Simon Byrne (1806 – 2 June 1833), nicknamed "The Emerald Gem", was an Irish bare-knuckle

prize fighter 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 auth ...

. The

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion of Ireland, he was drawn to England by the larger sums of prize money on offer and his hopes of becoming the heavyweight champion there as well. He became one of only six fighters ever to have been involved in fatal fights as both survivor and deceased since records began in 1741. Byrne fought in an era when English boxing, although illegal, was patronised by many powerful individuals. Its patronage and popularity did not, however, free it from

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

, heavy

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

, and staged fights. Byrne fought eight recorded matches, but accounts of his career focus on the last three, against the Scottish champion Alexander McKay, the English champion

Jem Ward Jem Ward (26 December 1800 – 3 April 1884) was an English bare-knuckle boxer. "A fine fighter and powerfully built man",James Burke for the vacant championship of England. The injuries McKay received in his fight with Byrne resulted in his death the following day, and rioting in his home country of Scotland. Byrne went on to lose his next match against Jem Ward, which some commentators believed he was not sufficiently in condition to fight. His final contest in May 1833 was a gruelling 99 rounds against James Burke that lasted for 3 hours and 6 minutes, the longest ever recorded prize fight. Byrne died three days later as the result of damage to his brain caused by the beating he had received. Burke was arrested and tried for manslaughter but was acquitted. Following the death in 1838 of another fighter, William Phelps, also known as Brighton Bill, the London Prize Ring Rules were introduced to more clearly define the rules of prize fighting and to introduce certain safety measures, rules that still form the basis for the modern sport of boxing.

Early 19th-century English boxing

During the first half of the 19th century pugilism, better known as prize-fighting, held a curious position in British society. Although supported by members of the establishment from the

royal prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

s downwards, it was considered illegal under the terms of the

Riot Act The Riot Act (1 Geo.1 St.2 c.5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and o ...

of 1715, which defined a riot as "a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by three or more persons assembling together, of their own authority, with intent mutually to execute a violent enterprise to the terror of the people". The boxer George Stevenson had died a few days after his 35-minute fight with the English champion

Jack Broughton John "Jack" Broughton (c. 1703 – 8 January 1789) was an English bare-knuckle boxer. He was the first person to codify a set of rules to be used in such contests; prior to this the "rules" that existed were very loosely defined and tended to ...

in 1741, an event that triggered Broughton to draw up a set of rules with the help of some of his patrons to prevent a recurrence. Published on 16 August 1743, Broughton's Rules outlawed hitting or seizing any part of an opponent's body below the waist, or striking him when he was down, but otherwise left much to the discretion of referees. Rounds were not of a fixed length but continued until one of the fighters was knocked or thrown to the ground, after which those in his corner were allowed 30 seconds to return him to the "scratch" – the middle of the ring – failing which his opponent was declared the victor. The sport enjoyed an unprecedented surge in popularity during the

Regency period The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 1810 and, by the Regency Act 1811, h ...

when it was openly patronised by the Prince Regent (later

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

) and his brothers. Championship boxing matches acquired a louche reputation as the places to be seen by the wealthy upper classes. Thus, a match would often be attended by thousands of people, many of whom had wagered money on the outcome. The

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom ...

(an uncle of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

) was reported to have bet thousands of pounds on Jack Broughton, who was the English champion for 18 years. Boxing had become a nest of "gambling related corruption" by the 1820s. The epitome of this era was the championship reign of

Jem Ward Jem Ward (26 December 1800 – 3 April 1884) was an English bare-knuckle boxer. "A fine fighter and powerfully built man", It was against this background that Simon Byrne earned his living.

Early life

Very little is known of Byrne's early life beyond the fact that he was born in Ireland in 1806. His first fight, in 1825, was a loss to Mike Larking; it lasted 138 rounds spread over two and a half hours—despite the fact that at this time a round could vary in length, and usually only ended when a man was knocked down. His second fight was a draw against Jack Manning in 1826, earning Byrne £100. Next was Byrne's first match against the Scottish boxer Alexander McKay, which Byrne won easily in five rounds, earning him a further £100. This match was McKay's first ever prize-fight. This victory was soon followed by a win against Bob Avery, earning a further £50, then another win over Phil Samson in 1829, earning him £200. By the standards of the day these latter sums were enormous; it is therefore surprising that he was then offered £200 for a rematch, regardless of whether he won or not, against the less experienced McKay, whom he had beaten so easily on the first occasion. As of 2008 that would be the equivalent of about £13,600.

