James Britt
In JAMES EDWARD BRITT
James Edward Britt was born on October 5, 1879 to a plumber, James E. and Mary Cronan Britt in San Francisco, California. He was their second child, along with his brother William F. Britt, who would one day become his fight manager. His sister Mary would arrive on the scene seven years later, followed by another sister, Alice in nine more years. Sadly, James would be the sole surviving child of that family sixteen years later.
By the year 1900 he was employed as a bookkeeper and brother William as a reporter for the San Francisco Morning Call. In the following ten years, James gained the bantamweight and featherweight championships of California and the World Lightweight Championship, and began a successful career as an actor in vaudeville. During this time period he was living with his mother and father, who was now a plumbing inspector for the San Francisco Board of Health and quite involved in San Francisco city politics. By 1930, his mother had died and James had investments in real estate in San Francisco and was an inspector for the San Francisco Board of Works. His father, then at seventy one years of age was retired.
James Britt died at home on January 22, 1940 in San Francisco, California at 61 years of age. It is not known that he ever married. He was predeceased by his father, James E. Britt, his mother Mary Cronan Britt, his sister Mary (May) in 1906, his brother William (Willis) in 1909 and his sister Alice in 1911.
It is next to impossible to obtain information from the San Francisco area prior to 11 April 1906 due to the earthquake and resulting fires from that disaster, historical records of that area are rare. A sad side note relating to that event is that James’ sister Mary, had to be carried out of their burning home on her sickbed, she died in that same month of consumption. The following is an effort to fill in with existing information of the life of James Edward Britt that is verifiable.
Asked once how he became a boxer, Jimmy answered, “My brother Willis was a bantamweight champion as an amateur and I learned something about the game by holding his coat when he was ready for action. Then, on Brannon Street in the south of Market District, you had to fight or stay indoors. I was a lad who wanted to be in the open and I just naturally had to fight to protect myself.”
Willie Britt had been an amateur boxer and a reporter on the old Morning Call. When James Edward became a money maker, Willie took over his management and did a good job. He died suddenly on 30 October 1909 at St. Joseph hospital in San Francisco, CA from a bleeding ulcer at 31 years of age leaving behind his wife, Rose and infant daughter, Mary Willis Britt.
As sensational as any fighter in the Golden West at the turn of the century, “Dapper Jimmy Britt” won honors for the Olympic Club when he captured the featherweight championship
The following story about a 17 year old Jimmy Britt was posted on line:
Fighters Seek to Settle Grudge over Woman in Ring 1896
Britt and Lawler Indulge in a Fist Fight All on Account of a Woman
San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 18. — It took twenty-eight rounds of desperate bare knuckle slugging to settle the grudge that has existed for a long time between Jimmy Britt, once the champion bantamweight of the coast, and Frank Lawler, another well known athlete whose doings in the fistic arena have made him quite prominent.
Britt and Lawler were formerly friends but had a falling out over a member of the fair sex and decided to settle the controversy in a bare knuckle finish fight. Both being members of a well known athletic club that has turned out a great many good boxers, it was decided to hold the match there. The location of the ring was kept a secret until the last minute and while the fighters were in training, no one except a favored few knew where the mill was to take place.
These few selected a well known sporting man as referee and the combatants stripped and went to work. The first three rounds consisted of hot give and take work with the result that both showed signs of distress when the fourth round was called. From the fifth to the twelfth, however, the fighting was fast with honors about even. They took things easy until the twentieth when another fierce rally, nearly resulted in Britt going out from a right hand swing that landed on his neck. He recovered in the next round and from that to the twenty-eighth round had a shade the best of the argument, Lawler being tired. As there seemed to be little chance of a finish and both men were terribly punished the referee called the match a draw.
Jack London wrote “The Game”, a boxing story, and it was serialized in Metropolitan Magazine April-May 1905. It created headlines when critics claimed the story was unreal . . . that no fighter could be killed by hitting his head on the canvas. Jack replied he had seen this actually happen in the West Oakland Athletic Club. The furor died down considerably when Jimmy Britt, lightweight champion of the world, reviewed “The Game” for the San Francisco Examiner and said, with a reproduction of a letter from Jack London who wrote, “All I can say in reply is, that a young fighter in the very club described in my book, had his head smashed in this manner. Incidentally, this young fighter worked in a sail-loft and took remarkably good care of his mother, brother and sisters. “And oh,—one word more. I have just received a letter from Jimmy Britt, light-weight champion of the world, in which he tells me that he particularly enjoyed ‘The Game,’ on account of its trueness to life.” “Very truly yours, “Jack London.” - , Jimmy wrote, “With nothing more than the above letter to assure me that Jack London is strictly on the ‘level’ and nothing more to guarantee me that he knows ‘The Game’ than his description of his fictional prize-fight, I would, if he were part of our world, propose or accept him as referee of my impending battle with Nelson.”
