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{{short description|English bare-knuckle fighter}}
{{for|the footballer|Jimmy Belcher}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{essay|date=April 2014}}
{{
[[File:James ('Jem') Belcher from NPG.jpg|right|thumb|Portrait of Jem Belcher, circa 1800]]
'''James Belcher''', also known as '''Jem Belcher''' (15 April 1781 – 30 July 1811), was an English [[Bare-knuckle boxing|bare-knuckle prize-fighter]] and Champion of All England
==
==Boxing career==
He drew with champion [[Jack Bartholomew (boxer)|Jack Bartholomew]] in a 51-round bout in 1799, but in the following year, on 18 May 1800, on [[Finchley Common]], the 19-year-old Belcher, after seventeen rounds, knocked out the 37-year-old Bartholomew out with a 'terrific' body blow to win the rematch and become champion.▼
In his youth he became known for his pugilistic—and other—feats at Lansdown fair. Belcher was a natural fighter, described as "elegant" in style, whose skills were less due to instruction than his own ability. He was considered good-humoured, finely proportioned, and well-looking. He came to London in 1798 and sparred with Bill Warr, a veteran boxer, of [[Covent Garden]], who concluded that Belcher was "a match for any man in the kingdom".<ref name="Age 31">''[[The Age]]''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19310418&id=tjRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7158,3564447 "More Prize Ring Personalities: 'The Napoleon of the Ring'"]. 18 April 1931, p. 8. Retrieved on 15 June 2013.</ref> On 12 April 1799, after a fight of thirty-three minutes, he beat Tom Jones of Paddington at [[Wormwood Scrubbs]].
▲He drew with
On 22 Dec. 1800, near Abershaw's gibbet on [[Wimbledon Common]], he defeated Andrew Gamble, the Irish champion, in five rounds, Gamble being utterly confounded by his opponent's quickness. On 25 Nov. 1801 he met Joe Berks of Wem, and defeated him after sixteen rounds of desperate fighting. He fought him again on 20 Aug. 1802, and Berks retired at the end of the fourteenth round, by which time he could scarcely stand and was shockingly cut about the face. In April 1803 he severely punished John Firby, 'the young ruffian,' in a hastily arranged encounter. Next month he had to appear before [[Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough|Lord Ellenborough]] in the court of king's bench for rioting and fighting, upon which occasion he was defended by Erskine and Francis Const.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Belcher, James}}</ref>▼
▲On 22
In July 1803 Belcher lost an eye when playing raquetball. He never could really overcome the loss of his eye so his friends bought him the pub "Jolly Brewers" on [[Wardour Street]], where he put on sparring exhibitions and met and inspired Henry Pearce, a young boxer of which he became his manager.<ref name="okaybliss.com">[https://www.okaybliss.com/jem-belcher-death/ How did Jem Belcher die? His tragic death detailed]</ref> It became apparent that he would be Belcher's succussor to the title Champion of England. In 1805, Belcher returned to the ring as he refused to give up his title without a fight. Belcher invited Pearce to London, hoping to keep the championship in Bristol's hands, The two men had a tough fight at a common in [[Blyth, Nottinghamshire|Blyth]], a coaching stop seven miles north of [[Retford]], [[Nottinghamshire]] on the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] on 6 December 1805. Belcher chose the venue on a coin toss, deciding to site it 150 miles north of London so that the police did not disrupt the fight.<ref>E. Dipple, The Sportsman's Magazine of Life in London and the Country, Volume 1 (1845)</ref> The crowd were adorned with handkerchiefs of blue birdseye in support of "the Chicken", and the "famous yellow-striped 'Belcher'". Here Belcher displayed all his old vigour and punching speed, but lacked power, and was impaired by his damaged vision in ascertaining range; he was defeated in 18 rounds.<ref name="Age 31"/> Pearce never fought again and died from tuberculosis in 1809.<ref name="okaybliss.com"/>
He fought yet again two heroic fights with [[Tom Cribb]] — the first on 8 April 1807 at [[Moulsey Hurst]] in forty-one rounds, when Belcher would have proved the winner but for his confused sight and sprained wrist — the second on 1 Feb. 1809, in answer to a challenge for the belt and two hundred guineas. Belcher was again defeated after a punishing fight in thirty-one rounds,<ref name="MacCabe 78"/> though the best judges were of opinion that, had Belcher possessed his once excellent constitution and eyesight, Cribb must have been the loser.<ref name="DNB"/> This was Belcher's last fight. Virtually ruined by the huge gambling losses he sustained at this fight he caused a fracas after the bout, for which he spent four weeks in [[prison]].▼
▲
