Talk:William Thompson (boxer)

Copyvio - but moved on
Some of this article is a copyvio from http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1173, it has been edited since such that I think this link can now be quoted as a source instead. This edit unfortunately introduced the copyvio - the editor has not contributed since. The probably needs to be further clean up to remove remaining palgiarism--Golden Wattle talk 22:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Height
...his lack of height (he was barely 177 cm or five feet, ten inches tall)
 * That was quite tall for those days. Even now, it would not be described as 'lack of height'.

Birth
This page was changed today by an anonymous person who modified the date-of-birth from 18 Oct to 11 Oct, but with no source or justification. I notice that the Encyclopedia Britannica also uses the date of Oct 11 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bendigo-British-boxer) but again with no source being cited. Having checked the Nottingham Parish Baptism data (transcribed by the NottsFHS and indexed on CD), it is not obvious which of the entries might be his. There was a William Thompson baptised in Nottingham St Mary on Oct 16, which if correct would tally with the birth being the 11th rather than the 18th. If anyone has a reliable source then this page needs it. As with so many biographies, dates are simply copied and re-copied with no original research. TonyP (talk) 12:06, 14 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Hello there,
 * I have just put references in this article to five different books found in google books and the internet archive, that all give his birth date as the 11th of October 1811 in Nottingham. The earliest comes from 1868, and the latest from 1906. Thank you. Reddog78 (talk) 15:37, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Original Evidence For Him Going Into Nottingham Workhouse? And Number of his Siblings
From this Wikipedia article it states:

"His father died when he was only fifteen and, accompanied by his mother, he was sent to the Nottingham Workhouse. " -

His father Benjamin Thompson died in 1827 at Nottingham. His estimated age at burial was 67. This comes from a National Burial Index For England & Wales transcription via Findmypast.

From p.89 here Thompson (Bendigo) states in an 1876 interview, discussing his conversion to religion that his mother never went into the workhouse not at least after he started fighting anyway. There is no mention of him earlier being in the workhouse either. And his father was a cabinetmaker;

''"Now I'll tell you how I think it happened. My father, though a cabinetmaker by trade, had a bit of a turn for science, and he had a big telescope. He used sometimes to let me look through it, and I liked it...and when I was going to fight, I used to think if he can do all that, he can help me, and so I used to ask him. Did I used to say I'd try and do better if he would let me win the fight? No, I didn't; I did not want to do any better than win, but I put it in that way 'to keep mother out of the workhouse.' And she was kept out of the workhouse." -''

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LZwuAAAAYAAJ&q=%22out+of+the+workhouse%22

I do also agree that looking through genealogy databases he was not the youngest of 21 children. Not at least to Benjamin Thompson and his wife Mary anyway. He may possibly have had older half-siblings from another mother. But this is not certain. He was not one of triplets at birth, the others being named Shadrach, and Meshach. William Thompson's baptism in Nottingham can be found. But there is no evidence for him being one of triplets, although he was at birth a twin to a Richard.

His parents were Benjamin Thompson and Mary Leevers, who were married at St Mary's Church, Nottingham on the 12th of July 1805. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58184f8fe93790eb7f8fd9e5/mary-leevers-benjamin-thompson-marriage-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1805-07-12?citation_type=wikipedia&locale=en

William's baptism on 16 October 1811 at the same church. -

https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187ccee93790eca3331587/william-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1811-10-16?citation_type=wikipedia&locale=en

Twin Richard baptised the same day. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187ccee93790eca3331583/richard-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1811-10-16?locale=en From a search result on findmypast, he was buried in 1811.

Brother Thomas baptised in 1807. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187ce4e93790eca3333ee5/thomas-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1807-03-30?locale=en

Brother John baptised in 1809. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187cfde93790eca3337036/john-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1809-11-20?locale=en

His sisters baptisms; Rebecca in October 1805. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187d20e93790eca333ae07/rebecca-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1805-10-11?locale=en Mary in 1815; For Mary's residence at baptism the transcription gives "Parliament Street". New Yard where William Thompson was born in 1811, was just off Parliament Street in Nottingham. - https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58187b4ae93790eca3301f8e/mary-thompson-baptism-nottinghamshire-nottingham-1815-01-08?locale=en From a search result on findmypast, it does appear that Mary died in 1818.

His sister Rebecca married John Rouse at some point, and died in April 1840 at Nottingham. The obituary gives her age in 1840 as 33. From her age at baptism she would have been 34. But it was not unusual at this time for ages in obituaries to be slightly out. This newspaper extract states she was a daughter of the late Benjamin Thompson, and sister to "J. Thompson" an Optician. -

"after a long and painful illness, which she bore with great patience and fortitude, aged 33, Rebecca, wife of Mr. John Rouse, engineer, daughter of the late Mr. Benjamin Thompson, and sister to Mr. J. Thompson, optician, Carlton Street. " -

Nottingham Review, 24 April 1840, p.4.

William (Bendigo) Thompson's brother John baptised 20th of November 1809, became an Optician and later Surgical Instrument Maker in Nottingham.

Here he was at the time of the 1861 census. -

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M78Y-C37

He is mentioned as the fighter's brother here. -

"and, Mr. Bowley making objection, Bendigo's brother (Mr. Thompson, optician) said, he was quite satisfied with that, and his brother would agree to it." -

Nottingham Review, 20 August 1847, p.4.

There is a big clue in page 89 of the above book Low-life Deeps: An Account of the Strange Fish to be Found There that his brother was an Optician. His uncle was also an Optician. -

"When my uncle died - a Optician he was, and left us his stock-in-trade and his tools - I says to my brother 'you take the lot, and allow mother six shillings a week on my account like' and so he did. " -

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LZwuAAAAYAAJ&q=%22out+of+the+workhouse%22

The ODND states that Thompson (Bendigo); "learned the trade of Iron turning from an elder brother". Thomas Thompson Bendigo's brother became an Iron Turner. Here he is in the 1861 census. - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7DS-WSQ

This is William Thompson in the 1851 census listed as an Iron Turner. - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG6V-XKF

Thank you.

Reddog78 (talk) 09:43, 27 October 2023 (UTC)