Britt was a professional lightweight boxer from 1902 to 1909. There was dispute over who was the true holder of the lightweight title. According to some modern record books, after Gans won the title in 1902 he relinquished the title in 1904 to fight welterweight Joe Walcott at a catch-weight of 141 pounds with no title on the line, lightweight or welterweight. Jimmy Britt claimed the vacated lightweight championship by stopping Frank Erne in seven rounds in November 26, 1902 and defended six times before Gans beat him in 1904 by a foul in the 5th round.
He regained the lightweight title December 20, 1904 beating Nelson in 20 rounds and defended his title two times prior to losing it September 9, 1905 to Nelson. Britt regained the title July 31, 1907 in 20 rounds with Nelson only to lose it on 9 September 1907 to Joe Gans, when he broke his wrist in the 4th round. His last notable fight was when he lost to Johnny Summers on July 31, 1909 in London, England.
The following article was published in the New York Times on June 27, 1908:
Jimmy Britt in Town
Jimmy Britt of California, the former featherweight champion pugilist arrived in New York yesterday on his way to Europe. Britt is interested in amateur athletics, and will witness the college boat races at Poughkeepsie to-day. On Thursday he will sail on the America, and will attend the Olympic Games at Shepherd’s Bush, London. The Californian will combine business with pleasure during his trip to England, and will look into the process of separating water from milk and reducing the latter to a powder. He was attracted to the latest invention through reports of the horse that was fed the milk, and intends investing in the company if the investigation bears out the reports.
After quitting the ring, Britt took to vaudeville where he was quite successful. He was a prime entertainer and greatly in demand. Well kept to the end of his career, James Edward always “brought down the house” when he recited his favorite poem, “The Kid’s Last Fight.”
Vaudeville exhibitions of that described in the following may have been Britt’s introduction to his stage career.
Until the 1910s, many Honolulu boxing matches took place inside vaudeville theaters. To circumvent laws prohibiting prizefighting, these matches were called exhibitions. For example, on May 28, 1904, Paddy Ryan organized a boxing card at the New Chinese Theater on Hotel Street. The main event featured Frank Nichols of Honolulu versus USS New York’s Sailor Robinson. Likewise, on June 22, 1911, the Honolulu Eagles hosted a show at the Bijou Theater that featured “fun in boxing land.” The main event featured Mike Patton, who claimed to be the champion of the Far East. Finally, on June 11, 1913, Jim Hoao lost a 15-round decision to Private Morris Kilsner during a bout held at Honolulu’s Ye Liberty Theater.
Famous champions sometimes took part in these exhibitions. For example, during July 1894, John L. Sullivan was on a trip to Australia, and while in Honolulu, he gave an exhibition at the Opera House. His opponent was a sparring partner named Fitzsimmons (not Bob). Similarly, during November 1907, the visiting lightweight champion Jimmy Britt gave a demonstration to the “sport- loving people of Honolulu.” The Advertiser noted that the latter exhibition was “of such character that women can safely attend.” (In those days, society discouraged women from attending fights, but some went anyway, usually watching from backstage.)
In a story about the vaudevillian performer, Helen Trix (Helen Yeiser):is the following excerpt, ... “Helen toured with Will Rogers in 1913, the Orpheum Circuit, through Canada (especially Calgary and Edmonton) and the Northwest US (Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Claremore, etc.). It was during this time on the Orpheum Circuit that one of the members of the tour, a teen named George Jessel who performed with Kid Kabaret. , later recalled in a book on his life, “she (Helen Trix) was the first gentlewoman I had ever known, and I have to admit it was she who started me on my lifetime habit of reading and educating myself because of my lack of formal education.” Jessel was smitten with Helen but at the time she was dating former lightweight (fighter/boxer) champion of the world, Jimmy Britt.”
Britt was quite adept with his word on paper as well as being an eloquent speaker, to defend his point of view about keeping the referee as the third man in the ring versus having the countdown timed by a referee outside the ring with a clock; the following was published in the New York Times on 5 December 1909:
JIMMY BRITT TALKS OF THE PRIZE RING
Says Referee’s Right Place to Officiate is Inside of the Ropes. BOXING HAS IMPROVED
American Says it is Not Necessary to be Tough Outside a Ring to be Tough Inside One.
