Marquess of Queensberry, 94, keeps family flag flying to fight off mugger in the street
THE Marquess of Queensberry, whose great-grandfather codified worldwide boxing rules, has claimed he fought off a mugger using a judo move.
The 94-year-old retired ceramics professor, who is also known as David Queensberry, said he was set upon by a 6ft man near his home in west London last year.
The 5ft 4in judo-trained pensioner, who served in the Royal Horse Guards, is a descendent of John Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, whose ban on wrestling and spiked shoes in boxing was adopted worldwide.
Lord Queensberry told The Times: “A guy down the road gave me some trouble about a year or so ago. He was trying to rob me. He was all over me with his hands. I did manage to throw him – a type of judo throw – which sent him backwards.”
Although he could not remember the name of the move, he said it was a type of leg sweep.
Lord Queensberry added: “He was a big chap. [He was] definitely [after my wallet]. He was feeling me.”
In 2010, The Telegraph reported that Lord Queensberry attended a club run by the late judo champion Percy Sekine in west London. The marquess was described in Mr Sekine’s obituary as a “serious regular” at the martial arts centre and was said to have trained alongside Eduardo Paolozzi, the artist, and Stirling Moss, the racing driver.
Lord Queensberry, who taught at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, was a brown belt, one rank below a black belt, according to The Times.
He has had eight children by four women and succeeded to the title in 1954. He has maintained a mostly private life since the deaths of his 34-yearold son, Lord Milo Douglas, in 2009, and 18-year-old daughter, Lady Beth Douglas, in 2018.
As a hereditary peer, he was entitled to sit in the House of Lords until 1999 when the House of Lords Act came into force, leaving just 92 hereditary peers in the second chamber.
During his time in the Lords, he spoke during the passage of laws enabling same-sex relations.
In 1895, Oscar Wilde was prosecuted for gross indecency following the collapse of his libel case against the 9th Marquess over allegations that the poet and playwright was having an affair with Lord Queensberry’s son, Alfred.
The marquess said he was happy to associate his family name with a liberalising measure after it had become associated with Oscar Wilde’s prosecution.