Jem Mace
Encyclopedia
Jem Mace was an English boxing
champion. He was born at Beeston
, Norfolk
. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography. A middleweight, he succeeded in outboxing heavier opponents thanks to his dancing style, clever defensive tactics and powerful, accurate punching.
, he made his debut in 1857 and, in 1861, he won the title of Champion of England by defeating Sam Hurst at Medway Island, Kent
. He successfully defended it in 1862 against Tom King
, but was defeated by King later that year. King then retired. In 1866 Mace was once again recognised as a champion following his defeat of Joe Goss
at Purfleet
, Essex
.
Bare-knuckle boxing
was an outlaw
ed sport and, as such, its exponents were always liable for arrest and prosecution. In 1867 Mace was arrested on the night before his scheduled title defence against Ned O'Baldwin. He was bound over in court not to fight again.
In 1869 he relocated to the USA where prizefighting was still flourishing. He toured with the celebrated American boxer John C Heenan giving exhibitions of glove boxing. In 1870 he defeated Tom Allen at Kenner
, Louisiana
, near New Orleans. He defended his title twice against another American, Joe Coburn
, in 1871. On both occasions Mace secured a draw. However, on 6 April 1871, Mace suffered a loss in New Orleans to Gentleman Jose Alonso.
Following an attempt on his life in Mississippi
, he returned to England. In 1876, he was back in America, this time as a glove boxer and, in a historic early clash under Queensberry Rules, he defeated Bill Davis at Virginia City
, Nevada
.
From 1877 to 1882 Mace lived in Australia
where his long series of exhibitions paved the way for the worldwide acceptance of glove boxing. With the help of his protege, Larry Foley, he schooled a generation of Australian boxers, notably the Caribbean
-born Peter Jackson
.
In 1882 he toured New Zealand
where he discovered future World Heavyweight Champion Bob Fitzsimmons
. In 1883 he was back in the USA as manager of the New Zealander Herbert Slade, who, however, failed to benefit from his tuition.
In 1890, at the age of fifty-eight, he fought in an exhibition with the Birmingham
fighter Charlie Mitchell.
In 1896, returning to New York
to fight against Mike Donovan
he was acclaimed by World Heavyweight Champion James J. Corbett
as "the man to whom we owe the changes that have elevated the sport". Mace continued as a purely exhibition boxer and his last recorded entry into the ring was in 1909 when he was 78 years of age.
Mace was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame
in 1990.
with Pablo Fanque
's Circus Royal in the late summer and fall of 1861--Fanque being England's first black circus proprietor and later immortalised in The Beatles
song, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
, Norfolk
, and his subsequent beating of them in fistic duels in the street, which led him to enter the prize ring. He was also a notable performer of Grecian Statues routines.
In 1866 Mace became the proprietor of the Strawberry Gardens pleasure grounds at West Derby, near Liverpool
. At various times, he was also a professional runner, publican, circus proprietor and racehorse owner. He kept a saloon in New York City
for several years, and later a hotel in Melbourne
.
Mace was married three times, twice bigamously, and fathered at least fourteen children by five women. He is believed to have had an affair with the famous American actress Adah Isaacs Menken
.
During his life he made a considerable fortune but, due to his compulsive gambling, it was squandered. He ended his life as a penniless busker in Jarrow
, Durham
and was buried in an unmarked grave at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool
.
In 2002, thanks to the Merseyside Former Boxers Association, a fine memorial headstone was finally placed by his grave.
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion. He was born at Beeston
Beeston, Norfolk
Beeston is a village in the county of Norfolk, England, in the civil parish of Beeston with Bittering, west of East Dereham and south of Fakenham...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography. A middleweight, he succeeded in outboxing heavier opponents thanks to his dancing style, clever defensive tactics and powerful, accurate punching.
Boxing career
After an apprenticeship in the boxing booth of Nat LanghamNat Langham
Nat Langham was an English middleweight bare-knuckle prize fighter. He had the distinction of being the only opponent ever to beat the legendary Thomas Sayers.-Early life:...
, he made his debut in 1857 and, in 1861, he won the title of Champion of England by defeating Sam Hurst at Medway Island, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He successfully defended it in 1862 against Tom King
Thomas King (boxer)
Tom King also known as "The Fighting Sailor" was an English boxer who fought both bare-knuckle and with gloves. Strong, fast, and durable he was a skilled pugilist. He retired from the ring in 1863, as the Heavyweight Champion of England, following his defeat of the boxer Jem Mace...
