John ‘Jack’ Wannop 1854–1923
Meet a wrestling pioneer, bareknuckle fighter and gym manager
Born in Crosby-on-Eden near Carlisle, Jack Wannop trained as a carpenter. He started entering wrestling competitions in the 1870s, and in
1880 moved to London with his wife Miriam and their son Joseph, settling in New Cross. Nine more children were born. Three years in a row, Wannop won the ‘London Prize’ at the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Society tournament while developing his skills in every other known grappling style, and boxing professionally. He started the New Cross Boxing Club in a local pub and taught ‘catch-as-catch-can’, a hybrid form of wrestling that the Sporting Life declared in 1885 should be known as “Wannop’s style”.
Wannop challenged any man in the world to wrestle him, but struggled to attract a match. In 1888 he went to the USA as an opponent for Evan ‘The Strangler’ Lewis. He lost, and after a bout of rheumatism was also defeated in the boxing ring by black champion George Godfrey. Wannop returned a year later, found better success in both sports, and in 1891 opened Wannop’s Gymnasium. He was still performing at nearly 50. One of his sons, Jack junior, had some success as a boxer, while another, Sidney, was killed in France in 1918.
Jack Wannop died at Greenwich Hospital from “senility” in 1923, and is buried in Brockley Cemetery in Lewisham.
both a working-class sport and a favourite of the aristocracy, and paradoxically considered quintessentially English yet dominated by immigrants.
With the introduction of an official police force in 1829 came the enforcement of laws outlawing prizefighting, and combined with a shift in attitude from the middle classes, fashionable interest had waned by the time Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837. Newspapers that had previously heralded boxing for being a masculine and heroic activity began to condemn it as morally wrong and physically dangerous. But boxing training and competition nevertheless remained immensely popular for men across social class and race.
Learning The Ropes
By the 1880s, seemingly every street corner in London had a gymnasium or ‘school of arms’, most commonly on the second floor or small back parlour of a pub, or in more substantial spaces in railway arches, members’ clubs and mission halls. In the late 1880s and early 1890s the Sporting Life as well as local and regional newspapers regularly reported on the opening of gymnasiums with the physical purpose of muscular development and boxing training, and a symbolic role in the ideas of ‘muscular Christian’ nationalism, discipline and self-pride. Boxing again meant all things to all people: both art and science, it was beloved by seasoned thugs and wholesome young boys alike.
The publication of the Marquess of Queensbury Rules in 1867 should have put an end to the bareknuckle era. The Rules banned the use of wrestling moves in a boxing match, ensured that matches were arranged for a set number of three-minute rounds rather than a lengthy ‘fight to the finish’, and made the wearing of gloves compulsory. For many pugilists, this attempt to introduce professionalism and gentlemanly conduct was contrary to everything they loved about the sport, and fighting in the ‘old way’ continued for decades. Scattered across sporting newspapers, which reported on action and also served as notice boards for athletes to challenge each other, are references to the “old style” or fighting with “raw ’uns”. Prizefighting remained illegal, yet continued as an open secret with wealthy men backing their favourites and journalists reporting every detail.
High-profile men such as Jack Wannop and Jem Smith boasted in interviews of their preference for going barefist. Smith, a heavyweight from Shoreditch, proved particularly reluctant to give up the old ways – he lost the inaugural Commonwealth title
Prizefighting remained illegal, yet continued as an open secret
to the black Australian Peter Jackson by disqualification in 1889 after using wrestling tactics in the ring. Smith held onto his English championship against Frank Slavin later the same year in a bareknuckle fight held in Bruges, but only after forcing Slavin against the ropes where he was attacked with knuckle-dusters by Smith’s friends. It was to be the last formally recognised bareknuckle title fight. Despite declaring that he wanted to face Ted Pritchard without gloves in 1891, ‘small’ gloves were insisted upon. Smith lost his title at Wannop’s Gymnasium to an audience of 40 after little more than 10 minutes in the ring. Pritchard died from pneumonia in 1903, aged just 35.
As the 19th century drew to a close and the 20th began, boxing became increasingly professionalised. Publications such as Famous Fights took nostalgic looks back to earlier decades, printing forensically detailed accounts and beautiful sketches of the action between the last generation of English bareknuckle scrappers. Fighters who survived past 40 turned to training, went back to labouring, or as in Bendoff’s case pursued career criminality. Many are long forgotten and buried in unmarked graves, the story of a fight for money, glory or survival waiting to emerge from the Sporting Life and knock out a new crowd.
Many fighters are long forgotten and buried in unmarked graves