I’ve been thinking about using CafePress to make a t-shirt that declares my familial relationship with ‘The Tipton Slasher’, also known as my pugilistic great-great-grandfather William ‘Bill’ Perry. My favorite quotes describing his personality are that he was a “proud, deluded man”, “tricky”, “cool under pressure” and “a proper ruffian”.

Who the heck was William Perry?

William Perry was born on March 21, 1819 in the polluted, industrialized iron and coal mining and canal town of Tipton, Staffordshire, England. Tipton is part of the West Midlands known as the ‘Black Country’, and is famed for being the birthplace of engineer James Watt’s first steam engine in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines.

At just over 6 feet tall and 185lbs, William was a scrappy lad, working the narrow boats on the canals as his father did before him. Growing up he fought for dominance with other boatmen, seeking to improve his fortunes by being first through the congested locks, and by the time he reached his teens he commanded priority at any locks he arrived at. He began boxing in the ring in 1835, at the age of 16, and his reputation was assured when he beat a Birmingham boxer with repeated slashing right arm blows to the head, hence his moniker, ‘The Tipton Slasher’.

He won many boxing tournaments, fighting against such Victorian greats as Charles Freeman, Tom Paddock, Harry Broome, and Tom Sayers (click here for a full record of his career). He became world champion in 1850 and held the world bare knuckle boxing championship title until 1857. During his boxing career Perry had his head quarters at the Fountain Inn Owen St Tipton, were he would drink and plan his next boxing bouts with his associates. After he became world champion he bought a pub in West Bromwich and fell into semi retirement.

Then a man named Tom Sayers known as ‘Tom Little’, for he was only 5ft 8in tall challenged him for the championship. Out of condition and against advice Perry accepted. He was so sure he could win he gambled everything he owned including his pub. The match went ten rounds and Perry lost. The Tipton Slasher died on January 18, 1881 in Wolverhampton, and is buried in St Johns churchyard Kate’s Hill Dudley.

Some excellent folktales surround Bill Perry’s life.

The first is a story of his prowess as a young boxer: Perry was being chased across a field by a bull, and half way across he stopped running and landed the bull a crushing blow between the eyes, which caused the bull to promptly collapse.

The second is the story of his final defeat and the reckless gambling away of everything he owned, including his beloved pub. Before his fight with Tom Sayers, Perry consulted a fortune-teller who went under the name of “The Dudley Devil”. He was given his answer in rhyme:
Slasher,yo’ll stop as yo started.
Yo’ll get all yo gi’ed in one goo,
Yo an yer pub will be parted,
Tum Little will mek it cum true.

His swashbuckling story has been immortalized in the arts.

In the form of a play by the Zip Theatre Company, a song by Bill Pritchard(?) on his album “Happiness and Other Crimes” which was apparently released only in France in 1999, an electric guitar, and a long poem, as well as a statue of his likeness on proud display in the Coronation Gardens park in central Tipton.

I have an encyclopaedic “History of Boxing” book at home that has a nice linocut print of him from the shoulders up, looking very svelte in all his Victorian finery, as well as an old newspaper sketch of him ‘in the ring’. I also have some excellent photos of my grandfather, Ronald Perry, born August 25, 1914 who followed in the family tradition and was a boxer as well, which would be nice to incorporate. I’m looking for some good design ideas. I could always just have a raglan t-shirt with the boxing photo titled ‘The Tipton Slasher’ but I feel like I could do better. Font suggestions would be welcome also!