Byrne versus McKay

The fight against Alexander McKay was Byrne's first brush with notoriety. On 2 June 1830, Byrne, billed as "Champion of Ireland", fought McKay, the "Champion of Scotland", for the right to challenge Jem Ward, the heavyweight champion of England. The match had been organized at

Tom Spring Tom Spring (born Thomas Winter) (22 February 1795 – 20 August 1851) was an English bare-knuckle fighter. He was heavyweight champion of England from 1821 until his retirement in 1824. After his retirement he became landlord of the Cast ...

's "Castle Tavern", in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its ro ...

. The former champion boxer Tom Spring, as treasurer of the "Fair Play Club" – the organization which oversaw boxing – was immensely influential in the boxing world. Along with two other well-known boxers, Gentleman Jackson and

Tom Cribb Tom Cribb (8 July 1781 – 11 May 1848) was a world champion English bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century. Cribb was born near Bristol but moved to London before starting professional fighting. He undertook a series of fights between 1805 and ...

(who also acted as Byrne's manager), he was Byrne's sponsor for the match. Cribb was considered to be one of the greatest fighters of the era; more than 20,000 people attended one of his fights. Contracts were signed at Spring's tavern and it was arranged for the fight to take place at

Hanslope Hanslope is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about west northwest of Newport Pagnell, about north of Stony Stratford and north of Central Milton ...

, Buckinghamshire. But as a vast crowd of spectators began pouring into Hanslope the venue was switched at the last minute to

Salcey Green Salcey Green is an area of farm and wood land within the parish of Hanslope in the Borough of Milton Keynes, England.

, just inside

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

, thus rendering the Buckinghamshire constables powerless to prevent it. Despite the publicity and billing this was only McKay's fifth prize-fight. Since his defeat at the hands of Byrne two-and-half years earlier McKay had fought and won just three matches, earning him £180, while Byrne had earned £200. Both men were promised £200 for the match whatever its outcome. McKay had earned £100 for his previous fight against Paul Spencer, the most he had ever received; the promised payment was a huge improvement in his fortunes. McKay's boxing relied on brute strength rather than scientific pugilistic theory, but the fight still lasted for 47 rounds before McKay collapsed under a left-handed punch to the throat that did not seem particularly powerful. He was carried to his corner where he regained consciousness, complaining of severe headache. He was

bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

by a surgeon on the scene and taken to a local inn, the Watts Arms, where he died at 9:00 pm the following evening. A

post mortem An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any d ...

examination found the cause of death to be brain damage. McKay was buried in Hanslope Churchyard with the following inscription on his headstone: McKay's death attracted widespread publicity and led to rioting in the streets of his homeland. In Dundee, three people died and 200 were injured in the fracas. In

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, four people died, and the

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

were called out to quell rioting after a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church was burned and looted (the mob would have assumed Byrne, an Irishman, to be a Roman Catholic). Byrne was arrested three days later on board the ferry to Ireland as he tried to leave the country. He was incarcerated in Buckingham Gaol to await his trial and the prospect of the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

Trial

The trial was held at the

Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ...

in the small rural

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Buckingham. More used to the trials of local poachers and sheep thieves, Buckingham had never before seen such a spectacle. The town was inundated with journalists and the merely curious. Byrne was charged with

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

. Tom Cribb, Reuben Martin, Thomas Reynolds, and George Cooper were charged with aiding and abetting manslaughter. With such illustrious names as Cribb's, Jackson's and Spring's involved, the trial had the potential to turn into a huge establishment scandal. People of all classes had bet hundreds of pounds on the outcome of the boxing match. Despite being banned, prize fighting enjoyed huge public support and patronage from levels up to the younger male members of the Royal family, some of whom Jackson had taught to box. The support received by Byrne at his trial is testimony to the wealth of his backers. The establishment rallied to his support; Byrne was represented by three

