Richard Pike

“The Great Pike” – Devon’s Giant from Bow

I. Life and Career

Richard Pike of Bow — sometimes competing under the pseudonym “Shepherd” — was the largest and most physically imposing Devon wrestler of the late Victorian era, and the man who most credibly held the Devon championship during the contested and increasingly disordered period of the 1870s and 1880s. Born in 1850 in the parish of Bow, near Colebrooke — a district whose wrestling pedigree was as deep as any in the county — Pike stood approximately 6 ft 2 in. in height and weighed some 244 lb. (over ten score in the terminology of the time), giving him a formidable physical advantage over almost every opponent he faced (“Argus,” No. IV, Western Times, 6 February 1879; Wikipedia, “List of Cornish wrestlers”). He died in 1909 (Wikipedia, “List of Cornish wrestlers”).

“Argus” devoted the first half of his fourth column to Pike, noting that he was held by many to be the real champion of Devon. On his first public appearance the knowing ones thought him lacking in the true stuff of a wrestler, but as time went on he silenced his critics. Not long after he came out he was pitted against the then redoubtable Sam Oliver, but the skill of the latter was often too much for the rising young Bow man. However, Pike was not daunted, persevered, and at last proved himself more than a match for his clever adversary (“Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879).

Pike’s London career was among the most significant of any Devon wrestler of the period. Operating under the name “Shepherd,” he entered the London ring and quickly established his right to be called the best man among the Devon wrestlers there, his contests being very numerous. A group of gentlemen fond of wrestling decided to organise a contest on a large scale, which took place at the Lillie Bridge Grounds, Brompton — a venue of considerable prestige. The competition was open to all counties. Pike, after many hard bouts, succeeded in throwing the famous Cumberland wrestler Dick Wright. He also threw two French wrestlers at the Agricultural Hall with remarkable ease, despite the style of wrestling being contrary to his own — a feat which “Argus” cited as proof of the superiority of Devon wrestling over that of the North, since the same Frenchmen had defeated the Cumberland and Westmorland men when playing in the French style (“Argus,” Western Times, 14 November 1879; “Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879).

Pike’s defeat at the Lillie Bridge Grounds by Snape — described as a modern giant — was attributed by “Argus” entirely to Pike’s loss of temper rather than any deficiency of skill. Pike had been heckled by pugilists in the crowd; one taunt struck him more closely than the rest, and he turned towards the utterer. Snape, seeing his chance, made a bold dash and threw Pike almost before he was ready. “Thus Devon wrestling was defeated just at a time when a cool competitor might assuredly have been victorious” (“Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879).

At Exeter, Pike’s next exploit was less satisfactory: Joe Milton won the event, with Oliver and Pike both disposed of, in circumstances that left many spectators unconvinced of the play’s authenticity. Pike grumbled at the paying over of the prizes and seemed to want a share of the first prize, which Milton refused to give (“Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879).

The critical phase of Pike’s career was his series of encounters with Samuel Rundle. Initially Pike had but little success against the Cornishman, who was far lighter but possessed of vastly superior technique. But at last, in a contest at Plymouth that lasted several hours across three separate forty-minute bouts, Pike’s sheer physical strength literally wore Rundle out. “Argus” noted that Rundle “manfully faced his gigantic adversary” but was at last obliged to succumb. This contest established Pike’s first claim to the championship belt (“Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879; “Argus,” Western Times, 30 May 1882). Unfortunately, Pike was subsequently defeated by Robert Baker — his Bow neighbour and a wrestler of great versatility — and this defeat complicated his championship claim. “Argus” concluded that Pike’s claim to the championship was “somewhat vague” as a result (“Argus,” Western Times, 30 May 1882).

Pike’s match with Oliver at Teignmouth in 1880 — which he won — was dismissed by “Argus” as irrelevant to the championship question, since Oliver, having been defeated many times previously by Cooper, Rundle, Hooper, Baker, and others, could not assume a right to play for the title (“Argus,” Western Times, 30 May 1882). The Plymouth championship belt, which was to become the property of anyone who could win it three times, had been won once by Hutchings and once by Pike, but the meetings had not been continued, leaving the matter unresolved.

By the time of the Newton Abbot championship matches of 1887, “Argus” noted with regret that Pike had “retired almost completely into the background.” Other promising Devon men had also fallen back, leaving the Cornishmen masters of the situation. The old patrons of Devon wrestling frequently expressed the wish that Pike, with his immense strength and fair knowledge of wrestling, would again enter the lists and do battle for Devon, feeling certain that if he did, other young Devonians would follow his lead (“Argus,” Western Times, 1 November 1887). Whether Pike ever returned to the ring in earnest after this appeal is not documented in the “Argus” columns.

Wikipedia records that Pike was champion of Devon between 1878 and 1881, champion of England in 1882, world champion in 1894, and West of England champion for seventeen years (Wikipedia, “List of Cornish wrestlers”). The match results database records a bout on 4 October 1895 at Cadoxton-Barry, Wales, in which Pike defeated Tom Cannon 2–1 in Greco-Roman and catch-as-catch-can styles (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 5 October 1895). Pike had a brother who also wrestled, and who defeated Broad in London (“Argus,” Western Times, 14 November 1879).

