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DEVON AND CORNWALL WRESTLING “CHAMPIONSHIP.” Rundle has thrown Pike several times, but it is a question whether any match between them was really for the championship. Any promoter of Wrestling could, and often does, put up prizes and call them for the championship; but this does not make them so—otherwise there would be no end […]
Single Stick or Cudgel Playing is a very useful science, if learnt with the view of self preservation; but when practised as a game or amusement it is thoroughly brutal. The playing, as it was erroneously called, was conducted as follows Half-a-dozen casks were rolled on the Parade or some open place, on which were […]
WRESTLING. The 18th annual wrestling match took place at the Lamb Inn, Sandford, Monday and Tuesday in the July fair week. The grand stand was well patronised, there being many gentlemen, farmers, and tradesmen present. The triers, Messrs. Crispino, Harrel, and Anderson, carried out their duties with much patience. There was some very hard play […]
The times at which our several distinct schools of wrestling became separated, and acquired for themselves a local habitation and a name, cannot be distinctly traced. But from the earliest the West-country wrestlers must have had a style of their own, and the North-countrymen one of a very different kind, while several others would be […]
Wrestling Devon — The wrestling matches at Dartmouth for prizes amounting £50, were concluded on Friday afternoon, in the enclosure at the Newground, when there was a large attendance, and some very good sport was shown. Mr. Hobson and Mr. Le Morel acted as referees, and Mr. George Stone, Crediton, as judge. Standards were made […]
CANN Abraham the Dict states VIII 410 was baptized at Colebrooke near Crediton 2 Dec 1794 and was the son of Robert Cann a farmer from whom he inherited a love of wrestling. Having thrown all the best wrestlers in Devonshire he was known as the champion of the county and in Oct 1826 wrestled […]
Royal Cornwall Gazette – Friday 08 July 1887 Rules for World Championship between Jack Carkeek and John Pearce. Rule 1. — Each contestant shall wear knee-breeches, or trunks, and shall wrestle with bare feet or socks. Each wrestler shall wear a jacket, which shall be made of canvas, very loose and very strong at the […]
WRESTLING — CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY AT NEWTON ABBOT. Notwithstanding the fact that several wrestlers lay claim to the title of champion of Devon and Cornwall, not one can do so fairly, nor can any man even claim to be champion of either county. The retirement of Robert Baker, after his match with Pike some eight years […]
Devon wrestling differs from most other modes. It would, however, be easy to demonstrate its superiority over that practised by other wrestlers, who are unable, with any amount of success, to meet any stranger who does not conform to their own style, whereas knowledge of Devon wrestling enables man to successfully meet whomsoever cares to […]
Accession/loan number: 406/1997 Inscription: obverse, on disc at centre of cross engraved by hand and fretted ‘PRESENTED TO/ MASTER CHARLES JENNINGS/ BY/ MR.W.JAMES/ CHAMPION WRESTLER OF DEVON/ AND CITIZENS/ OF/ ST.SIDWELLS EXETER’. Reverse is engraved by hand and fretted ‘F.T.DEPREE.EXETER./ ON ACCOUNT/ OF HIS/ WONDERFUL SKILLS AS A MUSICIAN,/ BONE-PLAYER AND CLOG-DANCER./ tutored by his […]
DEVONSHIRE WRESTLING. Wrestling matches at Exeter concluded on Monday in the presence of a large number of spectators. The prizes were £10 and two silver cups. Some good play was shewn by Battishill of Dewsteignton, and a man of the Royal Marines. As there was no prospect of either obtaining a back, the men tossed […]
Captain Tom Gundry is dead. This brief announcement will be made with regret by Cornishmen in every quarter of the world. “Captain Tom” was the best known of the old school of Cornish wrestlers, and will be remembered for his prowess in the ring, and not as a mine agent. Born 70 years ago Captain […]
The wrestlers of Cornwall and their wrestling-matches are still famous, and in the May of 1868 4,000 assembled one day on Marazion Green, and 3,000 the next, to see one. The wrestlers of this county have a peculiar grip, called by them “the Cornish-hug.”…. “The next day the fair begins, a trivial matter, except […]