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

s and five solicitors, and twelve witnesses journeyed from London to give evidence on his behalf. The defence produced a witness who claimed to have seen McKay fall and strike his head on some stones several hours before the fight, and the ''

Glasgow Free Press Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

'' began a rumour that McKay had been drugged by "a sleeping draught" introduced into his water bottle. That the fight was illegal, as was the public assembly of spectators does not seem to have been considered in court. This benign neglect is surprising because as recently as 1825, in the case of Rex v. Billingham, Savage and Skinner, it had been deemed that anyone even attending a fight was guilty of an offence. At the trial Byrne was described by a Bow Street Runner as a "very human kind man", and McKay as "a very large muscular man – a magnificent man". The jury came to a verdict after only ten minutes of deliberation: "Not guilty". Byrne was once again a free man, but the image of the sport had been damaged. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' of 5 June 1830 condemned the "barbarous, filthy and swindling exhibitions called prize fights" and expressed the hope that "an example will be made of the more wealthy monsters in this affair of blood – the sanguinary cowards who stood by and saw a fellow creature beaten to death for their sport and gain!" As the "wealthy monsters" patronising boxing included King George IV (who had asked Gentleman Jackson and the country's leading

pugilist Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

s to act as pages at his coronation in 1821) and his heir, 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 ...

, ''The Times'''s words fell on deaf ears, and the sport continued unabated. The following year a similar legal case occurred when another boxer was killed. However, in this instance less wealthy patrons and illustrious names were involved, and the manager of the convicted boxer, unlike Tom Cribb, was found guilty of abetting manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

.''Rex v. Hargrave'' (1831)
English Reports
'' (Vol. 172, 1831, p. 925).

Byrne versus Ward

Cleared of any responsibility for McKay's death, Byrne collected his £200 prize money, and as the winner earned the right to fight the English heavyweight champion

Jem Ward Jem Ward (26 December 1800 – 3 April 1884) was an English bare-knuckle boxer. "A fine fighter and powerfully built man",Tom Spring Tom Spring (born Thomas Winter) (22 February 1795 – 20 August 1851) was an English bare-knuckle fighter. He was heavyweight champion of England from 1821 until his retirement in 1824. After his retirement he became landlord of the Cast ...

and Tom Reynolds, withdrew their man in the 33rd round. An observer commented that Byrne may not have been in the best of condition for the fight, as "his appearance failed to favour the impression that he possessed active vigour"; boxing historian

Gilbert Odd Gilbert Odd (1902 – 12 May 1996) was a British boxing historian and sportswriter. Odd boxed briefly as an amateur, then at 18 turned his sights on the sports writing side of the game, becoming a ringside correspondent for the weekly magazine, ...

describes the fight as "disgraceful". Another commentator noted that "it is a singular fact that neither of the men had a black eye; neither had an external cut worth mentioning".

Byrne versus Burke

Jem Ward announced his retirement from the ring in a letter published in the 29 January edition of ''

Bell's Life in London ''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886. History ''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William I ...

''. He was succeeded as champion of England by James Burke, although some disputed Burke's right to the title as Ward had refused to fight him before retiring. Standing tall, weighing 200 lb (90 kg), and handicapped by deafness, Burke had assumed the championship after defeating Harry Macone in one of the prolonged and brutal fights for which he was known. Ward, who had faced public criticism for his refusal to fight Burke, felt that Byrne was the better fighter and promised to acknowledge the victor of a fight between Burke and Byrne as the new champion. The match took place on 30 May 1833 on

Nomansland No man's land is an unoccupied area between two opposing positions. No man's land (Latrun) is an example. No Man's Land, No-man's land or Nomansland may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * No Man's Land, Cornwall, England * No Man's Land ...