, but was defeated by King later that year. King then retired. In 1866 Mace was once again recognised as a champion following his defeat of Joe Goss
Joe Goss
Joe Goss was born on 5 November 1838 in Northampton, England. Although he rarely scaled more than 160 pounds, the clever and aggressive Goss routinely fought men both bigger and heavier than himself....
at Purfleet
Purfleet
Purfleet is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England. It is situated south of the A13 road on the River Thames and within the easterly bounds of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. It was within the traditional Church of England parish of West Thurrock...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Bare-knuckle boxing
Bare-knuckle boxing
Bare-knuckle boxing is the original form of boxing, closely related to ancient combat sports...
was an outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
ed sport and, as such, its exponents were always liable for arrest and prosecution. In 1867 Mace was arrested on the night before his scheduled title defence against Ned O'Baldwin. He was bound over in court not to fight again.
In 1869 he relocated to the USA where prizefighting was still flourishing. He toured with the celebrated American boxer John C Heenan giving exhibitions of glove boxing. In 1870 he defeated Tom Allen at Kenner
Kenner
Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, which is just north of Cincinnati's Union Terminal.Kenner introduced its...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, near New Orleans. He defended his title twice against another American, Joe Coburn
Joe Coburn
Joe Coburn was an Irish-American boxer. In 1862 he claimed the Heavyweight Championship from John Carmel Heenan based on Heenan refusing to fight him. Mike McCoole claimed Coburn's title in 1866 after Coburn retired. Coburn came out of retirement in 1871 against Jem Mace...
, in 1871. On both occasions Mace secured a draw. However, on 6 April 1871, Mace suffered a loss in New Orleans to Gentleman Jose Alonso.
Following an attempt on his life in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, he returned to England. In 1876, he was back in America, this time as a glove boxer and, in a historic early clash under Queensberry Rules, he defeated Bill Davis at Virginia City
Virginia City
Virginia City is a city located in Storey County, Nevada.Virginia City may also refer to:* Virginia City, Montana* Virginia City, Nevada* Virginia City, Virginia* Virginia City , a 1940 film starring Errol Flynn...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
From 1877 to 1882 Mace lived in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
where his long series of exhibitions paved the way for the worldwide acceptance of glove boxing. With the help of his protege, Larry Foley, he schooled a generation of Australian boxers, notably the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
-born Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson (boxer)
Peter "Black Prince" Jackson was a heavyweight boxer from Australia who had a significant international career.-Biography:...
.
In 1882 he toured New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
where he discovered future World Heavyweight Champion Bob Fitzsimmons
Bob Fitzsimmons
Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons , was a British boxer who made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett, the man who beat John L. Sullivan, and is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the Lightest heavyweight...
. In 1883 he was back in the USA as manager of the New Zealander Herbert Slade, who, however, failed to benefit from his tuition.
In 1890, at the age of fifty-eight, he fought in an exhibition with the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
fighter Charlie Mitchell.
In 1896, returning to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to fight against Mike Donovan
Professor Mike Donovan
Mike Donovan also known as Professor Mike Donovan and Mike O'Donovan was a middleweight boxer of the bare-knuckle era and later became one of the foremost teachers of the sport....
he was acclaimed by World Heavyweight Champion James J. Corbett
James J. Corbett
James John "Gentleman Jim" Corbett was an Irish-American heavyweight boxing champion, best known as the man who defeated the great John L. Sullivan. He also coached boxing at the Olympic Club in San Francisco...
as "the man to whom we owe the changes that have elevated the sport". Mace continued as a purely exhibition boxer and his last recorded entry into the ring was in 1909 when he was 78 years of age.
Mace was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
in 1990.
Exhibition Work
As Mace rose to become the British champion he supplemented his income with exhibition work in the popular Victorian traveling circuses, even becoming a circus proprietor himself for a short time. Most notably, he toured LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
with Pablo Fanque
Pablo Fanque
Pablo Fanque was the first black circus proprietor in Britain. His circus, in which he himself was a performer, was the most popular circus in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus...
's Circus Royal in the late summer and fall of 1861--Fanque being England's first black circus proprietor and later immortalised in The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967 album by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed by John Lennon...
Personal life
Mace was a skillful violinist who originally aspired to a career in music. Indeed it was the trashing of his violin by three thugs in Great YarmouthGreat Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, and his subsequent beating of them in fistic duels in the street, which led him to enter the prize ring. He was also a notable performer of Grecian Statues routines.
In 1866 Mace became the proprietor of the Strawberry Gardens pleasure grounds at West Derby, near Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. At various times, he was also a professional runner, publican, circus proprietor and racehorse owner. He kept a saloon in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for several years, and later a hotel in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
Mace was married three times, twice bigamously, and fathered at least fourteen children by five women. He is believed to have had an affair with the famous American actress Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken was an American actress, painter and poet.-Life and career:There are significant inconsistencies in the various accounts of Menken's early life. In her autobiographical "Some Notes of her life in her own Hand,", Menken claimed she was born Marie Rachel Adelaide de Vere Spenser...
.
During his life he made a considerable fortune but, due to his compulsive gambling, it was squandered. He ended his life as a penniless busker in Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
, Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
and was buried in an unmarked grave at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
In 2002, thanks to the Merseyside Former Boxers Association, a fine memorial headstone was finally placed by his grave.