In By Right of Conquest; or, With Cortes in Mexico Mr. Henty tells the story of the Spanish triumph over the Aztecs attained by Cortez and his small but daring band of followers. The hero of the tale is an Englishman named Roger Hawkshaw, who goes West in a trading vessel from Devon, and is […]
Whilst the games went on, or between the intervals, songs were sung. “I’ll sing’y one,” said Olver, “was a favourite, and were sung to encourage the youngsters.” 1. “I sing of champions bold, That wrestled–not for gold; And all the cry Was ‘Will Trefry,’ That he would win the day. So Will Trefry, huzzah! The […]
WRESTLING. (Page 166) IT is very difficult to give directions for wrestling in intelligible language. If you had hold of me, I could say, “Now put your foot so, and turn your hip so—that’s it;” and how a sudden heave like this,” and so forth. But so in attempting the task on pencil, or by […]
FENCING BY WALTER H. POLLOCK, F. C. GROVE, AND CAMILLE PREVOST, MAITRE D’ARMES WITH A COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE ART BY EGERTON CASTLE, M.A., F.S.A. BOXING BY E. B. MICHELL WRESTLING BY WALTER ARMSTRONG WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS Second Edition LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1890 All rights reserved (Page 184) ….was unable to […]
(pp167)…Joe beckoned me in, and I went round to the back of the table and looked on. As the men came up from the group round the door, when their names were called out, the umpires said a few words to each of them and then gave them their prizes, and most of them made […]
(pp175) The difference between Devon and Cornish wrestling consists in this, that in a Devon wrestle kicking is admissible ; but then, as a protection to their shins, the antagonists have their legs wreathed with haybands (vulgo skillibegs). As the legs were on this occasion unprotected, Devon wrestling was inadmissible. Both fashions were in vogue […]
Excerpt referring to Wrestling, in discussion about ‘Author’s counties’, in ‘Atalanta’: Volume 8 (1895) …. Another of Mr Blackmore’s novels is set partly in Devon it is that of ‘Clara Vaughan’ one of his earliest if not his earliest work. It is not equal to his later novels and yet contains in it scenes of […]
20th August 1895: That was a capital little wrestling match which came off in the marsh at Topsham a few days since. The police were in the dark until it was all over. The match was locally known as Devon versus Cornwall, and resulted in a victory for Devon. One of Topsham’s celebrities happened to […]
Woolley, Walter J. (1897). ‘Wrestling’ in Pearson’s Magazine: Volume 3. pp. 635-639. Available online via Google Books.
Crowds come from all sections of the state. Governor Budd and staff watch a drilling contest. Cornish wrestlers give entertainment to large assemblages. MINERS’ days at the fair opened yesterday under the most auspicious circumstances. In addition to the large excursions that came from Tuolumne, Nevada and Calaveras Counties, there was one from Butte, and […]
WRESTLING THE CORNISH AND DEVONSHIRE STYLES Wrestling is a very ancient game. Jacob wrestled with an angel, recorded in Scripture of great antiquity. The Greeks wrestled at the Isthmian and Olympic games, and later the Amphitheatre of Rome was a wrestling ring. It was a game in those days for the amusement of the public, […]
(pp99) Among the places in which preaching was regularly established were the villages of Landkey and Swymbridge. In these parishes, the presentation to which is vested in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, the tithes had fallen into the hands of a lay impropriator, and “ duty ” of both churches was at that time […]
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 […]
Robert James Fitzsimmons was born in Helston, Cornwall, in 1863, the son of a policeman who had settled in Cornwall. He became the first boxer in history to hold world championship titles in three weight divisions — middleweight, heavyweight, and light heavyweight. His self-defence manual, published in 1901 at the height of his international fame, […]
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 […]