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by Hugh Pihlens

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You are in [Events] [Bare Knuckle Fight, 1821]

On 11th December, 1821, those of a sporting inclination would have enjoyed attending one of the great fight events of the age when 22,000 people gathered on Hungerford Common to witness a bare knuckle prize bout between one of the "Bristol Boys", one Bill Neat, a butcher of that city, and Tom Hickman ("The Gas Man").

Neat weighed thirteen and a half stone and at 5 feet eleven and a half inches was 2" taller and 10lbs heavier than his opponent. However, among the betting fraternity, Neat was the favourite at 5 to 4 against. Some £200,000 is said to have been wagered on the outcome.

William Hazlitt, the critic and essayist, came down from London especially for "The Fight", which was subsequently to feature in one of his essays of the same name which was published 3 months later. Hazlitt describes the journey down from the metropolis, first by the Brentford coach, and then on the Bath Mail to what he calls the Crown Inn (but is believed to be The Dower House) at Newbury.

After an early shave at a local barber's shop, he and a friend then walked the 9 miles to Hungerford Common, where they found a multitude of people, carts, gigs and carriages surrounding the ring. The rules of the contest were according to the Pugilistic Club, which allowed wrestling, throwing, tripping, holding, butting and hair pulling as part of the contest. Rounds only ended when a man was knocked or thrown to the ground. Haifa minute was allowed as a break between rounds.

At one o'clock, Neat arrived, swathed in a great coat, threw his hat in the ring and began to strip for the contest. Hickman soon followed, sucking an orange. They finally stood "up to scratch" at the scratch line in the centre of the ring and commenced the fight after Hickman had won the toss to claim the sun behind him. The contest lasted for 18 bloody rounds before Neat reduced Hickman to senselessness and won the bout. He shook his beaten opponent by the hand and carrier pigeons were released to take the good news to Mrs Neat in Bristol. Tom Cribb, the famous pugilist and (by then) the retired Champion of England who attended the fight, said that Neat had done "Pretty well".

A medal was struck to commemorate the fight, the Cockneys who had supported Hickman returned disconsolately to London with empty pockets, and Hazlitt spent the night at Woolhampton, before returning to the White Horse Coach Yard in Piccadilly on the Bath Mail. A piece of verse was also composed to celebrate Neat's victory:

In eighteen rounds the Gas was spent
His pipes lay undefended
When Gas light shares fell cent by cent
And thus the battle ended.

Bare knuckle fights, like cock-fighting and bull and badger baiting were very much sports of the age, brutal by comparison with more enlightened times today. As a spectator sport, it was deemed illegal in 1831 by a decision at Oxford Assizes which held that persons attending such an event were principals in a breach of the peace and indictable for assault.

See also:
- Jim Davis "The Great Fight on Hungerford Common" (1987)
- "The Essays of William Hazlitt" includes his essay on "The Fight"
- Bare Knuckle Fight on the Common, 1827 - "The Battle between Marten and Gybletts".