Times were hard when William Abednego Thompson came into the world. The workhouse was full, the Luddites were smashing stocking frames, and thousands were on poor relief. Nor did it help being one of triplets and the youngest of 21 children. His mother, Mrs. Thompson of New Yard, Nottingham, gave birth on 11 October 1811 to Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego, so named after the young men in the Old Testament who emerged unharmed from fiery furnace of Babylon.

Tough as it was growing up in the streets of Nottingham, Bendigo soon learned to hold his own, for he was a natural-born athlete with fast hands. Known as 'Bendy' by his teens - the name came naturally from his 'bobbing and weaving' fighting technique - he could punch hard, but just as importantly, knew how to duck.

Only fifteen years old when his father, a framework knitter mechanic, died, Bendigo was sent to the workhouse with his mother. Not there long, he came out swearing that neither he nor his mother would ever again enter its grim doors. For a time he hawked oysters around the streets of Nottingham before becoming an iron-turner along with his brother at Radford. Working with iron developed his muscular strength.

He excelled at all outdoor sports - running, somersaulting, cricket and stone throwing, and like many others indulged in badger-baiting and cock-fighting at local pubs. But what a throwing arm! With his right hand he threw a cricket ball 115 yards; and for a bet, hurled half a brick with his left hand across the River Trent - a distance of 70 yards. His angling gained him a few prizes and he was also known to swim a bit, pulling three drowning folks out of the River Trent during his lifetime.

Bare-knuckle prize-fighting was his real game. By the age of 18 he was fighting for money. He vanquished his first 8 antagonists, one of whom was the renowned Champion of Bingham. At the age of 21 he was a regular pro-fighter, and though most of his opponents were bigger men, his fists were as hard as nails and he was skilful beyond the ordinary. He was utterly without fear.

'Bendy's short for Bendigo, you should see him peel,

Half of him was whalebone, half of him was steel.

Fighting weight eleven ten, five foot nine in height,

Always ready to oblige, if you want a fight.'

 

Bendigo never refused a challenge. His crouching southpaw stance - being left-handed, he became the first well-known fighter to fight the 'wrong way' round - disconcerted his opponents. Not to mention his antics. He was like a jumping-jack, bobbing around, and with an agile mind, quick wit, and sometimes vitriolic tongue, he would rile his opponents with personal remarks. The crowds loved it. But it was his remarkable agility and speed that won him his matches. By the time he came to fight Ben Caunt of Hucknall, a miner and son of Lord Byron's gamekeeper, Bendigo had built up a considerable reputation - and a following.

An enthusiastic crowd of supporters known as the 'Nottingham Lambs' used rough, strong-armed methods, making it their business to break up fights that were not going Bendigo's way. They intimidated referees and umpires, using bludgeons indiscriminately. Great rivalry flared between the 'Nottingham Lambs' and Ben Caunt's band of ruffians.

The law frowned on prizefighting and fights were usually held in out-of-the-way spots, often in a hollow where the ground formed a natural amphitheatre. Rings were 24 feet square constructed from eight posts and two rope rails with a 'scratch' mark in the centre of the ring. Another surrounding ring pitched ten feet back held the umpires, backers and privileged spectators known as the 'Fancy.'

Ben Caunt was 6 inches taller and 3 stones heavier than Bendigo when they fought on 21 July 1835 at Nottingham. At first, Caunt used his greater strength to throw Bendigo to the ground and fall across his stomach. 'Big Ben' then grabbed Bendigo by the throat (pictured right) before trying to break his back against a ring stake. But Bendigo soon learned to use his rapid footwork. Avoiding all heavy blows from Caunt, he mercilessly teased him, calling him 'a chuckle-head' and 'a dirty toad' Whenever Caunt managed to close with him, Bendigo would go down. 'I slipped!' he would plead and the end of the round would be called.

A round lasted no set length of time but ended when a man was knocked down. The downed fighter had 30 seconds to come up to 'scratch' in the centre of the ring. A fighter could be disqualified if he fell without a blow, just going down for a rest, but as it was difficult to judge whether a man had fallen to a light blow, the clever ones exploited it. Covering the fight, a writer of the day described Caunt as 'full of trickery, treachery and having no ethics' and Bendigo as 'deadly and poisonous as a rattlesnake with about the same ethics.'

Eventually, the taunts became too much for Caunt and in a fury he rushed across the ring calling on Bendigo 'to stand up and fight like a man.' Dealing a mighty blow to Bendigo, who was still seated on his second's knee, Ben sent Bendy and his second sprawling. Caunt was promptly disqualified. They had fought 22 rounds.

The stakes, £25 a side, were handed to Bendigo, but this unsatisfactory result left a bitter rivalry between the fighters and their supporters. The victory for Bendigo brought him bigger challengers and he moved to Sheffield where his new neighbours backed him against the celebrated John Leachman, known as 'Brassy of Bradford.' The fight lasted 52 rounds and Bendigo won.

The fight against Charley Langham at Newcastle in 1837 was just as tough and Bendigo won in the 51st round.