A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



in this bout that most science was displayed on 

 both sides. The hype was Rickerby's instru- 

 ment of warfare, but he was unable to bring 

 over his opponent, and the fatal click, which 

 Powley knows so well how to use, sealed 

 Rickerby's fate, even in this fall. The long 

 and short of it is that though Rickerby is a 

 good game wrestler, Powley is a better at 

 eleven stone. The three wrestles were honest 

 and genuine and will long live in the memory 

 of all who saw them. Powley's great length 

 however served him well, and he won, and 

 won well, indeed. A word now for the 

 fallen. Rickerby is a great wrestler, but he 

 requires that which he can never have 

 namely, an inch more arm reach and two 

 inches more length to his legs in order to 

 enable him to throw a man like Powley at 

 eleven stone. As it is, Powley is, and has 

 proved himself to be, the champion eleven- 

 stone man in the world. After the match, 

 Rickerby, in good-hearted style, admitted he 

 was fairly beaten.' 



We now come to the time when George 

 Steadman and George Lowden came to the 

 front, closely followed by William Blair of 

 Solport Mill, one of the greatest buttockers 

 ever known, Edward Norman of Carlisle and 

 Hexham Clark. Steadman, who has held the 

 championship about thirty years, retired from 

 the ring in August, 1900, after winning the 

 chief prize at the Grasmere sports. Blair 

 and Norman retired some years ago, and it is 

 said that Lowden will not appear in the 

 wrestling ring any more as a principal, conse- 

 quently Hexham Clark becomes champion, 

 and well worthy is he of the position. 



In conclusion we may say that wrestling, 

 compared with what it was in its palmy days, 

 has latterly, it cannot be denied, lost some of 

 its interest for the people, even in the district 

 where it has held supremacy as an out-door 

 sport for generations. Youths, it is true, still 

 practise it in the dales and on the fell sides, 

 and it takes its place regularly in the pro- 

 gramme of most athletic meetings in the two 

 counties. Nevertheless it appears to be incon- 

 testably relaxing its hold upon the public, 

 partly, no doubt, owing to the fact that 

 ' barneying ' becomes so frequent when men 

 gain the top of the tree, that legitimate sport 

 disappears just at the stage when it would be 

 most interesting : but also, we imagine, from 

 other causes, traceable to the principle em- 

 bodied in the maxim ' other times, other 



manners.' Twenty or thirty years ago it 

 was a very different matter. The tastes of 

 the people then were simpler ; and it was no 

 wonder in the days before the immense 

 modern development of field sports of all 

 kinds cricket, football, horse-racing, etc. 

 that exhibitions of prowess by noted wrestlers 

 of Penrith, Carlisle and elsewhere should 

 have stirred the towns and villages of Cum- 

 berland and Westmorland to their depths. 



The compilation of the above article is chiefly 

 based on voluminous manuscript notes made 

 by the late Jacob Robinson of Ulverston and the 

 late George Coward of Carlisle. Very many 

 thanks are due to Mr. J. H. C. Colton of Carlisle 

 for enabling me to acquire these notes, and also to 

 Mr. Thomas Coward of Carlisle for kindly 

 revising the article on ' Hound Dog Trailing,' on 

 which subject he is an acknowledged authority. 

 The local newspaper files have materially aided my 

 labours in a variety of ways. Besides supplying 

 many passing incidents, I have found them, in 

 some instances, exceedingly useful in the way of 

 verifying facts and correcting dates, added to 

 which I am indebted to a multitude of narrators, 

 who with never-failing willingness have supplied 

 the items of the various events chronicled. 



While the feats of many well known wrestlers 

 are to be found in the article on ' Wrestling," the 

 names of others equally well known are necessarily 

 omitted, and little or no allusion is made to those 

 who competed only in the rings of north Lan- 

 cashire, Westmorland and elsewhere outside Cum- 

 berland, of whom there have been many of 

 marked ability in the past. The following list 

 of local works on wrestling have been largely 

 quoted from : Wrestllana : an Historical Account 

 of Ancient and Modern Wrestling by William 

 Litt, Whitehaven (R. Gibson. 1823). Second 

 edition of the above (reprinted from the White- 

 haven Netus) by Michael and William Alsop, 

 1860. 



Wrestllana : A Chronicle of the Cumberland 

 and Westmorland Wrestlings in London, since the 

 year 1824. By Walter Armstrong (London : Simp- 

 kin, Marshall & Co. 1870). 



famous Athletic Contests, Ancient and Modem, 

 compiled by Members of the Cumberland and 

 Westmorland Wrestling Society (reprinted from 

 the best authorities) (London : F. A. Hancock. 

 1871). 



Great Book of Wrestling References, giving about 

 2,000 different prizes from 1838 to the present 

 day, by Isaac Gate, twenty-five years Public 

 Wrestling Judge (Carlisle : Steel Brothers. 1874). 



Wrestling and Wrestlers, by Jacob Robinson and 

 Sidney Gilpin (London : Bemrose & Sons, 

 Limited ; Carlisle : G. & T. Coward). 



490 