Jimmy Britt, ex-champion lightweight pugilist of America, sends from South Africa, where he is at present an interesting article on boxing. The Californian says the art of boxing, unlike most other sports, is peculiar to the English-speaking people. Although France has recently taken to the sport, the boxing game there is in its infancy. Thus, the field is confined to England and the United States of America. England was the birthplace of modern boxing and the laws laid down by her for the conducting of pugilistic contents are with a few changes followed in the United States.
The first of these changes, Britt points out, in the presence of the referee inside of the ring instead of outside, as in England. In order to see everything that takes place and to be in a position to see every blow struck it is absolutely necessary for the referee to be in the ring and to be moving about with the boxers, keeping at all times in position that will enable him to judge as to whether a blow is fair or foul. For instance, a referee sitting outside the ring cannot see where a blow strikes when the back of one of the fighters is turned toward him. He may see the blow started, but he cannot possibly know whether it lands fair or foul. This situation, swing to the constant moving of the boxers, may occur a hundred times in the course of a twenty rounds contest, and it is a temptation, especially to a nearly beaten man, to either try to disable his opponent by a foul blow or to fall down and pretend that he himself was struck unfairly. This temptation does not present itself when the eyes of the referee are constantly on the contestants, as is sure to be the case when he is in the ring and changing his position so as to keep the arms of both men within his vision.
Another reason in favor of the inside referee is that he is at all times able to separate the men when holding and clinching. It is all very well to say, “Disqualify the holder,” but unfortunately human nature is human nature, and self-preservation being its firs law, a weak or badly hurt boxer will hold until such time as he has recovered strength and his head
clears. In this way the public who have paid to see a contest and who, after all, are to be considered most, are enabled to see a finish contest that would be otherwise curtailed by the
strict enforcing of this rule.The odium long attached to the boxing profession is fast disappearing, especially in America, Britt further says, This is entirely dire to the fact that a better class of men are adopting it as a business. To one not aware of the tremendous interest aroused and the fortunes made on championship contests this may seem strange, but it is nevertheless a fact that a champion boxer in America. If he too not a spendthrift may amass enough money while comparatively a young man to live comfortably for the rest of his life. This is not possible in England, where contests of this kind are held in private clubs from which the public are excluded. In America all who have the price are welcome and for that reason the gate receipts are large and the boxer better paid. The more money to be made the more inducement for intelligent men to adopt it as a business.
According to Britt, the day of the liberty-taking, rowdy boxer has long since gone by. The public soon tires of him, and, besides, if to necessary to be tough outside a ring in order to be tough inside one. In America, the successful boxer is regarded much in the same light as any one who entertains the public, and is treated with the same respect given other famous sporting characters; provided, of course, his behavior warrants it. Unfortunately, in England, once a fighter, always a fighter. A little encouragement in the right direction goes a long way, and boxers are human, despite some opinions to the contrary. The opinions held by a great number of lovers of boxing, that a goodly percentage of boxing contests are prearranged, or “fakes,” is very erroneous, especially where champions or nearly champions are concerned.
The champion has too much at stake to forfeit his title and too much pride in his position at the top to agree to relinquish it. The aspirant for the honors has too much glory and money in the prospect of winning, to agree to lose. Besides, a boxer knows that if discovered he is very properly blacklisted and shunned by this friends and by the sporting public. A boxer knows by the experience of past “fakers” that honesty is the best position. If not actually
honest self-interest makes him so. In 1914 the Oakland Tribune, for Britt’s 35th birthday the following article was published:
“If he hadn’t lost his temper and whipped an Admiral of the Chilean navy, James Edward Britt night have celebrated his 35th birthday as a plutocratic plumber instead of being a mere vaudeville actor. James Edward was born in San Francisco on October 5, 1879. He was a bright lad destined to get ahead in the world, to be just naturally adopted plumbing as the shortest road to wealth
By the time he had reached his majority Jimmy was well started in his chosen calling. In his hours of ease and relaxation he was able to sport the swellest and noisiest aggregation of glad rags to br seen in San Francisco. It was this fondness for sartorical* embellishments which led to his undoing. Most people viewed his getup with respect and awe and even the rah-rah boys took the side streets when they heard Jimmy coming. One evening Britt burst in upon a cafe, where as usual, gasps of envy and admiration greeted him, save for one discordant note. Among those lined up at the mahogany was a rude fellow, some six feet in altitude, who answered to the name of Mike. The giant wore the insignia of an admiral of the Chilean navy and was some gaudy and fussed up, but Jimmy’s duds just naturally made him look like a piker. So the Irish admiral of the Chilean navy busted right out a-laffin’ and it was evident that James Edward was the object of his mirth.
