Peggy Bettinson

Born Arthur Frederick Bettinson, he was called Peggy as a youngster when he used to hold his knife and fork in the wrong hands and his mother said he “ate like a girl”. He would be known as Peggy from then on. The name stuck throughout his childhood, and then into his professional and sporting career.

Despite being born close to the Lord’s cricket ground, Bettinson never played first class cricket, although it was one of the many sports he played as a versatile all-round sportsman. As a teenager Bettinson was an outstanding swimmer, and at the age of 13 he defeated everyone in his age group in all distances up to five miles. In 1883 he lost the ASA 100 yards title by half-a-yard to the winner Walter Blew-Jones (Otter SC) in 1:11.0, with both men breaking the previous race record. That same year, Bettinson finished second in the Long-Distance Championship on the River Thames. His brother George had won the ASA 100 yards title in 1881.

Bettinson joined the German Gymnastic Society (GGS) and was a good all-round gymnast. He also played rugby for their first XV and for North Middlesex. He once played for the GGS in a memorable win over the top Welsh club side Llanelli. In later life, in addition to playing cricket, Bettinson was also a keen roller-skater. Despite the long list of sports he was associated with, however, his favourite was boxing.

In 1881, Bettinson reached the inaugural Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) middleweight semi-final before losing to William Brown of Birmingham. The following year, however, Bettinson won the lightweight title by beating W. Shillcock, also from Birmingham.

Bettinson enjoyed a long career in boxing as a fighter, administrator, referee, judge, promoter, and matchmaker. Because of his vast knowledge of the fight game he became known as “The Guv’nor” by many professional boxers and other people within the sport. In 1891 he co-founded the National Sporting Club (NSC) with John Fleming, having previously co-founded The Pelican Club with Fleming four years earlier. Fleming was the first NSC managing director before Bettinson held the post from 1897 until 1925, when ill-health forced him to hand over to his son Lionel. In 1909 the NSC standardised weight divisions and limits and organised the presentation of British championship belts, which were donated by Lord Lonsdale, the first president of the NSC. Their contribution to boxing was immense at the time.

Bettinson’s career as a referee lasted more than 30 years from 1890-1923. One of the most famous fights he refereed was the 1910 British and European lightweight title fight at Cardiff between two Welshman, Jim Driscoll and Freddie Welsh. In a rough contest, Bettinson disqualified Driscoll for headbutting Welsh in the 10th round.

Bettinson was also manager of the Belsize Boxing Club, and was a vice-president of the ABA. He also enjoyed a career as a wrestling referee, and his love of that sport led to him promoting the 1908, 1909, and 1910 “World’s Wrestling Championships” at the Alhambra Theatre in London.

Bettinson wrote or co-wrote the following books: “Self-defence, or, The Art of Boxing” (1879), “The National Sporting Club Past and Present” (1902),”Famous Fights and Fighters: From Jem Mace to Tommy Farr” (1913), and “The Home of boxing” (1923). He was Inducted into the international Boxing Hall of Fame in 1911 and died on Christmas Eve 1926, after returning to England from Italy a few days earlier so as to spend Christmas with his family. He never achieved that.