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
Early on, Miles threw a Yorkshire waller, named Harrison, a heavy man, and
a good wrestler. He was afterwards called out against William Litt, with
whom he had a hard tug. The excitement was extreme. Curiously enough, the
two men started with the same tactics. "Te'àn triet to lift, an' tudder
triet to lift," and both being heavy men, the exertion became very irksome
work. The result was that Litt was thrown "lang streàk't" on his back,
amid deafening cheers. Like many men who are losers, Litt complained in
_Wrestliana_ of "unfair play," and brings half-a-dozen excuses forward as
the reasons why he lost the fall. In the case of Miles Dixon and Litt
having had another fall, Professor Wilson says: "Whether Mr. Litt could or
could not have thrown Miles, can never be positively known in this world."
The final fall, between Dixon and Tom Nicholson, was not of long duration.
No sooner were they in holds, than the former lifted his opponent clearly
from the ground, and disposed of him easily with a twist. The belt was then
handed to Miles Dixon, by Mr. Wilson, who complimented him warmly on the
victory he had gained. The future Professor of Moral Philosophy took the
belt to Edinburgh with him. After the lapse of a couple of years, it was
returned to the winner, with the following inscription engraved on a silver
plate: "Won by Miles Dixon, at a Grand Wrestling Match, between the
Westmorland, Lancashire, and Cumberland Lads, 1810." The belt is still in
the possession of the family at Grasmere. It is made of leather, about two
inches broad, and mounted with silver buckle and inscription plate.
In 1811, Dixon did not wrestle at Ambleside. In 1812, when thirty-one years
old, he put in an appearance again, and virtually carried off the first
prize. Litt says, "Miles Dixon and a butcher in Ambleside were the two last
standers. They agreed to wrestle two or three falls for the gratification
of the gentlemen who had subscribed towards the wrestling, and in this
friendly trial Miles Dixon was victorious."
Miles died in June, 1843, aged sixty-two years. A headstone in Grasmere
churchyard bears the following testimony to his worth: "The uniform
integrity of his conduct, has induced one who appreciated his worth, to
erect this memorial."
His widow--a thrifty, sensible, managing housewife--died in 1875, aged
ninety-one years. Wrestling meetings, and similar gatherings, she treated
with marked contempt. A frequent saying of hers, about her husband as a
wrestler, was: "Ivery shillin' he wan, cost us two!" She used to compare
those who took part in such exercises to "a lot of potters an' tinklers,
'at dud nowte but nip an' squeeze yan anudder to deeàth!"
JAMES DIXON, brother to Miles, was born at the before-mentioned village of
Sawrey. He died at Beck Houses, Grasmere, in 1866, aged seventy-eight
years. In height, he stood six feet three inches, and his general wrestling
weight was fourteen stones. His favourite chip in the ring was an outside
stroke.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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