Matches Between French and English Wrestlers Draw Big Crowds in London (1870)

The first major international matches in British wrestling history and the big crowds that they attracted.

Before we talk about the matches themselves let's talk about the British scene a bit. Back then in England there were four major wrestling styles: Cumberland and Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cornish and Devon. Ireland and Scotland had styles of their own such as Scotch, collar-and-elbow and others. These were all folk wrestling styles so they were amateur in the roots, but there was a definitely a professional aspect to a lot of them too as wrestlers would often compete in tournaments for various monetary prizes and sometimes there were even challenge matches. As of the beginning of 1870 the catch-as-catch-can style was still being developed and hadn't yet become all that popular.

The wrestlers discussed below (left to right): Richard Wright, William Jameson, Bonnet le Boeuf and Francois Dubois

The style we're interested in for the purposes of this topic is the Cumberland and Westmoreland style. It's a style which originated in the Cumberland and Westmoreland counties in North England (hence the name). Naturally, the style was most popular in the North of England, but it was also popular in the British capital London as well. In London there was the Cumberland and Westmoreland Wrestling Society, which was the organization that was pushing the Cumberland and Westmoreland style in London. The organization itself was founded earlier, but from 1824 onward they began organizing a big annual Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestling tournament in London, which ended up being one of the most prestigious Cumberland and Westmoreland tournaments in the country. It was held on Easter Good Friday. There were some additional tournaments in London too, but this was the big one. For the first 40 years the annual Good Friday tournament was held in smaller London venues for a few thousand people, and from 1864 onward it started taking place at the Royal Agricultural Hall in the Islington borough of London. The Royal Agricultural Hall was a huge venue for its time and, reportedly, could accommodate about 17,000 people.

The Royal Agricultural Hall in London

The two most notable Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestlers of the 1860s were William Jameson (sometimes also spelled Jamieson) and Richard Wright (sometimes referred to as Dick Wright). Jameson had won the 1861, 1862 and 1867 London tournaments (all weights), while Wright had won the 1863, 1866 and 1868 tournaments (all weights). In fact, Jameson and Wright faced off in the tournament final in 1862, 1863, 1866 and 1868. By that point interest in these tournaments was usually quite big (which explains why the tournaments moved to a much larger venue). For example, the 1866 tournament attracted a reported paid attendance of 20,000 spectators and the 1868 tournament drew between 15,000 and 16,000 spectators, reportedly.

Sidenote: George Steadman won the 1869 tournament. He would go on to be one of the biggest British wrestling names for the next three decades and is generally considered one of the greatest Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestlers of all time. I've also read claims in modern-day articles that he participated in the international matches discussed below, but based on my research that doesn't seem to have been the case.

Another name that we have to bring up here is William Holland. Holland was the proprietor of two popular music halls back then - Canterbury Hall and Royal Gardens. And then in late December 1869 he leased the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington for a period of about 7 weeks. He was promoting daily events at the venue and his program featured attractions such as a tightrope walker, gymnasts, acrobats, vaulters, jugglers, clowns, pyrotechnics, velocipede races, a brass band, horses, ponies, donkeys, etc. The most interesting attraction of all, however, was a troupe of French wrestlers, who were to wrestle daily in the lutte Francaise style. This was the Greco-Roman style. At the time in France it was mostly known as Roman wrestling and in England they were calling it French wrestling. The term "Greco-Roman" was coined shortly thereafter around 1875 or so.

From 27 December 1869 onward the troupe of French wrestlers was performing daily at Holland's shows at the Royal Agricultural Hall. The Greco-Roman style was new to the British public so this French troupe was a novel attraction to them. The troupe consisted of six French wrestlers - Bonnet le Boeuf, Francois Dubois, Dubois (a younger one), le Marle, Henri and Bourchier. The two key names here are Francois Dubois and especially Bonnet le Boeuf. Dubois was a well-known French wrestler and strongman. His nickname was "The Hercules of Paris". Le Boeuf was one of the top French wrestling stars of the 1850s and 1860s. In France he was known as "The Giant of the Alps".

Newspaper advert for the daily appearances of the French wrestlers at the Royal Agricultural Hall

The story told in the press was that the success of the French wrestlers at Royal Agricultural Hall caught the attention of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Wrestling Society. The Society and William Holland began a back-and-forth negotiation to have two of Holland's French wrestlers take on two Cumberland wrestlers. Ultimately each side put up a £50 side stake and the matches were booked for 27 and 28 January 1870. The stipulation was that there were going to be five falls altogether - two in the Cumberland style, two in the French style, and then a coin toss would determine the style for the final fall (and also a coin toss would determine which style would be the first fall to be begin with). This was a major deal as it was the first time international matches between English and continental wrestlers had taken place in Great Britain. Furthermore, this was billed as a battle of the styles in a way, Cumberland vs. French, and people were interested in seeing which style would prevail.

The English side was to be represented by Jameson and Wright while le Boeuf and Dubois were the selected French representatives. Here's how the press described the competitors (there was some conflicting information on the weights so I've listed both ends of the spectrum for the weights):

= William Jameson of Penrith, 31 years old, 5'11", 229-243 pounds
= Richard Wright of Longtown, 34 years old, 5'9", 192-212 pounds
= Bonnet le Boeuf of Gascony, 45 years, 5'11", 235-238 pounds.
= Francois Dubois of Paris, 36 years, 5'10", 258-282 pounds

Here are the rules of the two wrestling styles, as described in the British press:

And this gets us to the first matches.

