Abraham Cann (c.1794-1864) - more from RAMM
Portrait of Abraham Cann (c.1794-1864) - Last Champion in Devon-Style Wrestling, attributed to Henry Caunter, painted c.1846-1850
© Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter. RAMM Accession No. 12/1959
Devon Wrestling Champion who fought in St Thomas
By RAMM Curator of Art
Abraham Cann was born at Colebrooke, near Crediton around 1794 into a wrestling family.(1) His father Robert, was a farmer, maltster and wrestler, while his four brothers, James, Robert, George and William all took part in the sport.
St. Thomas and St. Sidwell's were popular venues
Devon wrestling has been described in detail by Dr. J.H. Porter,(4) who recorded prize matches in no less than forty-seven parishes during the early nineteenth century. Contests were usually associated with particular inns like the Salutation at Topsham or the White Hart at Okehampton. In Exeter, two popular venues were the St. Thomas and St. Sidwell's districts - both then outside the city boundary and noted for other rough pursuits such as bull baiting. The fights were sometimes promoted as "games" (as at St. Sidwell's) or were an addition to an existing regatta (as at Dartmouth). In the mid-late 1820s they took place over the summer months and were extremely well attended over two or more days. Large prizes were raised by gentlemen subscribers and key matches attracted several thousand people for whom special viewing arrangements were made. A brass band often added to the sense of occasion.
Both gentlemen and working men attended these events and, whilst most retained a respectable air, other meetings sometimes deteriorated into rowdiness. Devon wrestlers would also travel as far as Leeds and London, where inter-county matches were held. These large-scale events became public holidays. By the 1830s and 40s however, the great names like Cann had disappeared, the prize money was more modest and two-day games were increasingly seen as too great an interruption of work.
Devon wrestlers allowed to kick
The distinctive feature of Devon wrestling was that contestants were allowed to kick each other's shins. 'The kicking also allowed a quick opponent to trip and throw the kicker. Three men were appointed as "sticklers" (or umpires) to decide on fair play and fair falls'. (6) By contrast, Cornish wrestlers fought without shoes and grasped each other by the short jacket which was always worn. A man could be 'thrust and hugged and thrown and fallen upon', but kicking in the Devon fashion was unheard of, and although this was claimed to be the more ancient form of the sport, it was jeered at by the Cornish as being cruel and unsporting.
Cann's fame as a champion
Cann's rise to fame as the Devon champion and, ultimately, Champion of all England was impressive. Little is known of his early career (2) but two of his most important matches were very well recorded by widespread newspaper coverage. His fight with James Warren of Redruth took place at the Eagle Tavern, City Road, London, on 21st September 1826. It is described in some detail in the London Magazine. A month later Cann was again fighting a Cornishman, James Polkinghorne of St.Columb. The event took place at Tamar Green on 23rd October 1826 and resulted in Cann winning the title of Champion of the West of England. Cann's victory was still being commemorated twenty years later in popular prints. To mark the centenary of the contest in 1926 a memorial plaque was placed by the St. Columb Wrestling Committee at the Red Lion Hotel, which had been run by Polkinghorne. (3)
There are a number of images of Cann. (7) The earliest appears to be the lithographic print version of The Wrestling Champion of England published by George Rowe of Exeter on 10th August, 1826, when Cann was described as thirty years of age. On the title page of a souvenir broadsheet published by Oscar Blackford of Truro, dating from the late 1840s, Cann is said to be fifty-four years old. This shows Cann and Polkinghorne dressed in ordinary non-fighting clothes. (8) The present portrait is unsigned and has been dated by tradition to 1846. Here Cann appears as middle-aged but clearly he still attracted fame as a former champion well into the 1840s. Cann was certainly painted by the Ashburton artist, Henry Caunter sometime before 1850 as a notice in The Exeter Flying Post for 17th January 1850 described the portrait:
ASHBURTON
An excellent likeness, in oil painting, of the veteran Mr. Abraham Cann, the once noted Devon champion of wrestling, has been executed by H. Caunter Esq., of this town. It adds another excellent specimen of the genius of the artist; it may be seen at the London Inn, for a few days.
