13 Facts About Bill Richmond

Bill Richmond was a British boxer, born into slavery in Richmondtown, New York.

Bill Richmond met his wife, Mary, while a cabinet-maker in Yorkshire.

Bill Richmond became an employee and household member of Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford, a British peer and naval officer.

On 23 January 1804, Pitt and Bill Richmond attended a boxing match featuring experienced boxer George Maddox.

Bill Richmond began training and seconding other fighters and was a regular attendee at the Fives Court, London's leading pugilistic exhibition venue on St Martin's Street in Westminster.

Bill Richmond's winnings allowed him to buy the Horse and Dolphin pub in St Martin's Street near Leicester Square in London.

Bill Richmond immediately saw Molineaux's potential as a boxer, and decided to put aside his own boxing career and to train Molineaux.

Bill Richmond became a member of the Pugilistic Society, the sport's first governing body in the United Kingdom.

In May 1814, at the age of 50, Bill Richmond fought Jack Davis and won.

The victory over Davis encouraged Bill Richmond to accept a fight with Tom Shelton, a respected contender who was about half his age.

Such achievements warranted a title shot, but with Cribb inactive, Bill Richmond opted for retirement instead.

Bill Richmond's body was interred in the burial ground of St James's Church, Piccadilly, which was located some way from the church, beside Hampstead Road, Camden, London.

Rather, as reports in the Gaines Mercury and Royal Gazette indicate, he was a Pennsylvania runaway with the same surname as Bill Richmond who ended up working as the hangman for the notorious Boston Provost Marshal William Cunningham.