Wrestling and Wrestlers: Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger BaitingRobinson, Jacob
History
Wrestling and Wrestlers: Biographical Sketches of Celebrated Athletes of the Northern Ring; to Which is Added Notes on Bull and Badger Baiting
Robinson, Jacob
Wrestlers; Wrestling
On New Year's day, 1816, the annual meeting at Langwathby was numerously
attended. A contributor to one of the local papers says:--"Most of the
distinguished wrestlers of Cumberland and Westmorland were on the ground,
and there never was displayed more skill in the art of wrestling than on
this occasion. James Robinson, the noted champion, who won the first prize
at Carlisle races, was also successful at Langwathby, and we think he bids
fair to excel any man in the kingdom, in this species of amusement. He is a
strong-boned, athletic man, but not tall. Before the wrestling commenced,
considerable bets were made: the east against the west side of the Eden,
which was won by the latter. The purse contended for, was two guineas. It
is intended next year to give a much larger sum, as Langwathby is likely to
become a distinguished place for wrestling, being situated in a
neighbourhood abounding in first-rate players."
In October, 1816, Robinson again attended the Carlisle meeting. Owing to
being the victor of the previous year, a high chair was placed for him to
sit upon, from which elevated position he commanded an uninterrupted view
of the various falls. Entering his name among the contending parties, he
threw Joseph Batey, in the first round; Joseph Brown, in the second; and
William Rome in the third round. Coming against a miller, named William
Clark--"a tight built lal fellow"--from Hesket-New-Market, in the fourth
time over, Robinson was very adroitly brought to the ground, amid the
deafening cheers of the assembled crowd. No sooner had Clark achieved this
unexpected feat, than he created much laughter by marching up to the place
of honour, with a dignified swagger, saying, as he sat down: "I think I's
fairly entitled tiv a seat i' t' chair, noo, when I've thrown the greit
champion!"
The wrestling at Carlisle in 1817, was held in Shearer's Circus--and not on
the Swifts as previously--when James Robinson, Tom Todd, John Mc.Laughlan,
and John Liddle, were looked upon as the principal champions. As it turned
out, however, Mc.Laughlan stalked through the ring an easy victor, none of
the other three mentioned being able to make any headway against the
enormous reach and height of the Dovenby giant. This is the last record
known to us of the Hackthorpe gamekeeper as a wrestler.
Robinson has been described by those who knew him, as a sturdy
bullet-headed sort of fellow, whose ideas seldom soared above the velveteen
coat and corduroy-trouser order of mortals; a rare hand at either creating
a row or quelling one; probably more accustomed to the former than the
latter. Nevertheless, he is still remembered in his capacity of gamekeeper,
as being an active and trustworthy servant to the Earl of Lonsdale: a
terror to all midnight prowlers and others addicted to trespassing among
the game preserves at Lowther. He took a prominent part in suppressing a
riot among the navvies employed in making the new road near Lowther, about
1818 or 1819.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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