John Blake (1890 – 2 September 1960), better known as Bandsman Jack Blake, was a British boxer who became British

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

champion in 1916.

Career

Born in Tower Street,

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

, in 1890, John Blake was the son of a fisherman.Swimming instructor who packed a punch
, ''

Great Yarmouth Mercury The ''Great Yarmouth Mercury'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Great Yarmouth area of Norfolk, England. The paper was established in 1880.

'', 2 September 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2014 He attended the Nelson School in Yarmouth and joined the 2nd Norfolk Regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

at the age of fourteen, serving in several overseas countries, leading to his 'Bandsman' title which stuck throughout his career. His boxing career began in the army; He was entered into a boxing contest without his knowledge while serving in

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. Initial success led to his pursuing it further and by 1912 he was army champion of India. He left the army and turned professional in 1912, and remained unbeaten in the first two years of his professional career, including victories over the Dixie Kid, Jack Harrison, and Young Johnny Johnson.

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and hi ...

, writing for the ''People's Journal'' in January 1914, was highly complimentary of Blake, describing him as a "most promising man", and having "the right stuff in him...the right temperament". In March 1914, despite being very much a middleweight, he fought for the British heavyweight title against

Bombardier Billy Wells William Thomas Wells, better known as Bombardier Billy Wells (31 August 1889 – 12 June 1967), was an English heavyweight boxer. Fighting under the name "Bombardier Billy Wells", he was British and British Empire Champion from 1911 un ...

; Wells won with a fourth-round knockout, inflicting the first defeat of Blake's career. In April 1914 he fought American Joe Borrell in a fight billed as being for the 160 lbs world title; Borrell knocked Blake down as he was returning to his corner after the bell at the end the fourth round, and with Blake unable to continue the referee declared it a no contest. In August 1914, after the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Blake put both his boxing career and his forthcoming marriage on hold and rejoined the 2nd Norfolk Regiment. He was wounded in action in September 1914 and returned to England, where he was treated at the

Royal Herbert Hospital Initially the Herbert Hospital, renamed in 1900, the Royal Herbert Hospital was built as a restorative facility for British veterans of the Crimean War, and remained a military hospital until 1977. It was situated in southeast London, on the sout ...

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

. Blake was still unbeaten at middleweight and won fights against Nicol Simpson and

Harry Reeve Harry Isaacs (7 January 1893 – 10 December 1958), better known as Harry Reeve, was a British middleweight and cruiserweight boxer who was British Cruiserweight champion in 1916. At the time, the cruiserweight division was referred to as ligh ...

before losing to

Pat O'Keeffe Pat O'Keeffe (17 March 1883 – 16 August 1960, spelled by many sources as Pat O'Keefe), was a professional English boxer who became the British champion in both the welterweight and middleweight weight classes. His professional career spanned ...

in May 1915. A year later he fought O'Keeffe for the British middleweight title, taking a twenty-round points decision to become champion. O'Keefe regained the title in January 1918, knocking Blake out in the second round. Blake lost to Army champion Corporal Tooley of the

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in April 1918, and his final fight was a win by fourth-round knockout against Arthur Cameron in 1921. After retiring from boxing, Blake played football for Yarmouth Town, swam and angled competitively, and became a boxing referee. Between the wars he was a

publican In antiquity, publicans (Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'' (singular); Latin ''publicanus'' (singular); ''publicani'' (plural)) were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the ...

, running the Army and Navy public house on Blackfriars Road in Yarmouth. For the rest of his life he worked as a swimming instructor at an open-air pool in Great Yarmouth. Blake died at his home on North Denes Road on 2 September 1960, aged 70.

References

External links

Bandsman Jack Blake
at boxrec.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Bandsman Jack 1890 births 1960 deaths Military personnel from Norfolk Royal Norfolk Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Middleweight boxers Sportspeople from Great Yarmouth English male boxers