Tavistock Gazette – 18 September 1885 © The British Library Board, BNA
11. What does the document reveal about the relationship between Alexander Munroe and Ching Hook?
12. What was the Professional Boxing Association opinion of Alexander?
13. How would you describe Alexander’s funeral from the document?
14. What does this reveal about his life in Whitechapel?
Transcript
FUNERAL OF A COLOURED PUGILIST
On Sunday afternoon there was an extraordinary scene at the funeral of Alexander Munroe, the coloured pugilist, who was fatally stabbed at a common lodging house in Pearl-street, Spitalfields. Bethnal-green-road and its surroundings were thronged by a dense mass of vehicles and pedestrians, and when the open funeral car containing the coffin of deceased started for Ilford Cemetery, it was computed that there could not have been less than 20,000 persons present. The deceased who was well known in pugilistic circles, had been in England 15 years, having come from King’s Town, Jamaica, in 1870. He had been engaged in a large number of prize fights, one of his first encounters being with “Billy Crane.” this was fought on Wanstead Flats, in May, 1880, and lasted over an hour and a half, finally ending in a draw. His next fight was with a coloured man, known as the “Meat Market Black,” whom he easily beat in two rounds. He afterwards had an encounter with one of his pupils, “Ching Hook.” This was at first fought with gloves, both men being backed heavily. Nothing came of this, however, and in 1882 the contest was renewed in a public-house in Shoreditch, for a purse of gold, with a similar result, the struggle having lasted on hour and 20 minutes. The deceased was also engaged in several other minor fights in which he generally came off the victor.
[Glossary: pugilist – a boxer or fighter, particularly professional boxers.]