A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



favourite chip was the inside stroke indeed 

 it was generally considered he invented the 

 inside chip, and that William Richardson 

 of Caldbeck in Cumberland, better known 

 locally as ' Belted Will,' got it from Barrow. 

 Most assuredly the pair grassed scores with it, 

 and were quite as clever as Adam Dodd, who 

 won for many years in succession at Lang- 

 wathby, was with the outside stroke. After 

 Barrow, Miles and James Dixon of Grasmere 

 were the prominent men about Windermere. 

 Before the Dixons had retired the two Longs 

 Rowland, commonly called Roan, and 

 John, the one a giant in size and strength 

 and the other a big burly man figured in 

 the ring ; then, most renowned, in the 

 galaxy, William Wilson of Ambleside. When 

 full grown he was quite six feet four inches 

 high, straight, and as lithe as a willow wand, 

 and at twenty-two he weighed from fourteen 

 to fifteen stone, with a good reach of arm 

 and a finely developed muscular frame. As 

 a hyper, or 'inside striker' as Litt calls him, 

 he displayed superb form. For three or four 

 years he stood unmatched and irresistible in 

 this particular stroke, and since his day no 

 man has appeared worth calling a rival to 

 him except William Jackson of Kinneyside. 



In 1818 he and Tom Richardson showed 

 some remarkably good play in the ring at 

 Keswick, which for a time was justly en- 

 titled to be considered the most important 

 wrestling gathering in the north. Wilson 

 gathered his men quickly and cleanly, and 

 threw them as fast as he came to them. 

 Coming against Richardson in the final fall, 

 he lifted him from the ground with the in- 

 tention of hyping, but failing to hold his 

 man firmly, Tom turned in, and after a con- 

 siderable struggle managed to bring him over 

 with the buttock. After this tussle Wilson 

 always spoke of Richardson as being ' swine- 

 back't,' meaning thereby that his back was 

 extremely slippery and difficult to hold from 

 the nature of its peculiar roundness. 



Wilson again attended the Keswick gather- 

 ing in 1819, and it proved memorable above 

 all others in his wrestling career. Although 

 he did not succeed in winning the chief prize 

 this year, he nevertheless distinguished him- 

 self ten times more than the victor who did 

 by throwing the man with whom no one else 

 had the shadow of a chance. We refer to 

 his struggle with John McLaughlan of 

 Dovenby, more than two inches taller than 

 Wilson, and at that time five or six stones 

 heavier. As a prelude to this fall ' Clattan ' 

 (the name McLaughlan was commonly known 

 by) took hold of Wilson in the middle of the 

 ring in a good natured sort of way and lifted 



him up in his arms to show how easily he 

 could hold him. No sooner was he set down 

 than Wilson threw his arms around Clattan's 

 waist and lifted him in precisely the same 

 way, a course of procedure which greatly 

 amused the spectators. After these prelimi- 

 naries had been gone through, the two men 

 were not long in settling into holds, each 

 having full confidence in his own powers and 

 his own mode of attack. A few seconds 

 however decided the struggle of these two 

 modern Titans. No sooner had each one 

 gripped his fellow than, quick as thought, 

 Wilson lifted Clattan from the ground in 

 grand style and hyped him with the greatest 

 apparent ease, a feat that no other man in 

 Britain could have done. This fall is still 

 talked of at the firesides of the dalesmen of 

 the north cottars, farmers and ' statesmen ' 

 as one of the most wonderful and dazzling 

 achievements ever witnessed in the wrestling 

 ring. As will be seen below, McLaughlan 

 was only beaten in the final round so late as 

 1828. 



Returning to the next Keswick meeting, 

 Wilson found no difficulty in walking through 

 the ranks of 1820. Here he met William 

 Richardson, ' Belted Will ' of Caldbeck, in 

 the final round and threw him with ease. 

 Litt says ' Richardson had not the shadow of 

 a chance with him.' This testimony is ex- 

 ceedingly significant and says much for Wil- 

 son's powers as a wrestler. ' Hoo 'at thoo 

 let him hype the i' that stupid fashion, thoo 

 numb divel, thoo ? ' said Tom Richardson 

 (' Dyer ') reproachfully to the loser of the 

 fall, while the latter was engaged in putting 

 his coat on. 'What, he hes it off, an' that 

 thoo kens as weel as anybody,' was the sturdy 

 reply. ' I cudn't stop him, ner thee nowder, 

 for that matter, if he nobbut gat a fair ho'd o' 

 thee.' So far as we have been able to ascer- 

 tain, the year 1 822 was the last one in which 

 Wilson figured in the ring. If this be cor- 

 rect, his wrestling career will be limited to 

 four or five years' duration at the utmost. No 

 doubt the wasting disease from which he suf- 

 fered was the principal cause of his early re- 

 tirement from a sport which he only regarded 

 as a means of recreation and pastime. 



Among other famous lake-side wrestlers were 

 Tom Robinson, the schoolmaster ; Richard 

 Chapman, George Donaldson, Joseph Ewebank 

 and Joseph Sargeant, the two last being 

 Haweswater lake-siders ; William Jackson, an 

 Ennerdale lake-sider ; and Thomas Longmire 

 men whose names and deeds will be cher- 

 ished as long as ' wruslin ' is a household 

 word in the north. At present there is not 

 one man of note now wrestling on the im- 



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