Wrestling dress peculiar to the West Country
A Comparison with another painting by Caunter of Richard Bunclark of Ashburton (1851) (9) suggests that this is the portrait referred to in the above newspaper entry. Cann is shown in the foreground, dressed as a wrestler with the Farnese Hercules statue in the background on a plinth which bears an image of a wrestling match. On the left hand side are his hat and scarf. He wears a sleeved jacket over his bare chest, breeches, gaiters and strong shoes or boots. As such he conforms to contemporary descriptions of his fellow wrestlers:
The wrestling dress peculiar to the West Country consisted of breeches or trousers and a wrestling jacket, the only part of the dress by which a hold, or as it was technically a hitch, could be got by the rules of the play. The jacket was short and loose, made of untearable linen stuff, and had loose sleeves reaching nearly to the wrist. Wrestlers wore nothing else, except worsted stockings (Cann may here be wearing gaiters) and Devonshire shoes, soaked in bullock's blood and baked in a fire, making them hard as iron. (10)
The strength of Hercules
The Farnese Hercules statue reminds us of the Greek hero's strength, but also his fighting skills and victory over Antaeus. Antaeus, son of Gaia, was a giant whose strength appeared invincible. He challenged all travellers to a wrestling match and invariably won. That is, until he met Hercules. Hercules was on his way back from the Hesperides when the giant challenged him. No matter how many times Hercules threw Antaeus off and tossed him to the ground, it did no good. If anything, the giant appeared rejuvenated. Hercules eventually realised that the earth, his mother, was the source of his strength, so he held Antaeus aloft until all his power had drained away. In recalling this story the artist links classical mythology with Cann's great match against Polkinghorne when Cann, against the odds, threw his 'giant' opponent, much to the surprise of the Cornish supporters.
Proprietor of the Moreton Inn, Cowick Street
Cann first appears in the Exeter directories in 1827, a year after his famous fight with Polkinghorne. He was the proprietor of the Moreton Inn public house, Cowick Street, St. Thomas, itself a centre for the games. (11) Three years later he had moved to the appropriately named Champion Arms public house in Batholomew Yard, Exeter, where he remained until 1831. (12) The 1851 census records him as an agricultural labourer living at Cumbehead [sic], Colebrooke near Crediton, his place of birth. He was now a widower and living in the household of William Cann, a relative and farmer. (13) His reduced circumstances no doubt prompted the subscription fund of west country gentlemen headed by Lord Palmerston, which raised £200. Cann died at Colebrooke on 7th April 1864. A memorial stone, erected by public subscription, is in Colebrooke churchyard.
Portrait attributed to Henry Caunter of Ashburton
Oil on canvas 75.8 x 63.7 cm, painted c.1846-50
PROVENANCE
Sir W. Lethbridge of Sand Hill Park, Bishops Lydiard, sale; February, 1914, bt Vyvyan Sinclair Smith.
Given to J.M. Pope by the Hon. G. Sinclair Smith of Coombe, Copplestone, 22nd February,1914.
Purchased by RAMM, 1959.
Research done for the Eye to Eye exhibtion at RAMM 2006
NOTES / SOURCES
1. According to the DNB Cann was baptised at Colebrooke on 2 December 1794. However there is some discrepancy between this and the age given for him at various wrestling matches in the 1820s. For example in 1826 he was said to be 30 years old, which would have made his date of birth 1796; in 1846 he was said to be 54 years old indicating his birth around 1792. In the 1851 census his age is given as 55, indicating a birth date around 1795/6, although the accuracy of this data may be questioned.
2. There have been, so far, unsuccessful attempts to trace a manuscript
autobiography (Correspondence in RAMM History file).
3. Rabey, A. Ivan. A Great Wrestling Match 150 years ago in Cornish Life
vol.3, No.11,1976, p.27.
4. Porter, J.H. The Decline of the Devonshire Wrestling Style in TDA 121,
1989, pp.195-208.
5. [Original paragraph deleted by editor]
6. Porter, op.cit. p.196.
7. WCSL: 32,895 (L); 32,895 (s) - modern copy after Rowe.
8. Illus; Rabey, op.cit. p.26
9. Private collection.
10. Quoted in Devonshire Wrastling and Wrastlers in The Devonian Year
Book, 1922 ed. R. Pearse Chope p.61 (but the source is not clear).
11. Exeter Flying Post 17th December 1827 (p.1, third column) Abraham Cann, Exeter innkeeper 'Moreton Inn', has unclaimed horse.
12. Directory evidence: 1822 [No entry for Cann]; 1827 Cann, Abm. Moreton
inn pub-ho, Cowley [illeg]; 1830 Cann, Abraham, champion arms public
house, Bartholomew yard; 1831 Ibid; 1832 [No entry for Cann].
13. The relationship has not been established but it was most probably his
brother.