Joe Reid

Joe Reid was a coal-miner by trade, as were many young men from the Lancashire town of Leigh after World War I. He was taught in amateur and Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestling styles by fellow Leigh-man Harry Pennington, and Reid went on to become one of Britain’s leading amateur and professional wrestlers. Reid continued fighting into the mid-1960s when, despite being past his best physically, he was as mentally alert as many of his younger opponents.

Despite his slight build, Reid was a deceptively good bantamweight. He represented England in the first ever British Empire (now Commonwealth) Games at Hamilton, Canada, in 1930 and won a silver medal in the bantamweight freestyle class. He won a bronze when the Games were held in London four years later, having also won a bronze at the 1933 European Championships. However, at the 1932 Olympics, Reid was eliminated after the third round, and failed to win a medal.

Whilst success was limited on the international stage, Reid was invincible at home and won the British bantamweight championship every year from 1931-35. After his successful amateur career, he turned professional and often fought men much bigger than himself, including Sid Milligan, who Joe fought at Preston on his professional début in May 1935. By the end of the second half of the thirties, Reid had gained a reputation as a good fighter, but his career was put on hold while he served in World War II, spending time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Reid fought as a lightweight for a while after the War, and carried on fighting for three decades until he retired in the 1960s and ran his own gymnasium. Joe’s younger brother Jim was also an amateur and then professional wrestler, but not as successful, or with such longevity as Joe. They fought each other in the final of the Northern Counties Championship at Salford in 1933.