WRESTLING. WRESTLING IN THE KENT ROAD.—On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, a wrestling match for thirty sovereigns took place on the bowling-green of the Green Man Tavern, in the Kent-road. During the play on Tuesday, when Gaffney and Copp were contending for the fall, a Mr. Vicary, landlord of the Rose and Crown in London-lane, Bermondsey, […]
WRESTLING IN LONDON. [Reported expressly for this paper.] A match for a prize of was played for at the Mile End Road, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when excellent sport was afforded to those who are fond of athletic amusements. The first day play commenced at three o’clock. Stone raised his left wing in good […]
Monday a wrestling match for different prizes, to the amount of 30 sovs. took place in the grounds of the Green Man, in the Kent-road. Between 2 and 3 o’clock the rules for regulating the play were read, and immediately afterwards Gaffney, the celebrated Irish wrestler, threw his hat into the ring, and was opposed […]
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. EXETER GRAND WRESTLING. To the Editor of the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. Sir,—I understand that it is intended to renew this manly sport in St. Thomas, and that the Grecians have also resolved upon having a bout. Surely it would be much better for the Manager to meet, join interests and purses, draw […]
Tuesday.—The spectators were more numerous than on the preceding day, and the single play was renewed with great vigour. On Gaffney making his appearance in the ring, a few persons raised a violent clamour against him, contending that he ought not to be allowed to play after quitting the ring before the time was out […]
WRESTLING. The wrestling match between Cann the celebrated Devonshire wrestler, and Gaffney, called the champion of Ireland, took place on Monday at the Golden Eagle, in the Mile-end-road. The match was for 60 guineas on the part of Cann to 50 on that of Gaffney, the first three fair back falls to decide it. After […]
WRESTLING. The wrestling match between Cann the celebrated Devonshire wrestler, and Gaffney, called the champion of Ireland, took place on Monday at the Golden Eagle, in the Mile-end-road. The match was for 60 guineas on the part of Cann to 50 on that of Gaffney, the first three fair back falls to decide it. The […]
WRESTLING, AT HYDE PARK. On Wednesday, a chosen party of wrestlers, who have been for some days past in this town on their return to London from Leeds, gave a display of the ancient game of Wrestling, in the Hyde Park Cricket Ground. About four o’clock, two Devonshire men (Pook and Pell) handed their hats […]
WRESTLING. Yesterday a most interesting wrestling match took place in the new ground of the Eagle Tavern, In the City Road. The match was for 20l. aside, between James Copp, a Devonshire man, well known in the wrestling ring, and considered to be the best wrestler from Devonshire resident in London, and Laurence Hanlon, an […]
In the above month, a Wrestling Match took place at the Wellington Ground, Chelsea, between PHILIP GAFFNEY and GEORGE SAUNDERS, a Cornish man, for forty sovereigns. On entering the ring, it was at once seen that Gaffney was not only taller, but also considerably heavier than his antagonist. Betting, 2 to 1 on Gaffney. Saunders […]
A detailed and quite graphic match report published in Australia regarding the match between Cann (Champion of Devon) and Gaffney (Champion of Ireland). The newspaper published the match on Tuesday 27th January, 1829. It demonstrates how reporting of these events was global and garnered international interest. Grand wrestling match between CANN, the Champion of Devonshire, […]
The Devonshire Wrestling Society archive has been assembled over more than twelve years of systematic research into the history of Westcountry martial arts. When this work began, the documentary record was sparse and dispersed: sources were few, descriptions were thin, and access required navigating institutional barriers that most researchers would not have the time or resources to overcome. The archive now comprises 421 records — 322 newspaper articles (1778–1947), 35 manuscripts, 11 posters, 48 books, one letters patent, two cemetery inscriptions, and two memorials — spanning approximately one thousand years of history across five defined periods and three core disciplines: wrestling, cudgelling, and pugilism.
The material has been drawn from archives, museums, and libraries at both local and national level, as well as from diaspora communities. Access varied considerably: some holdings were straightforwardly available through public or gated online repositories; others required direct institutional inquiry, formal licensing, or payment. Licence fees for individual items have, in some cases, reached several hundred pounds. Items acquired under licence are retained for private research purposes only and are not published. A small number of items from private collections likewise remain unpublished, pending permission. All records for which publication rights have been secured are made freely and openly available.
The cost of the archive — in time and in money — has been substantial. It is offered without charge because the traditions it documents belong to the communities that produced them, and because those who come after should not be required to repeat the effort already expended.
Every record in the archive was acquired through a consistent five-stage process:
Identification. Awareness of potential sources was established through systematic searches of public and private institutional indexes worldwide, and through direct correspondence with subject specialists already engaged with relevant holdings.
Access. Depending on the institution, access was obtained through online repositories, direct application, or formal licensing. Correspondence was initiated with several hundred institutions over the course of the project. Where institutions confirmed the absence of relevant holdings, this was recorded. Where access was granted, the means of access was documented.
Storage. All acquired material is held in a single centralised repository, ensuring that research access is permanent and that no duplication of acquisition effort is necessary.
Preparation. Every record has been transcribed to render it fully searchable and taggable. Images have been assigned metadata recording provenance, licensing terms, and resolution specifications for publication purposes.
Publication. The publicly available inventory represents all records for which the requisite permissions have been obtained.
In order to ensure consistency and intellectual coherence across the archive, all prospective additions are evaluated against the following criteria, which are applied collectively and in sequence. A record should satisfy the majority of these criteria before inclusion is considered.
Relevance. The record must have a demonstrable and direct connection to the Six Shires (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire) as the location of practice, the origin of practitioners, or the primary institutional context. Records concerning Westcountry practitioners competing elsewhere (in London, the United States, or South Africa, for example) are eligible where the practitioner’s regional identity is explicitly identified in the source. Records documenting the export of Westcountry martial arts beyond Britain are admissible and desirable, consistent with existing holdings relating to California, Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. The record must concern one or more of the three disciplines in scope: Westcountry wrestling (Devonshire or Cornish style), cudgelling or single-stick as practised in the region, or pugilism and boxing with a demonstrable Westcountry connection. Records documenting the co-occurrence of two or more disciplines are particularly valuable and should be prioritised.
Integrity. The source must be primary or a reliable early secondary record. For newspaper sources, this means a contemporaneous report; for books, a first or early edition, or a verified transcription thereof. Secondary scholarship is admissible where it contains primary-source quotations not otherwise independently accessible, provided these are clearly identified as such.
Balanced representation. The curatorial target is approximate parity — not of record count, which will inevitably reflect the uneven survival of evidence — but of intellectual representation across the three core disciplines. Where any discipline is underrepresented relative to this target, acquisitions in that discipline should be prioritised accordingly.
Material culture. Physical objects — trophies, belts, equipment, and architectural features — are admissible where they carry inscriptions or documentary provenance that independently attest to the practice of a discipline in the region.
Verifiability. The source must be identifiable with sufficient bibliographic precision to be cited in APA format and, where possible, to be independently verified by a reader consulting the original. Oral tradition, undocumented folklore, and secondary paraphrases without citation do not meet this standard. Where a source is available online, a direct URL must be provided.