Now James stood only five feet and a half and weighed around 110 pounds, but that didn’t deter him from seeking redress. Just one punch from the infuriated plumber wiped the grin off the tar’s face and sent him down for the count. The Chilean-Hibernian was not only a heavyweight, but had the reputation of being an expert boxer, and Britt’s feat made him a
hero.His friends pestered him to go into the ring, until at last he yielded. In 1902 he defeated Frank Erne, who had just lost the lightweight title to Joe Gans. The Native Son challenged the negro, but Joe refused to make the weight and Britt claimed the lightweight title.
In 1904 he defeated Battling Nelson and Young Corbett, but lost on a foul to Gans. The next year he met the Dane again and was knocked out and in 1907 Gans put the kibosh on Jimmy’s aspirations. Later he was knocked out by Packey McFarland.
Jimmy’s last important bout was fought in London five years ago, when Johnny Summers put him to sleep. After that Britt took to the stage and he has got away with it. Like the other distinguished Californian, Jim Corbett, Britt has real talent as an actor. He has traveled all over the world and is said to have added quite a bunch of kale to the mangled remains of the $75,000 he accumulated during his ring career.” * [the author took the word, “sartorial” and made a new word of it.]
The following article was published in the New York Times on July 21, 1914:
Britt leaves for Europe
Ex-Lightweight Will Make Vaudeville Tour with Hugh D. McIntosh
Jimmy Britt and Hugh D. McIntosh, who were associated in promoting boxing on a large scale in London several years ago, leave for Europe on the Aquitania today. The last time Britt and McIntosh went to London it was to carry out a big boxing deal, but their present trip has nothing to do with sport. Britt and McIntosh were the first to introduce boxing on a large scale in England, and they staged many big bouts while they were in charge of the Olympia, which they made the biggest boxing organization in London. The foundation they laid for boxing in England made possible the staging of the Smith-Carpenter bout, which attracted one of the largest crowds that ever saw a boxing bout in Europe.
It is an interesting coincidence that both gave up their boxing interests to go into the theatrical business, McIntosh in the office and Britt on the stage. Britt, on his present trip, will make a vaudeville tour of the large cities of Europe and Australia under McIntosh's management.
The following was published in the Duluth Tribune 11-26-1915:
Jimmy Britt is in Army
New York, Nov., 26.—Jimmy Britt, one-time lightweight champion of America is on a British, troopship somewhere on the Indian Ocean, a private in Great Britain’s colonial army, bound for the trenches of Gallipoli. Within a fortnight he will probably be on the fighting line battle for the allies on the same field where A. F. Wilding gave his life some months ago.
No One in this country had the slightest intimation that Britt was even interested in the war until today, when Al Lippe received a letter, mailed in Australia, in which Britt wrote he had enlisted in an Australian Regiment.
Jimmy Britt was elected to Ring Magazine’s Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1976, 36 years after his death. It gives this author wonderment if James Edward Britt, residing at 63 Fillmore Street in San Francisco, CA was aware that a small logging railroad community in the north woods of Minnesota had their community named in his honor more than three decades before he died?
Bibliography:
International Boxing Research Organization, Tracy Callis, Historian
San Francisco Chronicle 1940, San Francisco, CA Duluth News Tribune, 1905 – 1915, Duluth, MN Oakland Tribune, 1905 – 1914, Oakland, CA Historical Collection of Michael Bukovac New York Times, 1906 - 1914, New York, NY
Posted by Clippique, Labels: 1896, boxing, California, draw, fighting, grudge, woman Western Boxing in Hawaii: The Bootleg Era, 1893-1929 by Joseph R. Svinth, with Curtis Narimatsu, Paul Lou, and Charles Johnston
United States Census 1880; 1900; 1920; 1930
The U.S. Census of 1880 states:
Father, James E. Britt, 24 years old was employed as a plumber. Wife, Mary, 23 years old was keeping house. The other household members were a son, William, 2 years old, son, James E. 8 months old, (siblings of the father) a sister , Mary 14 years old attending school, a brother John, 9 years old and a brother Joseph, 7 years old.
The U.S. Census of 1900 states:
Father, James E. Britt, 44 years old was employed as a plumber. Wife, Mary, 42 years old was keeping house.
The other household members were a son, William aged 22 employed as a reporter; a son, James aged 21 employed as a bookkeeper; a daughter, Mary aged 14 at school and a daughter Alice aged 5 at school.
The U.S. Census of 1920 states:
Father, James E. Britt, a plumbing inspector for the Department of Health and wife, Mary.
Son, James E. Britt Jr. employed as an Actor in Vaudeville.
The U.S. Census of 1930 states:
Head of household, James E. Britt aged 72 with no occupation and son James E. Britt Jr. aged 50 employed as an inspector for the Board of Works.
