Catalogue Reference: WCA-DIA-RSA-001 Object Type: Silver trophy (wrestling prize), approximately 10 inches in height Date of Origin: c. 1900s–1910 Place of Origin: Jeppestown, Johannesburg, South African Republic / Transvaal Colony Place of Discovery: Gas Lane, Camborne, Cornwall, England Date of Discovery: 2010 (during road improvement works) Discoverer: Paul Richards, excavator operator Inscription: “Wrestling Cornish Style […]
Bob Fitzsimmons (1863–1917) — Helston, Cornwall Bob Fitzsimmons is not merely the most significant Westcountry boxer of the post-Pugilistica era; he is, by any reasonable measure, one of the most significant British boxers in the entire history of the sport. Robert James Fitzsimmons was born on 26 May 1863 at Helston, Cornwall, England, and was […]
FOR SELF-DEFENSE Wrestling Fits a Man to Take Care of Himself. THE CORNISH STYLE MIGHTY USEFUL IN A ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE FIGHT. Different Holds Secured on a Canvas Jacket—Formerly a Brutal Sport. Written for The Evening Star by Prof. Anthony Barker. One of the best ways for a man to fit himself for self-defense through physical culture […]
Mr. Quiller Couch, the well-known litterateur, attended a wrestling tournament in Cornwall, his native county, the other day, and distributed the prizes. He expressed gratification that the sport was not dead, and that there were still left wrestlers capable of teaching the art in a manner not unworthy of the county. Not many years ago […]
THE MYTH OF BRUTUS THE TROJAN. By the late R. N. Worth, F.G.S., etc. rutus, son of Sylvius, grandson of Æneas the Trojan, killed his father while hunting, was expelled from Italy, and settled in Greece. Here the scattered Trojans, to the number of seven thousand, besides women and children, placed themselves under his command, […]
WRESTLING THE DEVONSHIRE STYLE. Foremost among old English sports stood the art of wrestling, and there are few Devonshire lovers of wrestling who have not seen or heard the story of the prowess of Abraham Cann, their 12st. 7lb. Devonshire champion, who challenged the world to wrestle the Devonshire style for 100 sovereigns. Cann, who […]
Synopsis The story follows Daniel Sweetland, a high-spirited and controversial young man known for his poaching activities. His life becomes increasingly complicated due to his deep love for the moors and his conflicts with local authority, specifically his father, who serves as the head gamekeeper. Wrongful Accusation: Daniel is falsely accused of a serious crime: often […]
(Feature image: The Sporting Life, November 1901). This Japanese form of self-defence is, without doubt, far superior either to ancient or modern style of Devonshire or any other county form of wrestling, when matched side by side. The grips used are entirely different, and they are both effective and deadly in character. If the opponent […]
INTERESTING CONTEST. Ju-Jitsu v. Devonshire Wrestling at Crediton. This Japanese form of self-defence is, without doubt, far superior to either the ancient or modern style of Devonshire or any other county form of wrestling, when matched side by side. The grips used are entirely different, and they are both effective and deadly in character. An […]
Chapter XIII Wrestling Wrestling had become one of the least practised of our old English sports, till the recent revival of the art as a music-hall “turn” — a use for which it was particularly well adapted, inasmuch as a Wrestling Match never fails to hold the interest of the spectator from first to last […]
Baring-Gould, S. (1908). Devonshire characters and strange events. John Lane, The Bodley Head. DEVONSHIRE WRESTLERS. WRESTLING was the favourite sport in former days in Devonshire and Cornwall. Evelyn, in his Diary, speaks of Westcountrymen in London contesting against men of the North, and in all cases the former were the victors. And Ben Jonson, in […]
We have read of his Cornish father’s prowess in “the art of fisticuffery,” and might certainly have looked for a spirited account of the affair at Bodmin Bridge when the terror of all Plymouth and Devonport was vanquished, and another of the fracas at Menheniot Fair. But we should probably also have had an essay […]
BOXING AND WRESTLING. SPORTS CLUB FOR HONITON. A public meeting was held at the Dolphin Hotel, Honiton, in connexion with the formation of an Amateur Athletic Club. The Mayor (Alderman H Banfield) presided. It was suggested that the Club should be formed, and they thought best to start in a small way, and confine themselves […]
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924 DEVONSHIRE WRESTLERS WRESTLING was the favourite sport in former days in Devonshire and Cornwall. Evelyn, in his Diary, speaks of Westcountrymen in London contesting in London against men of the North, and in all cases the former were the victors. And Ben Jonson, in his Bartholomew Fair, 1614, introduces a Western […]