During his career, Belcher was known as "The Napoleon of the Ring"<ref name="Age 31">''[[The Age]]''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19310418&id=tjRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GZUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7158,3564447 "More Prize Ring Personalities: 'The Napoleon of the Ring'"]. 18 April 1931, p. 8. Retrieved on 15 June 2013.</ref> and the "Black Diamond."<ref name="MacCabe 78">MacCabe, Eddie. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19780221&id=7eMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_-0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5997,122820 "Nothing has changed"]. ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', 21 February 1978, p. 17. Retrieved on 15 June 2013.</ref> Belcher was one of the gamest fighters ever seen in the prize-ring, and probably the most rapid in his movements : 'you heard his blows, you did not see them.' A truly courageous man. Belcher was in private life good-humoured, modest, and unassuming ; but after his last fight he became taciturn and depressed. He was deserted by most of his old patrons : one of the best of these was [[Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford]], who at his death on 10 March 1804 left him his famous bulldog Trusty.<ref name="DNB"/>▼
▲
Belcher died on 30 July 1811 at the Coach and Horses, [[Frith Street]], Soho, a property which he left to his widow ; he was interred in the Marylebone burial ground. By the consequence of his various battles, stated the ''[[Gentleman's Magazine]]'', aided by great irregularity of living, he had reduced himself to a most pitiable situation for the last eighteen months,<ref name="DNB"/> and died a broken man.▼
Portraits are given in 'Pugilistica' and ''[[Boxiana]]'', in which [[Pierce Egan]] remarks upon his likeness to [[Napoleon]]. A link between the silver and golden ages of the prize-ring, Belcher was 'as well known to his own generation as [[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] or [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]].' Like the latter he is commemorated by an article of attire, a 'belcher' or blue
==Death==
▲Belcher died on 30 July 1811 at the Coach and Horses, [[Frith Street]], Soho,
== Tom Belcher ==
Jim's younger brother, Tom Belcher, was
Tom Belcher,
==References in popular culture==
Belcher features as a character in ''[[Rodney Stone]]'', a [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] mystery and [[boxing]] novel by Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]].
Charles Dickens refers to the Belcher neckerchief in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1841): the character Richard Swiveller says in Ch. 34: 'What shall I be next? Shall I be a convict in a felt hat and a grey suit, trotting about a dockyard with my number neatly embroidered on my uniform, and the order of the garter on my leg, restrained from chafing my ankle by a twisted Belcher handkerchief?' <ref>The Old Curiosity Shop, Wordsworth Classics, 1995 edition, p. 249, also Note 170, p. 559: Becker handkerchief: dark blue spotted handkerchief, as first won by Gentleman Jim Belcher (1781-1811), a well-known pugilist.</ref>
*[[List of bare-knuckle boxers]]▼
In [[Patrick O'Brian|Patrick O'Brian's]] seafaring novel [[The Thirteen-Gun Salute]], captain Jack Aubrey commands a frigate called ''Diane'', which has a cannon named ''Belcher''. The reference to the prize-fighter is clear, because other cannon are also named after famous prize-fighters (''Tom Cribb'', ''Game Chicken'').<ref>Patrick O'Brian: The Thirteen-Gun Salute, 1989.</ref>
The 2022 [[Amazon Prime Video]] biopic movie, ''[[Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher]],'' stars [[Matt Hookings (actor)|Matt Hookings]] as Belcher, [[Russell Crowe]] as Belcher's grandfather, Jack Slack, and [[Ray Winstone]] as Belcher's trainer, Bill Warr. [[Matt Hookings (actor)|Hookings]] was the movie's producer and wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Daniel Graham.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4471908 | title=Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>
==External Sources==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YYoAAAAYAAJ Chapter on Jem Belcher in ''Boxiana, or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism'' volume 1, 1830, Pierce Egan]
*[https://archive.org/details/pugilisticahisto01mileuoft/page/132/mode/1up Chapter on Jem Belcher in ''Pugilistica, the History of British Boxing'' volume 1, 1906, Henry Downes Miles]
==References==
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==External links==
*[http://weldgen.tripod.com/fighters-of-the-west-country/id5.html Fighters of the West Country]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp00355&desc=&eDate=&grp=&lDate=
▲*[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp00355&desc=&eDate=&grp=&lDate=&medium=painting&name=&occ=56%3BSports+and+Leisure+Pursuits&search=as an oil painting portrait of Jem Belcher by an unknown artist at the British National Portrait Gallery]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belcher, James}}
[[Category:English male boxers]]
[[Category:1781 births]]
[[Category:1811 deaths]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Bristol]]
[[Category:English disabled sportspeople]]
[[Category:18th-century English people]]
[[Category:19th-century English people]]
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