James Edward Britt was born on October 5, 1879 to a plumber, James E. and Mary Cronan Britt in San Francisco, California. He was their second child, along with his brother William F. Britt, who would one day become his fight manager. His sister Mary would arrive on the scene seven years later, followed by another sister, Alice in nine more years. Sadly, James would be the sole surviving child of that family sixteen years later.
By the year 1900 he was employed as a bookkeeper and brother William as a reporter for the San Francisco Morning Call. In the following ten years, James gained the bantamweight and featherweight championships of California and the World Lightweight Championship, and began a successful career as an actor in vaudeville. During this time period he was living with his mother and father, who was now a plumbing inspector for the San Francisco Board of Health and quite involved in San Francisco city politics. By 1930, his mother had died and James had investments in real estate in San Francisco and was an inspector for the San Francisco Board of Works. His father, then at seventy one years of age was retired.
James Britt died at home on January 22, 1940 in San Francisco, California at 61 years of age. It is not known that he ever married. He was predeceased by his father, James E. Britt, his mother Mary Cronan Britt, his sister Mary (May) in 1906, his brother William (Willis) in 1909 and his sister Alice in 1911.
It is next to impossible to obtain information from the San Francisco area prior to 11 April 1906 due to the earthquake and resulting fires from that disaster, historical records of that area are rare. A sad side note relating to that event is that James’ sister Mary, had to be carried out of their burning home on her sickbed, she died in that same month of consumption. The following is an effort to fill in with existing information of the life of James Edward Britt that is verifiable.
Asked once how he became a boxer, Jimmy answered, “My brother Willis was a bantamweight champion as an amateur and I learned something about the game by holding his coat when he was ready for action. Then, on Brannon Street in the south of Market District, you had to fight or stay indoors. I was a lad who wanted to be in the open and I just naturally had to fight to protect myself.”
Willie Britt had been an amateur boxer and a reporter on the old Morning Call. When James Edward became a money maker, Willie took over his management and did a good job. He died suddenly on 30 October 1909 at St. Joseph hospital in San Francisco, CA from a bleeding ulcer at 31 years of age leaving behind his wife, Rose and infant daughter, Mary Willis Britt.
As sensational as any fighter in the Golden West at the turn of the century, “Dapper Jimmy Britt” won honors for the Olympic Club when he captured the featherweight championship
The following story about a 17 year old Jimmy Britt was posted on line:
Fighters Seek to Settle Grudge over Woman in Ring 1896
Britt and Lawler Indulge in a Fist Fight All on Account of a Woman
San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 18. — It took twenty-eight rounds of desperate bare knuckle slugging to settle the grudge that has existed for a long time between Jimmy Britt, once the champion bantamweight of the coast, and Frank Lawler, another well known athlete whose doings in the fistic arena have made him quite prominent.
Britt and Lawler were formerly friends but had a falling out over a member of the fair sex and decided to settle the controversy in a bare knuckle finish fight. Both being members of a well known athletic club that has turned out a great many good boxers, it was decided to hold the match there. The location of the ring was kept a secret until the last minute and while the fighters were in training, no one except a favored few knew where the mill was to take place.
These few selected a well known sporting man as referee and the combatants stripped and went to work. The first three rounds consisted of hot give and take work with the result that both showed signs of distress when the fourth round was called. From the fifth to the twelfth, however, the fighting was fast with honors about even. They took things easy until the twentieth when another fierce rally, nearly resulted in Britt going out from a right hand swing that landed on his neck. He recovered in the next round and from that to the twenty-eighth round had a shade the best of the argument, Lawler being tired. As there seemed to be little chance of a finish and both men were terribly punished the referee called the match a draw.
Jack London wrote “The Game”, a boxing story, and it was serialized in Metropolitan Magazine April-May 1905. It created headlines when critics claimed the story was unreal . . . that no fighter could be killed by hitting his head on the canvas. Jack replied he had seen this actually happen in the West Oakland Athletic Club. The furor died down considerably when Jimmy Britt, lightweight champion of the world, reviewed “The Game” for the San Francisco Examiner and said, with a reproduction of a letter from Jack London who wrote, “All I can say in reply is, that a young fighter in the very club described in my book, had his head smashed in this manner. Incidentally, this young fighter worked in a sail-loft and took remarkably good care of his mother, brother and sisters. “And oh,—one word more. I have just received a letter from Jimmy Britt, light-weight champion of the world, in which he tells me that he particularly enjoyed ‘The Game,’ on account of its trueness to life.” “Very truly yours, “Jack London.” - , Jimmy wrote, “With nothing more than the above letter to assure me that Jack London is strictly on the ‘level’ and nothing more to guarantee me that he knows ‘The Game’ than his description of his fictional prize-fight, I would, if he were part of our world, propose or accept him as referee of my impending battle with Nelson.”
