Author: Dighton, Robert, (1752-1814), artist; Bill Richmond (1763-1829) , boxer
Title: A Striking View of Richmond. [American Born William 'Bill' Richmond (1763-1829) Was a Champion Boxer and Britain's First Black Sporting Superstar. ]. First Edition of the Color Aquatint
Description: London: Dighton, March, 1810. Color aquatint 32.5 x 24.7cm. sheet size.Signed and dated in the plate..'Drawn, Etchd, & Pubd, by Dighton, 6, Charg Cross, March. 1810'.. Crease in lower right corner..."Bill Richmond, the black pugilist, stands directed to the right, left leg advanced, fists raised. He is stripped to the waist, wearing a spotted handkerchief for belt, with neat breeches, stockings, and tied shoes."--British Museum online catalogue................Bill Richmond, whose skills in the boxing ring earned him the nickname the 'Black Terror', was born in Staten Island, New York. Lord Percy - the general who commanded the British Forces occupying the city during the American Revolution - witnessed Richmond's victory in a tavern brawl and took him in as a servant. In a number of matches against British soldiers, arranged by Percy for the entertainment of guests, Richmond was unbeaten. Percy brought him back to England in 1777 and Richmond began to fight on a regular basis. The most famous match of his career was against the British champion Tom Cribb in 1805 which he lost in the seventy-sixth round. Although he continued to fight intermittently, he became better known as the trainer of Tom Molyneaux, another black American fighter who eventually suffered the same fate at Cribb's hands.. William 'Bill' Richmond (1763-1829) was a champion boxer and Britain's first black sporting superstar... His parents were enslaved in America when he was born but he was brought to England by an influential white family who helped him to become free and secure an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, in Yorkshire, in his mid teens. For former enslaved people to start an apprenticeship was not common at this time... He eventually moved to London and it was here that he established himself as a champion boxer fighting some of the top boxers of the time. The sport was brutal during this period as it was fought without gloves and there was usually no limit to the number of rounds. It showed Bill's ability and physical prowess to have a long lasting and successful career... After retiring from fighting he became a boxing trainer at a gym in St Martins Street, Westminster. Here his celebrity helped him build a list of MP's, nobility and even the famous poet Lord Byron as training clients. Perhaps the pinnacle of his celebrity was being one of the Guards of Honour at King George IV coronation in 1821 - a unique experience for a person born enslaved.... References: V & A Museum, London E.71-1954; National Portrait Gallery London, Reference Collection NPG D10726. .

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