APPENDIX TO PERIOD VI.
TOM REYNOLDS—1817–1825.
As a connecting link of two generations of pugilists and of the Irish and English P.R., Tom Reynolds deserves a niche in our gallery. He was best known in his latter days as the mentor of Jack Langan and Simon Byrne, as a sound adviser, a professor of the ars pugnandi, a patron of aspiring talent, and a jolly Boniface in the “swate city of Dublin,” where he died on the 15th of May, 1832, much respected.
Tom was born on the 20th of January, 1792, at Middleton, in the county of Armagh, and early in life came to London as salesman to a relative, with whom he some time lived in James Street, Covent Garden, until, being grown to man’s estate, he became a “murphy-dealer” on his own account.
Tom was decidedly, with the single exception of Henry Josiah Holt, the most erudite pugilist of his day. He had received a good education, possessed a strong mind, and could write as good a letter as any of the “scribes” of the time. Of this he was not a little proud, and the cacoethes scribendi with which he was occasionally afflicted often led him into epistolary contentions in the sporting papers, in which he invariably had the best of his competitors. His “Defence of Pugilism” proves him to have been a writer of no mean pretensions, and the view which he takes of his own profession affords the best apology for its adoption as well as for its encouragement.
About the close of the great Napoleonic wars Reynolds fell into difficulties and was arrested. Reverses in trade, combined with a love of company, at length led to his introduction to the once well-known “College” in what is now Farringdon Street, then called “The Fleet.” Here he had time and opportunity for study, and, having long had a predilection for the science of milling, he attended a regular course of lectures, and became a perfect adept at the practice of fives, tennis, and the gloves, and a great favourite with his brother “Collegians.” Being at the top of his class, and rising in fame, it was determined by some envious opponent to take the shine out of him, and for this purpose the celebrated George Head, one of the most scientific sparrers of the day, was introduced as a stranger, and, in a set-to which followed, Head found it necessary to try his best before he could convince Tom that there was a superior to himself. The trial ended in a friendly manner, but both having afterwards partaken rather freely of the “rum puncheon,” some wag insinuated to Reynolds that Head had spoken contemptuously of his fistic talents. This roused Tom’s ire, and he at once challenged Head to combat. Head, nothing loth, accepted the invitation, and a battle commenced on the “College Green” (so called upon the Horatian principle of there being nothing green on or around it), in which the “murphy-dealer” was down in every round. The “janitors,” at length, interfered, and Head was expelled from the “College,” but not till he had received a crack on the listener which considerably confused his senses.
Shortly after his emancipation from the thraldom of “College” duties, Tom commenced business as a professional pugilist, and on the 23rd of July, 1817, entered the lists on Moulsey Hurst with Aby Belasco, the Jew, whom he beat by his determined game in sixty-six rounds and one hour and twenty minutes. In September in the same year (the 9th) he fought and beat Church on the same ground; and on the 11th of November following beat the Broom-Dasher (Johnson), in Lord Cowper’s Park, near Canterbury. Subsequent to these “slices of good fortune,” he became a publican in Drury Lane, but having fallen through a trap-door his health became impaired, and he determined on a sparring tour in the country for the benefit of his health. He was accompanied by Jack Carter and Sutton the Black, and was well received in Manchester, Liverpool, and Dublin. While in the latter city he was matched against John Dunn, a novice, for £50 a-side, and fought him on the 4th of July, 1820, in Donnelly’s Valley, on the Curragh of Kildare. In twelve rounds and fifty-four minutes Dunn was completely done up, being hit to a state of insensibility, while Reynolds had scarcely a scratch.
In his way back to London our hero took Macclesfield in his course, where he was matched against Sammons, who had beaten all the Lancashire pugilists who had been opposed to him. On August 21st, 1820, the match came off within a mile of Macclesfield, and the Lancashire hero was disposed of in seven rounds. Tom now proceeded to London, but shortly after returned to Ireland to fight Cummins, but that fight went off in consequence of a forfeit.
Tom next took Jack Langan under his tuition and care, and was his mentor when he fought Tom Spring; acting the part of his secretary, and dipping his pen in gall, then much used in the composition of ink, in the course of his correspondence. His next protégé was Simon Byrne, to whom he afforded the most friendly assistance, and seconded him in his fights with Sampson, M’Kay, and Jem Ward. Previous to the last affair, which ended in the defeat of Simon, he opened a public-house in Abbey Street, Dublin, which he conducted with great regularity until “his sand was run out.” He was decidedly a brave man and a scientific boxer, and left a wife and two children to lament his loss.
As a specimen of Tom’s talent in the use of the pen we append his