Britt was a professional lightweight boxer from 1902 to 1909. There was dispute over who was the true holder of the lightweight title. According to some modern record books, after Gans won the title in 1902 he relinquished the title in 1904 to fight welterweight Joe Walcott at a catch-weight of 141 pounds with no title on the line, lightweight or welterweight. Jimmy Britt claimed the vacated lightweight championship by stopping Frank Erne in seven rounds in November 26, 1902 and defended six times before Gans beat him in 1904 by a foul in the 5th round.
He regained the lightweight title December 20, 1904 beating Nelson in 20 rounds and defended his title two times prior to losing it September 9, 1905 to Nelson. Britt regained the title July 31, 1907 in 20 rounds with Nelson only to lose it on 9 September 1907 to Joe Gans, when he broke his wrist in the 4th round. His last notable fight was when he lost to Johnny Summers on July 31, 1909 in London, England.
The following article was published in the New York Times on June 27, 1908:
Jimmy Britt in Town
Jimmy Britt of California, the former featherweight champion pugilist arrived in New York yesterday on his way to Europe. Britt is interested in amateur athletics, and will witness the college boat races at Poughkeepsie to-day. On Thursday he will sail on the America, and will attend the Olympic Games at Shepherd’s Bush, London. The Californian will combine business with pleasure during his trip to England, and will look into the process of separating water from milk and reducing the latter to a powder. He was attracted to the latest invention through reports of the horse that was fed the milk, and intends investing in the company if the investigation bears out the reports.
After quitting the ring, Britt took to vaudeville where he was quite successful. He was a prime entertainer and greatly in demand. Well kept to the end of his career, James Edward always “brought down the house” when he recited his favorite poem, “The Kid’s Last Fight.”
Vaudeville exhibitions of that described in the following may have been Britt’s introduction to his stage career.
Until the 1910s, many Honolulu boxing matches took place inside vaudeville theaters. To circumvent laws prohibiting prizefighting, these matches were called exhibitions. For example, on May 28, 1904, Paddy Ryan organized a boxing card at the New Chinese Theater on Hotel Street. The main event featured Frank Nichols of Honolulu versus USS New York’s Sailor Robinson. Likewise, on June 22, 1911, the Honolulu Eagles hosted a show at the Bijou Theater that featured “fun in boxing land.” The main event featured Mike Patton, who claimed to be the champion of the Far East. Finally, on June 11, 1913, Jim Hoao lost a 15-round decision to Private Morris Kilsner during a bout held at Honolulu’s Ye Liberty Theater.
Famous champions sometimes took part in these exhibitions. For example, during July 1894, John L. Sullivan was on a trip to Australia, and while in Honolulu, he gave an exhibition at the Opera House. His opponent was a sparring partner named Fitzsimmons (not Bob). Similarly, during November 1907, the visiting lightweight champion Jimmy Britt gave a demonstration to the “sport- loving people of Honolulu.” The Advertiser noted that the latter exhibition was “of such character that women can safely attend.” (In those days, society discouraged women from attending fights, but some went anyway, usually watching from backstage.)
In a story about the vaudevillian performer, Helen Trix (Helen Yeiser):is the following excerpt, ... “Helen toured with Will Rogers in 1913, the Orpheum Circuit, through Canada (especially Calgary and Edmonton) and the Northwest US (Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Claremore, etc.). It was during this time on the Orpheum Circuit that one of the members of the tour, a teen named George Jessel who performed with Kid Kabaret. , later recalled in a book on his life, “she (Helen Trix) was the first gentlewoman I had ever known, and I have to admit it was she who started me on my lifetime habit of reading and educating myself because of my lack of formal education.” Jessel was smitten with Helen but at the time she was dating former lightweight (fighter/boxer) champion of the world, Jimmy Britt.”
Britt was quite adept with his word on paper as well as being an eloquent speaker, to defend his point of view about keeping the referee as the third man in the ring versus having the countdown timed by a referee outside the ring with a clock; the following was published in the New York Times on 5 December 1909:
JIMMY BRITT TALKS OF THE PRIZE RING
Says Referee’s Right Place to Officiate is Inside of the Ropes. BOXING HAS IMPROVED
American Says it is Not Necessary to be Tough Outside a Ring to be Tough Inside One.
Jimmy Britt, ex-champion lightweight pugilist of America, sends from South Africa, where he is at present an interesting article on boxing. The Californian says the art of boxing, unlike most other sports, is peculiar to the English-speaking people. Although France has recently taken to the sport, the boxing game there is in its infancy. Thus, the field is confined to England and the United States of America. England was the birthplace of modern boxing and the laws laid down by her for the conducting of pugilistic contents are with a few changes followed in the United States.
