John Gully (21 August 1783 – 9 March 1863) was an English champion

prizefighter Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who became a

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

owner and, from 1832 to 1837, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Early life

Gully was born at Wick, near

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, the son of an innkeeper who became a butcher in Bath shortly after John's birth. Gully worked for his father and inherited the business on his father's death. In 1805, the business failed and as a result, Gully was imprisoned for debt.

Boxing

Gully was visited in prison by a friend, Hen Pearce, a well-known

who was nicknamed "the Game Chicken" in

bare-knuckle boxing Bare-knuckle boxing (or simply bare-knuckle) is a combat sport which involves two individuals throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time without any boxing gloves or other form of padding on their hands. It is a regulated ...

circles. An informal match was arranged between them, which took place in the prison; as a result, Gully's debts were settled. On 8 October 1805, Gully was again matched against Pearce in a fight watched by the

Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England. The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...

(later

William IV of the United Kingdom William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

) and numerous other spectators. After fighting twenty eight rounds, taking an hour and seventeen minutes, Gully was beaten. In 1807, he twice fought

Bob Gregson Bob Gregson (21 July 1778–November 1824) billed as "The Lancashire Giant" was a bare-knuckle fighter of the early 19th-century. He was a boxing champion, ferry captain and the owner of a Steakhouse, chophouse in Holborn in London. A bust of ...

, the "Lancashire Giant", for two hundred guineas a side, winning on both occasions. The foremost prizefighting reporter of the period,

Pierce Egan Pierce Egan (1772–1849) was a British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture. His popular book '' Life in London'', published in 1821, was adapted into the stage play ''Tom and Jerry, or Life in London'' later that year, which ...

, recorded their battle of 14 October 1807:David Snowdon, ''Writing the Prizefight: Pierce Egan's Boxiana World'' (Bern, 2013). :‘Gregson’s strength was manifest to his opponent, who endeavoured to ward off its potent effects by his thorough knowledge of the science, and Gulley put in another dreadful facer, which made the claret fly in all directions, when Gregson fell' (''Boxiana'', vol. I).

Horse racing

Gully became the landlord of the Plough Tavern in Carey Street, London. He retired from the ring in 1808, and took to horse-racing. In 1827 he lost £40,000 by backing his horse Mameluke (for which he had paid four thousand guineas) for the St. Leger Stakes. In partnership with Robert Ridsdale, in 1832, he made £85,000 by winning The Derby and St Leger with

St. Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly leg ...

and

Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the ...

. In 1844 in partnership with John Day, Gully won the

2,000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year ...

with Ugly Buck, and two years later he took the Derby and The Oaks with

Pyrrhus The First Pyrrhus The First (1843 – 1862) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1846 to 1849 he competed twelve times and won ten races, including one walk-over. In the summer of 1846 he proved himself on ...

and Mendicant. In 1854 he won the 2,000 Guineas with Hermit, and in the same year, in partnership with Henry Adwick, the Derby with

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

Political and business interests

Having bought Ackworth Park near

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wak ...

, he became

(MP) for the Pontefract constituency from December 1832 to July 1837. He was elected to the first post-Reform Parliament. In 1862 he purchased the Wingate Grange estate and collieries. A street in Wingate, County Durham is named after him. Gully died in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

on 9 March 1863 aged 79. His body was returned to Ackworth where he was interred with his daughter.

Family

Gully was twice married and had twelve children by each wife. His daughter Mary married Thomas Pedley. Their son was the engineer and cricketer

William Pedley William Everard Pedley (16 June 1858 – 9 July 1920) was an English civil engineer and cricketer who played first-class cricket for Sussex. After emigrating to the United States he became a well known irrigation engineer in Southern California. ...

John Gully in fiction

Gully is a real-life character in '' Royal Flash'', one of George MacDonald Fraser's ''

The Flashman Papers ''The Flashman Papers'' is a series of novels and shorter stories written by George MacDonald Fraser, the first of which was published in 1969. The books centre on the exploits of the fictional protagonist Harry Flashman. He is a cowardly Bri ...

'' series of books. He was played by

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. C ...

in the 1975 film version.

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gully, John 1783 births 1863 deaths Bare-knuckle boxers English male boxers British racehorse owners and breeders Owners of Epsom Derby winners Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 People imprisoned for debt