OLD DEVON SPORT Wrestling and Boxing Matches at Crediton. Great interest was manifested Saturday night at the Town in a wrestling match for £5 a side between Walter Roach and Bob Yeoman. The rules were Devonshire style. The strength and weight of Yeoman soon told on Roach, and the latter making a slip, Yeoman took […]
OLD DEVON SPORT Wrestling and Boxing Matches at Crediton. Great interest was manifested Saturday night in a wrestling match for £5 a side between Walter Roach and Bob Yeoman. Roach was formerly the light-weight champion of Devon. The rules were Devonshire style, and the referee Bill Chamberlain (Cheriton) and the sticklers George Greenslade (Land Farm) […]
“West-country Wrestlers” — subject dealt with by Percy Longhurst in a current publication. He says it is 300 years since one old writer declared there was not a 12-year-old boy in Cornwall who could not give a stranger, curious of the style of wrestling, a fall or, at foil. But the game still goes on […]
Dover’s Antient Meeting 1812 , On Thursday in Whit – week , on that highly renowned and universally admired spot called Dover’s Hill , near Chipping Campden , Glos . The sports will commence with a grand match of Backswords , for a purse of guineas , To be played by 9 or 7 men […]
(pp.15) CORNWALL AND DEVONSHIRE STYLE. In leading off with the Cornwall and Devonshire style of wrestling, I may remark that the regulations are apparently of the simplest character; yet, in consequence of the complicated nature of the Cornish definition of a “fall,” the south-country gatherings often end very unsatisfactorily, and many inferior men have honors […]
Identification Field Detail Archive reference DWS/PRI/CIG/1913/18-20 Object type Cigarette cards (tobacco premium) Title of series Wrestling and Ju-Jitsu: A Series of 25 Card numbers 18, 19, 20 Section heading Devon and Cornwall Style Publisher John Player & Sons, Branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. (of Great Britain & Ireland), Ltd., Nottingham Date of issue 1913 […]
THE LATE MRS. STONE. Funeral of a Well-Known Crediton Woman. The funeral took place at Crediton Churchyard yesterday afternoon of the late Mrs. Mary Ann Stone, wife of Mr. A. J. Stone, High-street, Crediton. Mrs. Stone, who died on the previous Thursday, had only been seriously ill for about a week. Formerly Mr. and Mrs. […]
(pp385) On the night appointed, I hid behind a tree at the arranged spot, ready to spring to the rescue and help the old lion ; my loafers lurked in the shade of a wall. He came in the starlight — a grand figure of an old warlock, just merry enough to feel the blood […]
“In Brittany the West-Country Englishman or a Welshman finds himself quite at home… The Breton peasant is a distinct figure among the workers of France. He is proud, and brave, and independent. He loves liberty, and he is his own master, tilling his plot of land or going to sea in his own fishing-boat… In […]
Suggested coat of arms for Cornwall, by Sir Robert Edgcumbe. (Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, vol. 21, 1922-1925).
(pp148) SINGLE-STICK, a slender, round stick of ash about 34 in. long and thicker at one end than the other, used as a weapon of attack and defence, the thicker end being thrust through a cup-shaped hilt of basket-work to protect the hand. The original form of the single-stick was the ‘‘waster”, which appeared in […]
Page 60 ACCORDING to the fictitious History of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Brutus the Trojan, with Corineus and other companions, landed at Totnes to take possession of the giant-haunted island which had been prophesied should be his own. Then, forraging the Ile, long promis’d them before, Amongst the ragged Cleeues those monstrous Giants sought: […]
Jaouen and Nichols described how “The new Cornish committee was shouldered by well-known and of the Highways Department fascinated in history, was close to the committee. by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Tregoning Hooper of Falmouth, an engineer prestigious personalities, such as the rich ship-owner Sir Edward Nicholl, and later the C.C.W.A. The Cornish […]
A video dated to 1925, covering Cornish wrestling championships at Ludgvan. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1925). Cornish wrestling championships at Ludgvan. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4ac050f0-c61a-012f-d026-58d385a7bc34
WRESTLING. CORNISH SPORT RE-ESTABLISHED. CENTENARY TOURNEY. What a very marked contrast there is in the attendances at the wrestling tournaments which have been held this year, and, above all, what great advancement in the standard of play and the evenness of the bouts, all this having been brought about undoubtedly by the influence of the […]
The centenary of the celebrated Polkinghorne and Cann match, which was held at Devonport in 1826, will occupy the attention of the General Committee when they meet at Wadebridge on June 27. Various opinions as to where this should be held are causing quite a controversy, some suggesting Home Park, Plymouth, and some a central […]
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.
