BoxRec

This is a wild shot but I am the great grand daughter of George Lawrence who fought under the name of Tom Bagley in London-prewar. His name appears on the preboxing web site but there is no information. Do you know where I can obtain his information as I am searching my family history and it would be nice if I could add the boxing bits as most of my family were boxers and my uncle was a trainer. My grandfather was a great man and died at the age of 101.

He fought 27 professional boxing contests between 1921 and 1926, One of these contests took place at Olympia, Kensington, in front of a very large audience. This is the only information i have, who he fought and the results i do not have a clue.My father also says his last fight was against someone called siki ( Maybe spelt wrong). at Blackfriers in London.

Your best bet would be to get in touch with Miles Templeton, the owner of the website you mentioned. If anybody's likely to have information on your grandfather, it's him.

It's astounding that he lived to 101 - the British fighters of those days, to put it mildly, had it very tough; many were burnt out early and of those i've researched and read about, they often suffered ill health in later life, and/or died relatively young because of the punishment they took in the ring. If the years and number of fights you have for your grandfather are complete, then it sounds as though he, sensibly, might have quit the game at the right time. Most at that time didn't! Do you happen to know his reason for retiring from the ring when he did?

What weight was your Grandfather? There was a fly/bantamweight from Liverpool who fought as Young Siki (most likely after the famous world champ Battling Siki) - real name Andy Devine - who I think might be the Siki you mention. Young Siki was extremely tough and had a big punch for a little man.

Your grandfather must have been a pretty good class fighter to box at Olympia.

If you have dates for any of his bouts and are ever in the UK then you could look up the fight reports for them in the old issues of 'Boxing' - forerunner to the Boxing News - at the British Newspaper library in Colindale, North London. Their website address is:

http://www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html

British Library
Newspapers
Colindale Avenue
London
NW9 5HE
United Kingdom

General Enquiries:

Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7353

Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7379

Email: [email protected]

Here is Tom's record.

Boxing Record Compiled by Miles Templeton - http://www.prewarboxing.co.uk - 2007

Tom Bagley(Peckham)
27 contests - won 9 lost 18 drew 0
Jul 2 1921 Fred Smith WS5 The Ring
Jul 14 1921 Sapper Neal(Bethnal Green) WP The Ring 6
Aug 6 1921 Driver Walker(RHA) WP The Ring 6
Oct 10 1921 Dave Stuart WS1 The Ring
Nov 8 1921 Wally Schofield(Bermondsey) LP Willesden 10
Nov 10 1921 Alf Collier(Bethnal Green) WS4 Bow
Nov 10 1921 Sandy McNab(Custom House) LKO3 The Ring
Nov 19 1921 Bert Davison(Battersea) WP The Ring 10
Dec 1 1921 Steve Hearne(Tooting) WP The Ring 10
Dec 6 1921 Wally Schofield(Rotherhithe) LP N.S.C. 6
Dec 29 1921 Tom White(Walthamstow) LP Walthamstow 10
Jan 2 1922 Tommy White(Walthamstow) LP The Ring 10
Jan 31 1922 Wally Schofield(Bermondsey) LR8 N.S.C.
Mar 25 1922 Bert Davison(Battersea) LP The Ring 10
Apr 1 1922 Charlie Williams(Kings Cross) LP The Ring 10
May 6 1922 Alf Lambert(Lambeth) LR5 The Ring
May 12 1922 Johnny Bishop(Peckham) LR4 Premierland
Oct 1 1923 Johnny Sullivan(Covent Garden) LP Olympia 6
Nov 1923 Alf Page(Stepney) LP Letchworth 6
Jun 29 1924 Billy Williams(RAF) KO2 Peckham Winter Gardens 10
Dec 6 1924 Jim Thake(Canning Town) LKO7 The Ring 12
Dec 21 1924 Harry Stone(Borough) LP Peckham Winter Gardens 20
Feb 15 1925 Taff Jones(Wales) LP Peckham Winter Gardens 15
Mar 8 1925 Fred Terry(Tottenham) WS7 Hackney Manor Hall 10
Mar 11 1925 Harry Jones(Hoxton) LS5 Hoxton Baths 10
Mar 30 1925 Fred Terry(Tottenham) LP Edmonton Alcazar 10
Feb 14 1926 Tom East(Borough) LP Peckham 15

I hope that this helps

Miles

Thankyou Miles for sending me the details and I hope the photo of Tom is ok.
I would like to thank everyone who helped and also for their very prompt responce.
I am 45 now and raised with boxers in the family, My young cousin also chose to fight under the name of Tom Bagley in the 70s, and the Oliphant brothers are also cousins of mine who were pretty good amatuers, sadly could not turn pro for health reasons.
Still today living in Spain I go to see fights and infact I did the promotion for Torrevieja Boxing in 2007.
So I guess it in the blood.
A big thanks to all....