The first of these changes, Britt points out, in the presence of the referee inside of the ring instead of outside, as in England. In order to see everything that takes place and to be in a position to see every blow struck it is absolutely necessary for the referee to be in the ring and to be moving about with the boxers, keeping at all times in position that will enable him to judge as to whether a blow is fair or foul. For instance, a referee sitting outside the ring cannot see where a blow strikes when the back of one of the fighters is turned toward him. He may see the blow started, but he cannot possibly know whether it lands fair or foul. This situation, swing to the constant moving of the boxers, may occur a hundred times in the course of a twenty rounds contest, and it is a temptation, especially to a nearly beaten man, to either try to disable his opponent by a foul blow or to fall down and pretend that he himself was struck unfairly. This temptation does not present itself when the eyes of the referee are constantly on the contestants, as is sure to be the case when he is in the ring and changing his position so as to keep the arms of both men within his vision.
Another reason in favor of the inside referee is that he is at all times able to separate the men when holding and clinching. It is all very well to say, “Disqualify the holder,” but unfortunately human nature is human nature, and self-preservation being its firs law, a weak or badly hurt boxer will hold until such time as he has recovered strength and his head
clears. In this way the public who have paid to see a contest and who, after all, are to be considered most, are enabled to see a finish contest that would be otherwise curtailed by the
strict enforcing of this rule.The odium long attached to the boxing profession is fast disappearing, especially in America, Britt further says, This is entirely dire to the fact that a better class of men are adopting it as a business. To one not aware of the tremendous interest aroused and the fortunes made on championship contests this may seem strange, but it is nevertheless a fact that a champion boxer in America. If he too not a spendthrift may amass enough money while comparatively a young man to live comfortably for the rest of his life. This is not possible in England, where contests of this kind are held in private clubs from which the public are excluded. In America all who have the price are welcome and for that reason the gate receipts are large and the boxer better paid. The more money to be made the more inducement for intelligent men to adopt it as a business.
According to Britt, the day of the liberty-taking, rowdy boxer has long since gone by. The public soon tires of him, and, besides, if to necessary to be tough outside a ring in order to be tough inside one. In America, the successful boxer is regarded much in the same light as any one who entertains the public, and is treated with the same respect given other famous sporting characters; provided, of course, his behavior warrants it. Unfortunately, in England, once a fighter, always a fighter. A little encouragement in the right direction goes a long way, and boxers are human, despite some opinions to the contrary. The opinions held by a great number of lovers of boxing, that a goodly percentage of boxing contests are prearranged, or “fakes,” is very erroneous, especially where champions or nearly champions are concerned.
The champion has too much at stake to forfeit his title and too much pride in his position at the top to agree to relinquish it. The aspirant for the honors has too much glory and money in the prospect of winning, to agree to lose. Besides, a boxer knows that if discovered he is very properly blacklisted and shunned by this friends and by the sporting public. A boxer knows by the experience of past “fakers” that honesty is the best position. If not actually
honest self-interest makes him so. In 1914 the Oakland Tribune, for Britt’s 35th birthday the following article was published:
“If he hadn’t lost his temper and whipped an Admiral of the Chilean navy, James Edward Britt night have celebrated his 35th birthday as a plutocratic plumber instead of being a mere vaudeville actor. James Edward was born in San Francisco on October 5, 1879. He was a bright lad destined to get ahead in the world, to be just naturally adopted plumbing as the shortest road to wealth
By the time he had reached his majority Jimmy was well started in his chosen calling. In his hours of ease and relaxation he was able to sport the swellest and noisiest aggregation of glad rags to br seen in San Francisco. It was this fondness for sartorical* embellishments which led to his undoing. Most people viewed his getup with respect and awe and even the rah-rah boys took the side streets when they heard Jimmy coming. One evening Britt burst in upon a cafe, where as usual, gasps of envy and admiration greeted him, save for one discordant note. Among those lined up at the mahogany was a rude fellow, some six feet in altitude, who answered to the name of Mike. The giant wore the insignia of an admiral of the Chilean navy and was some gaudy and fussed up, but Jimmy’s duds just naturally made him look like a piker. So the Irish admiral of the Chilean navy busted right out a-laffin’ and it was evident that James Edward was the object of his mirth.
