Our hero was not allowed to stand without a customer. Hooper was in the height of his fame, having beaten Wright and Watson, made a draw with Big Ben, and defeated Bunner and George Maddox. Yet Wood was thought by many good enough to lower his pride. They met at Hounslow, June 22, 1794, as related in the memoir of Hooper (p. 107); and Wood was beaten, but not ingloriously.
In the first month of 1797, we find Wood matched with the famous Jack Bartholomew, who had just beaten Firby (the young Ruffian). See Bartholomew, Appendix to Period III. The battle came off between Ealing and Harrow, on a stage, January 30th, 1797.[[77]] “At two o’clock the men set-to; but the amateurs were sadly disappointed. Bartholomew was sadly out of condition, and not only made no good defence against Wood’s attacks, but shifted, and struck foul; repeating the offence at the end of fifteen minutes, the battle was given in favour of Wood. The Duke of Hamilton and other distinguished ring-patrons were present, and Wood told his Grace he would fight Bartholomew again in a fortnight for £500, or when he pleased, if the Duke would back him.”
Wood, who was always a steady and industrious man, now retired for a while, pursuing the then flourishing avocation of a hackney coachman, and driving his own horses and lumbering leathern convenience. He often, however, figures in the interval as second or bottle-holder in the battles of the day. Isaac Bittoon, the Jew, having beaten Paddington Jones, and fought a drawn battle with George Maddox, was anxious for a shy at Wood, now a veteran in the field; the match was long talked about, but at length arranged for the 16th of July, 1804, for a purse of 50 guineas and some bye bets to be received by the winner. The magistrates were upon the alert, but the secret of the chosen spot was well kept, Willesden Green being named as the Campus Martius so late as the evening before the battle, which took place as early as ten o’clock on the Monday morning. It would have been well had the same secrecy and promptitude been practised in many more recent fights, which have come to grief from the publicity given to their probable whereabouts, and above all, from the abominable delays at the ring side.
The field at Willesden was early filled, and at three quarters past ten the combatants entered “a roped-ring.” Wood immediately began to strip, and appeared to be in robust condition. Bittoon followed in high spirits, and after the usual ceremony, the men set-to. Wood was defeated in thirty-six rounds, occupying fifty-six minutes; Wood, in the words of the contemporary report, “being quite worn out.” (See Bittoon, for the battle).
This was Wood’s last appearance within the ropes. He was for many years a well-known character among the Jehus at the West End. In May of the year 1821, we find under the head of “Some Slight Sketches of Boxers, who have retired from Public Contests, on account of Age or other Infirmities,” the following: “Bill Wood, the coachman, once the formidable opponent of Bill Warr, Bartholomew, George the Brewer, and Bittoon, enjoys a fine green old age, and frequently takes a peep into the Fives Court to see the young ’uns exhibit.” Wood died in St. Pancras, in January, 1839, aged 64.
GEORGE INGLESTON, THE BREWER—1789–1793.
George Ingleston, known as George the Brewer, was a powerful six-foot man, of somewhat heavy build, undoubted courage, but, like many big ones, fought slowly in comparison with lighter and more agile men. He was, however, “acknowledged to be a tremendous hard hitter,” says “Pancratia.” “He was first introduced to the notice of the amateurs by the celebrated Tom Johnson,” says the same authority, “who tried to cultivate his powers, but did not form any high opinion of his skill. His guard was low, like his renowned master’s; he never shifted, but unflinchingly met the coming blow, and trusted rather to a return than the quick and effective method of a counter hit.”
We shall pass the earlier and unimportant battles of George the Brewer to come to his most important contest, that with John Jackson, which came off in presence of a distinguished company, in the yard of the Swan Inn, at Ingatestone, in Essex, on the 12th of May, 1789. Brain (Big Ben) seconded Jackson, Tom Tring (the Carlton House porter) attended upon Ingleston.
On setting-to the betting was even, but the superior skill of Jackson was evident in the first round, when after some skilful stops and parries, Jackson at the close of the round brought down the brewer. In the second and third rounds the skill and activity of Jackson brought the odds to seven to four in his favour. In this round, owing to a heavy rain which had fallen in the forenoon, the boards of the stage were extremely slippery, and in breaking ground Jackson slipped, and fell with such violence that his ankle was dislocated and the small-bone of his leg broken. There was no alternative but surrender; although the report of the day states that Jackson “offered to be fastened down to a chair (after the fashion of sailors on a chest in their boxing matches), provided the Brewer would do the like, and thus fight it out.” There was pluck at any rate in the proposition; but George, who saw the stakes within grasp, was not so green as to let go “the bird in hand.”
On the 23rd of October, 1789, Ingleston met and defeated Pickard, called “the Birmingham Champion.” The battle took place on a twenty-four foot stage, at Banbury, in Oxfordshire. It is described in the report as a desperate stand-up fight, in which, after thirty-four minutes of “fierce” rallying, Pickard cried “enough!” and Ingleston was hailed the victor. This was fought the day after the great battle of Johnson and Perrins. See ante, Life of Tom Johnson.