Killed in combat

COLLECTING: John Vincent reports on the local prize fighter whose death triggered new rules to protect bare-knuckle fighters.

ORKSHIREMAN George Stevenson adopts the pugilist’s stance in this English School portrait of the bare-knuckle prize fighter in his 18thcentury prime. Stevenson – nicknamed The Coachman – fought English champion Jack Broughton in a fairground booth in Tottenham Court Road, London, on February 17, 1741. He was battered to defeat after a 45-minute fight and died of his injuries a few days later, a fate which inspired his victor to draw up a code of rules to try to prevent any such fatalities in the future. Broughton’s Rules applied to the bare-knuckle prize ring and stipulated “That no person is to hit his adversary when he is down, or seize him by the ham, the breeches, or any part below below the waist; a man on his knees to be reckoned down.”

Otherwise, much was left to the discretion of the referees. Rounds were not of a fixed length, continuing until one man was knocked or thrown to the ground, after which those in his corner were allowed 30 seconds to return him to the “scratch” – the middle of the ring – failing which his opponent was declared the winner.

Now the 24ins by 17ins portrait, painted by an unknown artist in 1742, a year after the fateful fight, is set to fetch £10,000£15,000 at a Bonhams “Gentleman’s Library” sale in London on Tuesday.

According to a contemporary report of the fight, “he (Broughton) hit the coachman as hard a blow as any he had given him in the whole battle, that he could no longer stand and his brave contending heart, though with reluctance, was forced to yield. The coachman is a

His brave contending heart, though with reluctance, was forced to yield.