The Great Mass Mugging at Canning Town(London) of 1909

[Caractacus]

It happened in East London (England) 31.July.1909
during a open-air Boxing Match on the Memorial Ground between an American Boxer-Jimmy Britt and an English Boxer-Johnny Summers.
anyone here have any more info concerning that ?
about a hundred individuals were involved in the mass mugging of the crowd itself.
I had read thousands and thousands of pounds worth of items were mugged off the crowd that was in attendance there.
It sounds like it had been planned in advance possibly (although I'm not a Detective)
(because I always wondered if Fagin or Bill Sykes may have been involved in it somehow)

[prewarboxing]

Where did you hear this story? It is one that I have heard before although I can't remember where. I have e very detailed description of the event but it does not mention the mugging at all, which is surprising.
Here is an image of Britt hitting the deck that afternoon.

Miles Templeton

[prewarboxing]

And this is the advertisement for the event

Miles

[Caractacus]

yeah, I came across it the other night while I was sitting on the throne peruseing the book
THE GREAT WHITE HOPES by Graeham Kent.
It is in the chapter about Iron Hague
I don't have the copy off-hand but I do remember the author quoting James Butler ( who was at the event)
from a book he had written not too long afterwards.

[prewarboxing]

Iron Hague was introduced to the crowd before the main event along with Freddie Welsh and Matt Wells.

[APerno]

[Bladder]

The events of mass thieving at the Summers-Britt fight gets a couple of pages in the Peggy Bettinson and Ben Bennison book on The NSC - "The Home of Boxing".

[Caractacus]

what was the back-ground of the 'muggers" arrested , were they from out of town ?
Has anything like that happened in London-Town in recent years ?