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_NORTH COUNTRY SPORTS AND PASTIMES._

Wrestling and Wrestlers:

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF CELEBRATED ATHLETES OF THE NORTHERN RING;

TO WHICH IS ADDED

_Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting_.

BY

JACOB ROBINSON

AND

SIDNEY GILPIN.

Of all the athletic amusements of the people, Wrestling is beyond doubt the
best.--CHRISTOPHER NORTH.

LONDON: BEMROSE & SONS.
CARLISLE: THE WORDSWORTH PRESS,
75 SCOTCH STREET.

MDCCCXCIII.


TO THE MEMORY
OF
JACOB ROBINSON,

THESE PAGES ARE
_GRATEFULLY DEDICATED_,
BY
HIS FELLOW-WORKER,

SIDNEY GILPIN.




PREFACE.


Every dale and valley, every nook and corner, throughout Cumberland,
Westmorland, and North Lancashire, at all likely to yield materials, has
been ransacked and laid under subservience in the compilation of this
volume; and it now becomes the pleasant duty to record the fact, that not a
single instance of unwillingness was met with, on the part of the multitude
of narrators, who supplied the items of the various events chronicled.

The local newspaper files have materially aided our labours, in a variety
of ways. Besides supplying many passing incidents, we have found them, in
some instances, exceedingly useful in the way of verifying and correcting
dates.

A brief description of Swiss Wrestling was promised, for the introductory
chapter, by a native of that country resident in London. This promise
yielded no fruit at the time, and it is a matter of regret that it still
remains unfulfilled.

Of Wrestling in France, we have not been able to glean much information,
although enquiries were set on foot through the columns of _Notes and
Queries_ and _Bell's Life in London_.

For much information contained in the article on Wrestling in Scotland, we
are indebted to Mr. Walter Scott of Innerleithen; and for a few other items
we have to thank Mr. Robert Murray of Hawick.

While the feats of many well known wrestlers are to be found in these
pages, the names of others equally well known are necessarily omitted; but
we may be able to publish a record of their achievements at some future
time.

With a full consciousness of many imperfections, we now leave our work to
the judgment of those impartial readers, who may honour it with a perusal.


LOCAL WORKS ON THE SUBJECT.

     _Wrestliana: an Historical Account of Ancient and
     Modern Wrestling._ By William Litt. Whitehaven: R.
     Gibson, 1823.

     Second Edition of the above, (reprinted from the
     "Whitehaven News,") by Michael and William Alsop, 1860.

     _Wrestliana: a Chronicle of the Cumberland and
     Westmorland Wrestlings in London, since the year 1824._
     By Walter Armstrong. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.,
     1870.

     _Famous Athletic Contests, Ancient and Modern_,
     compiled by Members of the Cumberland and Westmorland
     Wrestling Society. (Reprinted from the Best
     Authorities.) London: F. A. Hancock, 1871.

     _Great Book of Wrestling References, giving about 2000
     different Prizes, from 1838 to the present day._ By
     Isaac Gate, Twenty-five Years Public Wrestling Judge.
     Carlisle: Steel Brothers, 1874.




CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION:                         Page

Ancient Grecian Wrestling               ix.

Wrestling in Japan                     xii.

Indian Wrestling                     xviii.

Wrestling Match in Turkey              xxi.

Old English Wrestling                 xxiv.

Wrestling in Scotland              xxxviii.

Irish Wrestling                       xlvi.

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND WRESTLING      1

MELMERBY ROUNDS                          20

LANGWATHBY ROUNDS                        27

JAMES FAWCETT, Nenthead                  36

WILLIAM RICHARDSON, Caldbeck             43

WILLIAM LITT, Bowthorn                   61

MILES AND JAMES DIXON, Grasmere          74

ROWLAND AND JOHN LONG, Ambleside         90

TOM NICHOLSON, Threlkeld                 99

WILLIAM MACKERETH, Cockermouth          115

HARRY GRAHAM, Brigham                   116

JAMES SCOTT, Canonbie                   119

ROBERT ROWANTREE, Kingwater             126

WILLIAM DICKINSON, Alston               135

GEORGE DENNISON, Penrith                141

JAMES ROBINSON, Hackthorpe              149

THOMAS RICHARDSON, Hesket-New-Market    156

TOM TODD, Knarsdale                     167

WILLIAM WILSON, Ambleside               175

JOHN WEIGHTMAN, Hayton                  186

JOHN MC.LAUGHLAN, Dovenby               208

BULL BAITING                            219

BADGERS AND BADGER BAITING              235

ADDENDA                                 244




INTRODUCTION.


ANCIENT GRECIAN WRESTLING.

The ancient Grecians were passionately fond of festivals and games. In
every particular State such institutions were occasionally celebrated for
the amusement of the people; but these were far less interesting than the
four public games frequented by multitudes from all the districts of
Greece. The Pythian Games were celebrated at Delphi; the Isthmian at
Corinth; the Nemaean at Nemaea in Argolis; and the Olympic at Olympia, near
Elis. We propose to give a brief account of the Olympic games only, as
being by far the most splendid, and in which victory was reputed to be the
most honourable. The celebrity of these games was extended for many
centuries after the extinction of Greek freedom, and their