Teddy Lowe, Lancashire Wrestling Champion, Whitworth

[RuslanPashayev]

Edward (or Edmund) "Teddy" Lowe of Whitworth,  Lancashire was undisputed champion wrestler of Lancashire at 126lb-134lb weight class in the 1860's (The Golden Era of Lancashire Wrestling). He held the most prestigious  wrestling titles of that era The Copenhagen Grounds Championship (Newton  Heath, Manchester) and The Higginshaw Grounds Championship (Higginshaw,  Oldham). In the XIX century Teddy Lowe was considered the best  pound-for-pound wrestler Lancashire ever had. According some  newspapers Teddy Lowe was born on July 4th 1841, but other newspapers  speak of June 24th 1841 as his date of birth. Its not clear whether  Whitworth was his place of birth or not but its worth to mention that  his earliest competitive results show him wrestling out of Newchurch,  Lancashire, so theres a chance that Newchurch was his actual place of  birth. In the 1860's he sometimes wrestled out of Crankey Shaw, Rochdale.  I was also able to locate fact that in late 1865 Lowe got married and was  owner of hostelry The Hargreave's Arms at Whitworth, near Rochdale (according  some other newspapers actual location of that hotel was at Facit,  Rochdale).  Lowe also competed internationally, in 1873-79 he was wrestling here in USA in Pittsburg-Philadelphia areas (PA). He also worked as a coal miner at Washington, PA. Later he was back to England and in early 1880s he was  still competing at that time he was resident of Stacksteads, Lancashire.  Unfortunately I wasnt able to locate his obituary yet. If anyone has any info on Teddy Lowe please feel free contact me directly at any time, I would highly appreciate that.
Thanks. Kind regards, Ruslan Pashayev

[KGarrad]

Welcome to RootsChat!

Ignore this post! It's the wrong Edward 

FreeBMD (.org.uk) has this birth registration:

September qtr 1841
Prescot Registration District     vol 20, page 670

Lowe, Edward

Using these details, it is possible to purchase the Birth Certificate (cost £9.25 incl p&p).
See: https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates


Also LancashireBMD shows the birth in the sub-district of Much Woolton.


This man's christening is on FamilySearch:
Christening 5th September 1842  at Woolton, Lancashire
Date of Birth: 25th August 1841
Edward Lowe, son of John & Elizabeth Lowe, of Halewood, Lancashire.

[KGarrad]

There's a lot of information on this 2014 post on another forum:
http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=004104;p=0

Which states several times that Edward Lowe, alias Teddy, was "of Whitworth"?

[KGarrad]

A search of Lan-OPC shows no baptisms for Edmund/Edmond Lowe, 1841 +/- 2 years.

For Edward Lowe, the Woolton baptism still seems the best match?

There are 2 baptisms in Chorley, both 1839.
There is an 1842 baptism in Liverpool.
And an 1843 baptism in Upholland.

Nothing obvious in either the 1861 or 1871 censuses?
Teddy was active 1864-1867, so I would have expected an entry in one of those censuses.

[RuslanPashayev]

Dear Sirs,
thanks, I am leaning towards idea that whatever "Teddy" stands for was his middle-name. And yeah it could be Edward, Edmund or even Theodore. I did my best with Ancestry, still NO RESULTS. But yeah BritishNewspaperArchve give different dates of his date of birth. And it always was Whitworth. But like I mentioned previously in his earliest matches he represented Newchurch which made me thinking that he was actually from there. It's UNBELIEVABLE but the best wrestler of XIX century is so hard to trace. In America his name was spelled Edward Law.

[andrewalston]

Just have to mention that Facit is the name for the northern end of Whitworth. My mum's auntie used to run The Halfway House there in the 1940s.
Facit is not exactly large enough these days to support more than one pub, but I would not rule out competition, or even a change of name, though the 1840's map shows the "Bay Horse Inn & Half Way House". The current building is certainly old enough to have been around in the 1840s.

Only yesterday was looking this up, because the chap who lives next door to my mum's sister is moving to the southern end of Whitworth, about 3/4 mile from the Halfway House.

[RuslanPashayev]

Wow, thanks for sharing all this info with me, my appreciation. So Facit is Whitworth, wow and you think theres a chance that the current public house could easily be located in the same original Hargreave's Arms building from the 1860's. I may contact them and ask what they know about the origin of that current pub. Thanks again. Kind regards, Ruslan

[RuslanPashayev]

Heres the clipping from Rochdale Observer, 1868.

[RuslanPashayev]

I am not quite familiar with local Whitworth geography does it look that it can be the same place? I mean Halfway and Hargreave's. Thanks again. Kind regards, Ruslan