Nat Langham

Nat Langham (20 May 1820 – 1 September 1871) was an English middleweight bare-knuckle prize fighter. He had the distinction of being the only person ever to beat Thomas Sayers while defending the English middleweight championship. Langham first took the championship by defeating George Gutteridge on 23 November 1846.

Early life Stephen Nathaniel Langham was born to Nathaniel and Mary Langham, frame knitters of stockings, amidst the slum-like conditions of Cross Keys Yard on Upper Castle Street in Hinckley, Leicestershire in May 1820. He always spoke with a speech impediment, the result of a childhood incident when at eight he stole a hot potato from a market stall—caught in the act, the vendor thrust the steaming potato into his mouth, causing severe permanent tissue scarring. He said later in his life that he laboured in the fields as a child but this may have been a story he invented as a result of the shame and resentment he felt from the impoverished urban environs of his early life. The championship bout was fought for £25 a-side. Gutteridge took a defining lead in the first half of the bout, striking several blows that floored Langham. But Gutteridge had received punches to both eyes in the early fighting and eventually tired by mid-fight. After he recovered from a hard fought early bout, in the 53rd round Langham gained a second wind, and landed a series of lefts and rights at arm's length, followed by a near knockout blow that sent Gutteridge into a heap near his corner.

Defeating Thomas Sayers, 1853

In spite of the small prizes available, his prowess in the ring earned him a considerable fortune. After having worked as a bar keep and boxing tutor at public house in Cambridge, Langham came out of his temporary boxing retirement and fought for the English middleweight championship for the last time on 18 October 1853. In the victory for which he became best known, Langham defeated Thomas Sayers, in a 61 round knockout in two hours at Lakenheath, Suffolk, England, twenty miles Northeast of Cambridge, before two thousand who paid admission and as many as a thousand more who waited outside to see the match. Some sources note that Sayers had not been in his best health prior to the match, suffering from a bout of influenza. By the 30th round, Langham appeared weak, but he fought with skill and continued to land such well placed blows to the face of Sayers that it appeared his opponent would soon lose all vision. It was clear by the 56th round that Sayers's vision in both eyes would not last much longer from the frequent blows of Langham. Puglistica wrote that in the final rounds, "it was beyond a doubt now that Sayers could not see what he was doing" and his backers called for him to be taken away. Mace also performed as one of the boxers at Langham's Rum Pum-Pas boxing club. The owner of the land that hosted the event brought a complaint to recover £10 from Caunt for damage to his property, including some fencing, by the unruly crowd, and a similar action was brought against Langham.

Careers outside boxing In his early boxing retirement, Langham opened a boxing booth, a place where boxers could spar or fight exhibitions for the entertainment of crowds, often conducted at county fairs in the London area.

Cambrian Stores tavern, 1853 Moving back to London, Langham opened the Cambrian Stores, a London area tavern or public house on what is now Charing Cross Road, where he lived out most of his remaining life as an inn keeper or publican in a prosperous side of the city in Westminster near Covent Gardens.

In an 1860 letter to the London Times, a concerned observer wrote that the preliminaries of prize-fights were staged at the Cambrian Stores club, and that the boxers were weighed there before the bout, and appeared after the bout. There was sparring, singing and dancing at the club nearly every night. The dancing was with heavy clogs and pipes and was noisy. Before, during, and after every great fight, between 2,000 and 3,000 of the lowest and most lawless London underclass assembled with swearing, struggling, sparring and shouting. They crowded Langham's Cambrian Stores and surrounding streets worrying the police and compelling the frightened neighbors to close their shops.

The Rum Pum-Pas Club

As a more lucrative venture, he also opened the Rum Pum-Pas Club, in the early 1850s, on an upper floor of his Cambrian Stores in Westminster, which offered dining, boxing instruction, and boxing matches for wealthy and aristocratic patrons of the boxing arts. His patrons included high ranking naval officers, powerful businessmen, and members of Parliament. The top rated boxers, Cambridge students, and aristocracy who frequented the Club cemented Langham's legacy, and place in society. When Langham died, the fights and sparring matches staged there moved to retired boxer, club patron, and good friend Alex Keene's "Two Tuns" Tavern.

Loss of Cambrian Stores Tavern In April 1860, the Westminster licensing board turned down an appeal to have Mace's publican license renewed for his Cambrian Stores Tavern, likely due to the low standing of boxers, constant noise from the crowds both inside and outside the club, and a recent assault and robbery that had occurred at his public house. Langham had sold his share of the Cambrian Stores public house by October 1861 though he continued to act as a boxing promoter, and second. In his later years, Langham was host of the "Mitre" Tavern on London's Upper St. Martin's Lane, another location familiar to the boxing crowd that staged the occasional bout. The Mitre was only a few miles from his former pub at the Cambrian Stores on Castle Street, and he remained at the Mitre at least through 1868 acting as both barkeep and landlord. at his house at Cambrian Stores, Castle Street, Leicester Square, Westminster, at the age of 52 in London. Although prosperous during his life, it is believed he left a personal estate of less than £100.

A blue plaque now commemorates Langham's place of birth on Church Street, Hinckley, and a road "Langham Close" now bears his name.

Selected fights

Win Bill Crozier 1842 England 8 rounds Win Ned Ellis 1842 England 8 rounds Win William Ellis 9 February 1843 Near Hinkley, Leicestershire, England 8 rounds First took English Middleweight championship Win Tom Lowe 7 May 1844 Woking Common, England 43 rounds Win Doc Campbell 12 June 1845 27 rounds Win George Gutteridge 23 September 1846 South Farm Pastures, Bourne, England 93rd Round knockout, fought in (1:25:00) Retained English Middleweight championship Win William Sparks 4 May 1847 Woking Common 67 Rounds Sparsely publicized bout Loss Harry Orme 6 May 1851 Lower Hope Point, on the Thames River 117 Round knockout, fought in (2:59:00) Only known career loss, Orme threw Langham repeatedly Win Tom Sayers 18 October 1853 Lakenheath, Suffolk, England 61st Round Knockout, fought in (2:02:00) Retained Middleweight championship but retired

Ben Caunt 22 September 1857 Stanley Island, off River Medway, 10 miles from Chatham 60 Round draw, in (1:40:00) Retired permanently after fight