William John Dees (28 September 1874 – 18 October 1940) was a boxer from England. He won the

Amateur Boxing Association of England England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Ireland being organised on a ...

's middleweight championship in 1897, and was the

heavyweight champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thou ...

in 1900. He represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

1908 Olympic Games The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

in London in 1908. In 1935, as president of the Amateur Boxing Association, he sailed from Southampton to New York with the Golden Gloves Boxing Association. In October 1940, during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, Dees was killed by bombs in his home in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

, south London, aged 66.
CWGC casualty record, William John Dees. Retrieved 15 January 2021.

References

1874 births 1940 deaths Heavyweight boxers Middleweight boxers Boxers at the 1908 Summer Olympics England Boxing champions Olympic boxers for Great Britain English male boxers British civilians killed in World War II Deaths by airstrike during World War II {{UK-boxing-bio-stub