“Argus” summed up Pike’s potential with a conditional endorsement that captures both his talent and his limitations: “If he will play as well as he knows how, I know of no man likely to be his master” (“Argus,” Western Times, 6 February 1879). That conditional — if — resonates through Pike’s entire documented career: a man of enormous physical gifts whose temperament, inconsistency, and eventual retirement into the background prevented him from fulfilling his potential as Devon’s undisputed champion.

II. Match Record

III. Summary Statistics

IV. Key Analytical Observations

• 1. The largest Devon wrestler since Jordan. Pike’s physical dimensions — approximately 6 ft 2 in. and 244 lb. — made him the most imposing Devon wrestler since John Jordan half a century earlier. Like Jordan, his size was both his greatest asset and his most conspicuous liability: he could overwhelm opponents through sheer strength and endurance, but his temperament and occasional lack of discipline left him vulnerable to technically superior wrestlers and to his own frustrations.
• 2. International success in multiple styles. Pike’s victories over Dick Wright (Cumberland style), two French wrestlers (French style), and Tom Cannon (Greco-Roman and catch) demonstrate a versatility unusual among Devon wrestlers. “Argus” used Pike’s French victories to argue that Devon wrestling was inherently superior to Cumberland and Westmorland styles — a bold claim, but one supported by the concrete evidence of Pike’s cross-style successes.
• 3. Temperament as the decisive weakness. The Snape defeat at the Lillie Bridge Grounds is the most fully documented case of a wrestler losing to his own temper in the archive. “Argus”‘s verdict — that temper alone conquered Pike — is a striking diagnosis, and it recurs as a theme throughout Pike’s career: his grumbling at Exeter, his retirement into the background, and the conditional nature of “Argus”‘s endorsement (“if he will play as well as he knows how”) all point to a man whose psychological makeup prevented him from achieving the consistency his physical gifts warranted.
• 4. The contested and unresolved championship. Pike’s claim to the Devon championship was complicated by successive defeats (by Baker) and unsatisfactory victories (over Oliver), and was further undermined by the abandonment of the Plymouth championship belt competition. “Argus”‘s verdict that Pike’s claim was “somewhat vague” captures the broader confusion of the late Victorian championship picture, in which multiple wrestlers held partial claims and no single individual could establish undisputed supremacy.
• 5. The Rundle victory was Pike’s finest achievement. Wearing down the supremely skilled Rundle — a man who had defeated every other leading wrestler of the era — across several hours of bouts was an accomplishment that “Argus” considered the foundation of Pike’s championship claim. It demonstrated Pike’s one unanswerable quality: his physical endurance, which could exhaust even the most technically gifted opponent given sufficient time.
• 6. The semi-retirement and lost potential. “Argus”‘s 1887 lament that Pike had retired into the background, allowing the Cornishmen to become masters of the situation, is one of the most poignant passages in the entire series. Pike’s withdrawal from competitive wrestling deprived Devon of its most credible champion at precisely the moment when the county’s wrestling tradition was dying — a failure of will that “Argus” clearly found as damaging to the sport as the corruption that had tarnished Cooper’s legacy.

V. Methodological Caveats

Pike’s biography draws principally on “Argus” No. IV (Western Times, 6 February 1879), the championship column (30 May 1882), the Newton Abbot report (1 November 1887), and the London matches column (14 November 1879), supplemented by cross-references in the Hutchings and Rundle columns and by the match results database. Wikipedia provides the biographical dates (1850–1909), the precise height and weight, and the championship chronology. The thirteen entries in the match record are almost certainly a substantial undercount: “Argus” states that Pike’s London contests were “very numerous” and that he competed over many years in both Devon and London. The Wikipedia claim of a “world championship” in 1894 has not been independently verified from primary sources in the archive and should be treated with appropriate caution; it may refer to a self-proclaimed or locally recognised title rather than a universally acknowledged championship. Pike’s use of the pseudonym “Shepherd” in London raises the possibility that some of his metropolitan bouts may be catalogued under that name in sources not examined here.

VI. References

1. “Argus.” (1879a, 6 February). Devon wrestling, No. IV: Pike and Baker. Western Times.
2. “Argus.” (1879b, 20 May). Devon wrestling, No. XI: Hutchings and Tapper. Western Times.
3. “Argus.” (1879c, 14 November). Wrestling notes [London matches; Slade, Stone, Pike]. Western Times.
4. “Argus.” (1882, 30 May). Devon and Cornwall wrestling “championship.” Western Times.
5. “Argus.” (1887, 1 November). Wrestling — Championship play at Newton Abbot. Western Times.
6. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 5 October 1895 [Pike v. Cannon, Cadoxton-Barry].
7. Project archive material: match results database (Dan Anderson research); “Argus” columns 1878–1887.
8. Wikipedia. (2025). List of Cornish wrestlers [entry on Richard Pike]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cornish_wrestlers