from Barrow. Most assuredly, the pair have
grassed scores with it, and were quite as clever as Adam Dodd of
Langwathby, with the outside stroke. These two men, and Abraham Brown,
(afterwards the jovial curate of Egremont,) were all about the same height
and weight: equally scientific; and all veritable "cocks of the north."
Litt is astray with some particulars of John Barrow's tragic fate. He makes
it out he was drowned in shallow water, and that he was an "excellent
swimmer." Now, the fact is, he was no swimmer, and where the boat upset and
went down, the lake is of considerable depth. He was out trying the sailing
qualities of a new boat of his own building. The mainsail being
injudiciously fastened to the belaying pin, a violent gust of wind struck
the boat; it upset, and the strong man went down, unable to wrestle with
his remorseless foe. Two plucky girls at Belle Grange, saw the accident;
got a row boat, and set off to the rescue. They were successful in saving
all in the boat, except the unfortunate builder. One of the persons in the
boat when it upset, was John Balmer, and he lived to the patriarchal age of
one hundred and one years. After the boat went over, he managed to grasp
and keep hold of a floating plank, and was safely landed near Gill-head, a
little below Storrs Hall. The first words he spoke after the disaster were,
"Them 'at's born to be hang't, is suèr nit to be droon't!" This proverbial
saying came to be linked with his name, and is still quoted in the
neighbourhood as, "ald Jack Balmer' sayin'." His portrait, painted by
Sammy Crosthwaite, a short time before his death, is still preserved.
The sunken boat still remains at the bottom, and is well known to the
Windermere fishermen, who reckon to clear the wreck with about twenty-five
fathoms of netting out, and generally catch when they let go an additional
fathom or two. Professor Wilson saw the catastrophe and the rescue. This
distinguished man had had, no doubt, many boating excursions with poor
Barrow, and being himself a capital wrestler, and keen of the sport, it is
likely he would have many a tussle with the Windermere champion. It is said
that on one of his excursions out of Wasdale, to the top of Scawfell, with
Will Ritson, the cheery, popular, yarn-spinning landlord of the well-known
Wasdale-head hostelry, that on arriving near the summit of the hill--which
is the highest ground in England--the two, surrounded on all sides by
mighty mountains, had several keenly contested wrestling bouts. The writer
remembers well the famed Professor, when time had wrought a change in the
manly form, visiting the Flan in its palmy days, and receiving respectful
attention from all parties on the crowded grandstand.