Now James stood only five feet and a half and weighed around 110 pounds, but that didn’t deter him from seeking redress. Just one punch from the infuriated plumber wiped the grin off the tar’s face and sent him down for the count. The Chilean-Hibernian was not only a heavyweight, but had the reputation of being an expert boxer, and Britt’s feat made him a
hero.His friends pestered him to go into the ring, until at last he yielded. In 1902 he defeated Frank Erne, who had just lost the lightweight title to Joe Gans. The Native Son challenged the negro, but Joe refused to make the weight and Britt claimed the lightweight title.
In 1904 he defeated Battling Nelson and Young Corbett, but lost on a foul to Gans. The next year he met the Dane again and was knocked out and in 1907 Gans put the kibosh on Jimmy’s aspirations. Later he was knocked out by Packey McFarland.
Jimmy’s last important bout was fought in London five years ago, when Johnny Summers put him to sleep. After that Britt took to the stage and he has got away with it. Like the other distinguished Californian, Jim Corbett, Britt has real talent as an actor. He has traveled all over the world and is said to have added quite a bunch of kale to the mangled remains of the $75,000 he accumulated during his ring career.” * [the author took the word, “sartorial” and made a new word of it.]
The following article was published in the New York Times on July 21, 1914:
Britt leaves for Europe
Ex-Lightweight Will Make Vaudeville Tour with Hugh D. McIntosh
Jimmy Britt and Hugh D. McIntosh, who were associated in promoting boxing on a large scale in London several years ago, leave for Europe on the Aquitania today. The last time Britt and McIntosh went to London it was to carry out a big boxing deal, but their present trip has nothing to do with sport. Britt and McIntosh were the first to introduce boxing on a large scale in England, and they staged many big bouts while they were in charge of the Olympia, which they made the biggest boxing organization in London. The foundation they laid for boxing in England made possible the staging of the Smith-Carpenter bout, which attracted one of the largest crowds that ever saw a boxing bout in Europe.
It is an interesting coincidence that both gave up their boxing interests to go into the theatrical business, McIntosh in the office and Britt on the stage. Britt, on his present trip, will make a vaudeville tour of the large cities of Europe and Australia under McIntosh's management.
The following was published in the Duluth Tribune 11-26-1915:
Jimmy Britt is in Army
New York, Nov., 26.—Jimmy Britt, one-time lightweight champion of America is on a British, troopship somewhere on the Indian Ocean, a private in Great Britain’s colonial army, bound for the trenches of Gallipoli. Within a fortnight he will probably be on the fighting line battle for the allies on the same field where A. F. Wilding gave his life some months ago.
No One in this country had the slightest intimation that Britt was even interested in the war until today, when Al Lippe received a letter, mailed in Australia, in which Britt wrote he had enlisted in an Australian Regiment.
Jimmy Britt was elected to Ring Magazine’s Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1976, 36 years after his death. It gives this author wonderment if James Edward Britt, residing at 63 Fillmore Street in San Francisco, CA was aware that a small logging railroad community in the north woods of Minnesota had their community named in his honor more than three decades before he died?
Bibliography:
International Boxing Research Organization, Tracy Callis, Historian
San Francisco Chronicle 1940, San Francisco, CA Duluth News Tribune, 1905 – 1915, Duluth, MN Oakland Tribune, 1905 – 1914, Oakland, CA Historical Collection of Michael Bukovac New York Times, 1906 - 1914, New York, NY
Posted by Clippique, Labels: 1896, boxing, California, draw, fighting, grudge, woman Western Boxing in Hawaii: The Bootleg Era, 1893-1929 by Joseph R. Svinth, with Curtis Narimatsu, Paul Lou, and Charles Johnston
United States Census 1880; 1900; 1920; 1930
The U.S. Census of 1880 states:
Father, James E. Britt, 24 years old was employed as a plumber. Wife, Mary, 23 years old was keeping house. The other household members were a son, William, 2 years old, son, James E. 8 months old, (siblings of the father) a sister , Mary 14 years old attending school, a brother John, 9 years old and a brother Joseph, 7 years old.
The U.S. Census of 1900 states:
Father, James E. Britt, 44 years old was employed as a plumber. Wife, Mary, 42 years old was keeping house.
The other household members were a son, William aged 22 employed as a reporter; a son, James aged 21 employed as a bookkeeper; a daughter, Mary aged 14 at school and a daughter Alice aged 5 at school.
The U.S. Census of 1920 states:
Father, James E. Britt, a plumbing inspector for the Department of Health and wife, Mary.
Son, James E. Britt Jr. employed as an Actor in Vaudeville.
The U.S. Census of 1930 states:
Head of household, James E. Britt aged 72 with no occupation and son James E. Britt Jr. aged 50 employed as an inspector for the Board of Works.
Britt Community Historical Society--BCHS, P.O. Box 154, Virginia, MN 55792 ---Email: info@britthistory.org