imported>Jevansen: Moving from Category:Sportspeople from Bristol to Category:Martial artists from Bristol using Cat-a-lot

2025-01-22T21:20:53Z

Moving from Category:Sportspeople from Bristol to Category:Martial artists from Bristol using Cat-a-lot

New page

{{Short description|English bareknuckle prizefighter (1753–1794)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox boxer
|name=Benjamin Brain
|image=BenjaminBrain.jpeg
|imagesize=
|realname= Benjamin Bryan
|nickname= Big Ben
|weight = {{convert|160|lb|kg|abbr=on}}
|height = {{convert|5|ft|7|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
|nationality=British
|birth_date=1753
|birth_place=[[Bristol]]
|death_date=8 April 1794
|death_place=London, England
|style=
|total=
|wins=
|losses=
|draws=
|no contests=
|KO=
|}}
'''Benjamin ("Big Ben") Brain''' (1753 – 8 April 1794) was a [[bareknuckle]] [[prizefighter]] who took the championship of all England in 1791 against the reigning champion Tom Johnson.

A [[wikt:collier|collier]] by trade,<ref name="odnb1"/> he was a valiant fighter whose career spanned twenty years.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Boddy|first1=Kasia|title=Boxing: A Cultural History|date=June 2013|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=9781861897022|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1U8BQAAQBAJ&q=Benjamin+Brain+boxer&pg=PP68}}</ref>

==Early life and boxing career==
Brain was born in [[Bristol]], England, in 1753. His surname was "Bryan" or "Brian": later in life this was sometimes corrupted into "Bryant" and also "Brain".<ref name="odnb1">{{cite ODNB |author=Harvey, Adrian N. |chapter=Bryan, Benjamin (1753–1794) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/60191 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60191 |accessdate=2011-03-29}}</ref><ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |chapter=Perrins, Isaac |author=Gee, Tony |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/60190 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60190 |accessdate=2011-03-28}}</ref>

Prior to moving to London in 1774 in order to work as a [[coal]] [[Porter (carrier)|porter]] at a [[wharf]] he had already defeated Jack Clayton, the champion of [[Kingswood, South Gloucestershire|Kingswood]], Bristol.<ref name=halloffame>{{cite web|title=Benjamin Brain|url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/pioneer/brain.html|publisher=International Boxing Hall of Fame|accessdate=29 October 2015}}</ref> and also a fighter called Harris.<ref name="odnb1"/>

His career as a professional started on 31 October 1786 at Long Fields, when he fought John Boone, who was known as "The Fighting Grenadier". Toughs broke into the ring and ganged up on Brain. In the resulting melée, Brain suffered a beating that almost closed one of his eyes. When order was restored and a surgeon had [[Scalpel|lanced]] the swelling around the eye, he resumed fighting and within thirty minutes<ref name=halloffame/> had forced Boone to quit in defeat.<ref name="odnb1"/>

==Cancellation of first bout with English champion Tom Johnson, 1789==
After soundly defeating William Corbally in 20 minutes on 31 December 1788 in [[Navestock]], he finally received a scheduled contract to fight the English champion,<ref>{{cite journal|title=The History of Boxing from Fig and Broughton to the Present Time|journal=The Sportsman's Magazine of Life in London and the Country|date=1845|volume=1|pages=82–83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3AXAAAAYAAJ&q=Benjamin+Brain+boxer+Johnson+champion&pg=PA82}}</ref> [[Tom Johnson (bare-knuckle boxer)|Tom Johnson]] for a prize of £500 the following year. When Brain fell ill and cancelled the bout, he forfeited the £100 he had put up for the fight. Later in that year he was well enough to fight Jacombs at [[Banbury]], winning in 36 rounds.

In 1790 his 100 [[guinea (coin)|guinea]] fight against Bill Hooper at [[Newbury, Berkshire|Newbury]] turned into a farce. Hooper became fearful after Brain's first successful hit on him and resorted to tactics such as falling over and spitting water in his face in order to distract him. The fight lasted over three hours and 180 rounds before being declared a draw due to the darkness of evening setting in. Hooper had fallen 133 times during the fight.<ref name="odnb1"/>

==Retaining English championship against Tom Johnson, 1791==
Brain then got another opportunity to fight [[Tom Johnson (bareknuckle boxer)|Tom Johnson]] on 17 January 1791, at [[Wrotham]] in [[Kent]]. He received 500 guineas by the [[Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton|Duke of Hamilton]] for the bout. The fight was a brutal but short-lived affair: despite being a 7–4 favourite, Johnson was incapacitated after 21 minutes, after he broke a finger by hitting a rail that surrounded the ring.<ref name="odnb1"/> Nonetheless, Brain was winning prior to the injury, and was allowed to retain his claim to the championship with his eighteen-round win, in twenty-one minutes.

==Declining health and eventual death==

From 1792 onwards Brain appears to have been in poor health and unable to compete as a prizefighter. There were attempts to arrange a fight against [[Isaac Perrins]] but these came to nothing.<ref name="odnb"/> Until 1794 Brain made his living by [[sparring]] and acting as a [[Cornerman|second]] to other fighters.<ref name="odnb1"/>

On 24 February 1794, he was scheduled to fight William Wood. The fight did not take place and Brain later died of a "scirrhous liver" on 8 April at his house on [[Gray's Inn Road]], London.<ref name="odnb1"/> He was buried at [[St. Sepulchre's]] Church, London, and his funeral was attended by four fighters: William Wood, [[Tom Johnson (bareknuckle boxer)|Tom Johnson]], Bill Warr and John Symonds.<ref name="odnb1"/> The epitaph on his headstone reads:<ref>{{cite book |title=From Figg to Johnson; a complete history of the heavyweight championship |last=O'Hara |first=Barratt |page=48 |publisher=The Blossom Book Bourse |location=Chicago |year=1909 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101019477932}}</ref>{{blockquote|Farewell, ye honors of my brow, Victorious wreaths, farewell! One blow from Death has laid me low By whom such brave ones fell. Yet bravely, I'll dispute the prize, Nor yield, though out of breath; 'Tis not a fall – I yet shall rise, And conquer even Death.}}

Some recent sources describe Brain as having possibly retired in 1792 due to ill health. The early boxing writer [[Pierce Egan]], however, wrote in 1813's [[Boxiana]] that Brain remained the recognised champion until his death in 1794. This would appear to be consistent with fights having been organised against both Perrins and Wood in the period 1792–4.

==Boxing achievements and honors==
{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|ach}}
|-
{{s-bef | before=[[Tom Johnson (bareknuckle boxer)|Tom Johnson]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of heavyweight bare-knuckle boxing champions|All England Heavyweight Bare-knuckle Boxing Champion]]|years= 17 January 1791}}
{{s-aft | after=[[James Belcher]]}}
|-
{{s-end}}

==External Sources==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YYoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110 Section on Brain in ''Boxiana'', 1813, Pierce Egan]
*[https://archive.org/details/pugilisticahisto01mileuoft/page/65/mode/1up Section on Brain in ''Pugilistica, the History of British Boxing'', volume 1, 1906, Henry Downes Miles]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brain, Benjamin}}
[[Category:1753 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]
[[Category:Martial artists from Bristol]]
[[Category:English miners]]
[[Category:English male boxers]]
[[Category:English bare-knuckle boxers]]

Benjamin Brain - Revision history

imported>Jevansen: Moving from Category:Sportspeople from Bristol to Category:Martial artists from Bristol using Cat-a-lot