A man who packed a punch!!
Melbourne Cup was to be the theme of my Rookwood blog this week, but I received a call for help via a Facebook message from the person who set up a group I have joined - Australian Headstone Images - regarding clarification. The name on the headstone in Rookwood came up with another alias and she wanted to know who this person actually was, so I decided to have a quick look.
Well, what a find this man
turned out to be. I've always maintained that Rookwood is full of wonderful
people, many of whom lie under unassuming standard issue headstones - this man
is one of them.
WILLIAM "FIGHTING BILL
SPARKES" PARKES
William was born in April
1818 at the Cooks River in an area known at the time as Parkes Run. He was one
of 12 children born to John Parkes and his wife Margaret Southern, both
convicts. John had been granted 50 acres of land in October 1831 and the land was known with several versions of the name Parkes until it was renamed Earlwood which it
is known by today.
It would appear that the
family were unable to read or write which led to a few versions of the name
Parkes being used.
The family were sawyers, cutting
down trees for a living, a tough physically demanding job requiring those
employed to be very fit. John was also a blacksmith churning out nails desperately
needed in the colony.
In order to earn a bit more
William and his brothers, Thomas and Isaac, all entered the illegal world of
bare knuckle fighting and were quite good at it.
Bill, as he was later known, started
the illegal sport when he was 13 years of age and built up an impressive prize
purse.
He fought anyone who wished
to challenge him for £50 to £100 per side, held under wraps as on many
occasions fights were abandoned due to the sudden presence of Police.
Soon after his father died
in 1839, Bill entered into a common law marriage with Betsy Pithers who bore him
two children before passing away soon after her second child’s birth in 1843.
He married Frances Rosa Blanchfield and together they went on to have at least 9
children, so it was important that Bill keep fighting and winning to support his
large family.
After he had fought just
about all the candidates he could in Australia, he went to New Zealand and
fought some more! Upon his return to Australia and needing to continue to fight to earn money,
his sights turned to overseas.
He was interested in
fighting the then champion of England, Nat Langham, who was the only person to have
beaten the great Tom Sayers.
Many people would have taken
up his cause and raised money for his berth to England just to have a shot at the
English title.
So it was that in 1846 he worked
his way to England. He was introduced to the London ring under the patronage of
Johnny Broome and so the stage was set to challenge Langham to fight for the
title which was duly accepted. The match was set for £50 a side and was fixed
for the 4th May 1847 on Woking Common in Surrey.
Most of those who attended
thought that Bill was a novice and that the match would be over relatively
quickly, but this was soon dispelled as Bill knocked Langham down in the 2nd
round. From the start the fighting was fierce and Bill had managed to knock
Langham down 3 times. In the 62nd round (yes that’s right!) Langham
fell upon Bill who had his right arm caught under his opponent and broke his
forearm. Bill bravely fought on with only one hand as he refused to give up but
after 5 more rounds his second called time.
Bill was almost the Champion
Boxer of England and possibly would have been if not for that major injury. In
appreciation Bill was presented with “The Sparkes Cup” as he had garnered much esteem for his valiant efforts by those who
witnessed the match. The Cup is now in the collection of the Museum of
Australia in Canberra.
Upon his return to
Australia, Bill continued to fight on – he had more mouths to feed as the years
went by. During the gold rush years, he took on younger miners who saw themselves
as tough fighters and was still prize fighting into the 1880’s. He put out a
challenge to box any man in NSW 60 years or over which was widely reported.
His wife Frances died of
stomach cancer in 1878 and was buried in the old Anglican area of Rookwood.
Bill remarried in 1879 to a
widow, Mary Ann Hayes Gearside who was the sister of Bill’s brother Thomas’
wife Sarah.
William "Fighting Bill
Sparkes" Parkes lost his fight against pneumonia on 31 January 1889 and is
buried with Frances Rosa.
Wow what I story I knew
nothing about! Rookwood is full of gems and Bill is definitely one of them.
I’m sure with the reputation
that Bill had garnered over the years he was held in great esteem and fear!
Thank you, Noelene for
asking me the question of who this Parkes or Sparkes person was. It was a real
education getting to know him and his family!
References I utilised today
were ancestry.com, Trove newspaper reports, Australian Royalty, Geni.com, the
Dictionary of Sydney and a wonderful WordPress blog about the "Family Sparkes" by
William’s g-g-g-grandson a wonderful overall picture of the whole family.
If you have any insights or
comments to make about this blog today please add them below or to the Facebook
Group page found under a search for
Rookwood Cemetery
Discoveries
Until next week!
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