Note 36 — Chapter I · JEM WARD (CHAMPION).—1822–1831.

Dick Acton, a protégé of the scientific sparrer, Bill Eales, was like the French general who was compared to a drum, heard of only when beaten. He was a shoemaker by trade, and a ring follower by choice. His first fight in the P. C. ropes was with one Nash, at Kilburn, August 21, 1821, whom he beat, for a purse of 20 guineas, in thirty-two rounds. The next week, the love of fight strong within him, Dick threw his hat in at Edgeware, for a purse of 20 guineas, and polished off a stalwart countryman, hight Evans, in eighteen rounds, forty minutes. His next customer was a regular boxer, known as Massa Kendrick, the black. He turned the tables on “the Snob,” putting him in darkness in seventeen rounds, twenty-five minutes, at Moulsey, December 18, 1821. Dick moved for a new trial, and on the 18th of March, 1822, at Moulsey, seconded by Eales and Tom Spring, the Black by Randall and Josh. Hudson, Acton reversed the verdict, with two to one against him, punishing Massa out of time in thirty-two rattling rounds, occupying thirty-five minutes. From this time he became a sort of “trial horse,” and was beaten successively by Jem Ward, Young Peter Crawley, and Jack Nicholls, all good men.