Sidenote: The attendance estimates below come from different newspapers, which is why there's a few estimates per show. Also, for what it's worth, an advert later on claimed the attendance was 13,000 each night.

Newspaper advert for the two shows below

27 January 1870
Islington, London, England
Royal Agricultural Hall
10,000 fans / 10,000 fans / "a vast concourse of persons"
1. French style: Dubois drew le Marle (1:1 falls)
2. Cumberland and Westmoreland style: J. Graham def. J. Beeby (Graham won the 1st and 3rd falls)
3. Cumberland and Westmoreland: Richard Wright def. Bonnet le Boeuf
4. Cumberland and Westmoreland: William Jameson def. Francois Dubois
5. French: Bonnet le Boeuf def. Richard Wright
6. French: Francois Dubois def. William Jameson
= The two sides had two victories each and it was decided to continue the matches the following night.
= At one point during fifth bout Wright grabbed le Boeuf's left thigh and le Boeuf walked off the platform in protest (holds below the waist are forbidden in French wrestling). The referee was thinking about disqualifying Wright, but was convinced not to.
= The Dubois in the first bout was the younger Dubois - not Francois Dubois.

28 January 1870
Islington, London, England
Royal Agricultural Hall
16,000 fans / 12,000 fans / 10,000 fans / "a greater attendance than on the previous day" / "the hall was as full as it could be"
1. Cumberland and Westmoreland: J. Graham def. J. Beeby (Graham won the 1st and 3rd falls)
2. Cumberland and Westmoreland: Richard Wright def. Bonnet le Boeuf
3. Cumberland and Westmoreland: William Jameson def. Francois Dubois
4. French: Bonnet le Boeuf def. Richard Wright
5. French: Francois Dubois def. William Jameson
6. French: Francois Dubois def. William Jameson
= A coin toss determined that the fifth fall was going to be wrestled under French wrestling rules. By winning that last fall/bout the French team was declared the overall winner.

After the shows were over it was announced there would be more international matches for the next six nights. Unfortunately, I only have the result of one of these matches. No idea on the attendance.

2 February 1870
Islington, London, England
Royal Agricultural Hall
French: Bonnet le Boeuf def. William Jameson

This was all leading to a big rematch between the English and French team and that took place on 7 and 8 February. There was once again a £100 purse (or about £12,600 in today's money, if the CPI inflation calculator I used is to be believed).

Newspaper advert for the two shows below

7 February 1870
Islington, London, England
Royal Agricultural Hall
5,000 fans (there was bad weather that night)
1. French: Dubois vs. le Marle
2. Cumberland and Westmoreland: J. Graham vs. J. Beeby
3. French: Bonnet le Boeuf def. William Jameson
4. Cumberland and Westmoreland: Richard Wright def. Francois Dubois
5. Cumberland and Westmoreland: William Jameson def. Bonnet le Boeuf
6. French: Francois Dubois def. Richard Wright
= No decisive overall winners. The bouts continued the following night.

8 February 1870
Islington, London, England
Royal Agricultural Hall
14,000 fans / 10,000 fans / 8,000 fans
1. Cumberland and Westmoreland: William Jameson def. Bonnet le Boeuf
2. Cumberland and Westmoreland: Richard Wright def. Francois Dubois (0:40)
3. French: Bonnet le Boeuf def. William Jameson
4. French: Richard Wright def. Francois Dubois
= With Wright winning the French style bout the English team were declared the victors.

Right after this there was talk of the French and English wrestlers facing each other again, but this time in catch-as-catch-can matches on 2 March at St. James Hall, the winner to be given a jeweled belt and proclaimed the champion of the world, but it doesn't seem like these matches happened. Instead the French troupe traveled the UK for the next few months, facing off against Jameson, Wright, Beeby and Graham (i.e. the same English wrestlers who were wrestling at Royal Agricultural Hall). While on tour some other English wrestlers joined the troupe too as did the Frenchman Leduc. The French strongwoman Madame Dubois also joined up with them for a while and did feats of strength, which Francois Dubois did as well. William Holland appointed two guys by the name of Parravicini and Corbyn to serve as agents for the troupe and get them bookings throughout the UK. The troupe wrestled at the Royal Pamona Gardens in Manchester, the Alhambra in London, Hengler's Circus in Liverpool, Workmen's Hall in Birkenhead, Theatre Royal in Portsmouth, Tyne Theatre in Newcastle, Pullan's Music Hall in Bradford, Hengler's Circus in Birmingham, in Wolverhampton, etc. and finally they had a long stay at William Holland's Canterbury Hall in London, which concluded in mid June. Then in August “The French wrestlers from Agricultural Hall” were advertised for a couple of different music halls in London, but it's not clear who the actual wrestlers were here.

It's also worth mentioning that eventually Bonnet le Boeuf returned to England for a short tour in September-October 1876. He was once again part of a touring French troupe, which also featured Gaston de Lyon, Solomon, Serpent des Bois, Boulanger, and the mysterious masked man L'Homme Masqué (the first masked wrestler in British wrestling history, I believe). The troupe wrestled in London and Manchester. Their main English rivals during this tour were George Steadman and William Jameson.