SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Thomas Kirkup, as well as Dick Wright. 

 Though many people might think otherwise 

 it is a remarkable fact that good wrestlers very 

 rarely hurt one another, and Longmire was no 

 exception to this rule, for in his over twenty 

 years' experience he was never once hurt. 



Of the many matches that took place about 

 this period none created more interest than 

 the one for 100 and the championship of 

 the light weights (eleven stone) between 

 Jonathan Whitehead of Workington and 

 Thomas Davidson of Castleside, on 19 August, 

 1856, at Botchergate, Carlisle. Whitehead, 

 one of the oldest wrestlers in the ring, 

 and one of the most celebrated of his class, 

 was about thirty-seven years of age, five feet 

 nine or ten inches in height, finely propor- 

 tioned, and had at his command a store of 

 science which few if any of his competitors 

 could equal. Davidson, on the other hand, 

 was comparatively young in years, but had 

 earned for himself a well-merited reputation 

 as a crack wrestler. He was somewhat less 

 in stature than Whitehead, was about twenty- 

 six years of age, and possessed strength, 

 activity, and wrestling capability which it 

 required the utmost exertions of his opponent 

 to overcome. Whitehead, after a struggle 

 lasting rather more than two hours, gained 

 three against Davidson's two falls, and so won 

 the match. 



For about a dozen years after Longmire 

 had retired from wrestling, the most pro- 

 minent men in the Cumberland and West- 

 morland rings were Richard Wright, Noble 

 Ewebank, William Hawksworth, William 

 Jameson amongst the heavy weights ; and in 

 the long list of middle and light weights to 

 the fore as successful competitors during this 

 period, the following were at the top of the 

 tree : James Pattinson, Jim Scott, William 

 Rickerby, Ralph and Tom Powley, Joseph 

 Allison, W. Lawson, W. Park, George 

 Graham, John Graham (of Carlisle), Ben 

 Cooper and Harry Ivison. 



Richard Wright of Longtown, during his 

 career of something approaching to twenty 

 years, had but one or two equals in the 

 wrestling ring as a crack heavy-weight 

 wrestler. He was good all round, but his 

 favourite move was a peculiar twist off the 

 chest or breast stroke. There is nothing par- 

 ticularly clever about the manoeuvre ; the 

 assailant has merely to grasp his man firmly, 

 twist him suddenly to one side and as suddenly 

 to the other ; but it requires great develop- 

 ment of the chest in order to accomplish it 

 successfully. It is very difficult to meet, and 

 time after time has foiled the best men in 

 England. Wright's career extended from 



II 



489 



1855 to 1875, and he succeeded in carry- 

 ing off the chief prize at Carlisle no less 

 than six times during this period. 



In the above list of wrestlers the two most 

 powerful men of their weight were James 

 Pattinson (eleven stone) of Weardale and 

 William Jameson of Penrith. James Pat- 

 tinson was a marvel ; like George Donaldson 

 of a previous generation he had very long 

 arms, reaching well below his knees when 

 standing erect, and so strong was he that it 

 was said he could hold Dick Wright, the 

 champion heavy weight, and that if they had 

 had a match the betting would have been in 

 favour of Pattinson. Noble Ewebank has 

 often said to the writer, ' I dreaded Pattinson 

 as much or more than any man I ivver met in 

 the ring.' When Pattinson contested for 

 the chief prize at Carlisle in 1859, he came 

 against William Hawksworth of Shap in the 

 final wrestle up, one of the strongest heavy 

 men of the day, and won. As to William 

 Jameson, he was one of the most remarkable 

 men, for strength and activity combined, who 

 has appeared to compete for prizes in the 

 wrestling rings of the north. He won the 

 championship at Carlisle no less than five 

 times, and in the opinion of some men who 

 were well able to judge, he could have won 

 for ten years running if he had been so 

 minded, so active and powerful was he, but 

 he was not so keen about winning as his 

 principal opponent, Dick Wright. 



On Monday, 26 August, 1872, the great 

 wrestling match for the eleven stone cham- 

 pionship of the world and 100, between 

 William Rickerby of Carlisle and Ralph 

 Powley of Lon glands, took place in the 

 circus, William Brown Street, Liverpool, in 

 the presence of a large concourse of spectators, 

 and resulted in a victory for Powley. Few 

 events in the annals of wrestling have pro- 

 voked a wider and more general interest 

 than this affair did, both men being so well 

 known as first-class athletes; and moreover 

 their merits were equally divided, having 

 previously met six times and obtained three 

 falls each. 



The Carlisle "Journal in a report of the 

 match remarked : ' There cannot be the 

 slightest doubt in the world but that the 

 best man at the weight won the match. 

 Rickerby was overmatched throughout. But 

 though beaten he was not disgraced. He 

 wrestled as well as ever man could do ; but 

 Powley could worry him in taking holds, the 

 Longlands man having a longer reach, and 

 nature having moreover endowed him with a 

 queer back to get hold of. The second fall 

 was perhaps the best of the three, and it was 



62 