, a tract of

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has ...

between the villages of

Sandridge Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England. History The original name was "Saundruage" meaning a place of sandy soil serviced by bond tenants. The earliest recorded mention of Sandri ...

and Wheathampstead in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, for a prize of £100 to each man. To get himself into condition for the fight, Byrne had reduced his weight from to , an effort that "as it was effected by hard work and sweating, somewhat impaired his natural stamina, especially as, his habits being far from abstemious when in Ireland, he was scarcely fitted to undergo the necessary amount of labour". Despite his hard work Byrne looked "fleshy", with "no special show of muscle", compared to Burke's "perfect condition", although he did have a slight height advantage. Burke weighed in at , and started the contest as the marginal favourite at odds of 5–4. Tom Spring was once again in Byrne's corner, as was Jem Ward. In true Burke style the match lasted for 3 hours and 6 minutes, during which time 99 rounds were fought the longest ever recorded prize fight. For the most part Byrne seemed to be in control in the early stages of the fight; in the 30th round he trapped Burke against the ropes and battered him severely around the body before throwing him to the ground. Burke fell on his face, vomiting and throwing up blood, and for the next few rounds Byrne looked the more likely winner. By the 49th round however, Burke had recovered sufficiently to knock Byrne to the ground, whose hands by then were so swollen that he was unable to deliver a finishing blow. By the 93rd round Byrne was "scarcely able to stand, and rolled before the Deaf'un like a ship in a storm". Although both men were utterly exhausted Burke continued to "pepper away at yrne'sbody and head", until in the 99th round Byrne collapsed unconscious and could not be revived to take his place once again at the scratch. A contemporary newspaper report of the day describes a blow-by-blow account of a fair match. Byrne was carried to "The Woolpack" inn in nearby

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

, where he was attended to by Tom Spring. On the evening of the fight Byrne was considered to be close to death, but over the course of the following two days he seemed to be recovering, and was sufficiently conscious to thank his friends for their ministrations. But his condition worsened during the afternoon of Saturday 1 June 1833, and he died the following day; the cause of death was given as "congestion of blood in the brain". Byrne himself was reportedly of a different opinion, telling a chambermaid shortly before his death that "If I should die, it will not be from the beating I received but from mortification. I would rather have died than been beaten in that fight." He left behind a wife and four children in Dublin.

Aftermath

One contemporary view of Byrne's fatal fight, and of his earlier contest against Ward, was expressed in a popular poem written by James Catnach, the catchpenny publisher of

Seven Dials, London Seven Dials is a road junction and neighbourhood in the St Giles district of the London Borough of Camden, within the greater Covent Garden area in the West End of London. Seven streets of Seven Dials area converge at the roughly circular centra ...

: ::On Thursday, 30 May day, Brave Simon took the ring, ::Back'd by Jem Ward the champion, likewise by Gallant Spring, ::To fight Burke for two hundred pounds, a man of courage bold, ::To stop reports that with Ward the battle he had sold. Burke was arrested and tried for manslaughter. He was acquitted on 11 July 1833, but avoided competitive fights for some time afterwards, only taking part in exhibition matches. He retired in 1843 and died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

less than two years later in 1845, having by then been reduced to poverty. Following the death in 1838 of another fighter, William Phelps, also known as Brighton Bill, in a match against

Owen Swift Owen Swift (1814– 9 June 1879) was a British bare-knuckle prize fighter, who killed three men in boxing bouts. The death of "Brighton Bill" in one particularly savage 85-round bout in 1838, and Swift's subsequent conviction for manslaughter, ...

, the

London Prize Ring Rules The London Prize Ring Rules were a list of boxing rules promulgated in 1838 and revised in 1853. These rules were based on those drafted by England's Jack Broughton in 1743 (known as the Broughton Rules) and governed the conduct of prizefighti ...

were introduced by the Pugilists's Protective Association to more clearly define the range of fouls and to introduce certain safety measures. Butting, gouging, biting, scratching, kicking were all forbidden as was the use of stones or any hard object in the hand. Thirty-second breaks were introduced between rounds, at the end of which each fighter had to walk to the scratch unaided within 8 seconds. The wearing of spiked boots was prohibited, and boxers who went to ground without being hit were disqualified. These rules still form the basis for the modern sport of boxing.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Simon 1806 births 1833 deaths Bare-knuckle boxers Deaths due to injuries sustained in boxing Sport deaths in England Irish male boxers Heavyweight boxers