Looking for info on Thomas Sayers - Boxer

[Emmeline]

Reading all this I feel as though I have had 12 rounds in the ring myself. Fascinating stuff........

[Iain08]

Having recently had a book* published on Tom Sayers, I greatly regret that I have only just found this fascinating website. I haven't yet had time to digest everything that's here, but some admirable research has been done, especially by Kevlin, Valda and Roy G. (And Roy, it is you, isn't it? I'm trying to send you a copy of my book as promised, but my email has bounced.)

For my part, I have done my level best to sort out the details of Tom's miserable and tangled domestic life, ploughing through Census records and records of Births, Marriages and Deaths, and the results of my research are to be found in Chapters 3, 7 and 17 of my book.

It's all far too complex to relate in detail here, but I can confirm one or two things on this site, and rebut some others

Tom cohabited with, and later married, Sarah Henderson, not Sarah Powell. The name Powell, however, as Kevlin says, does make a mysterious appearance later in his story: I think the woman he lived with after his marriage broke up may have been named Powell, though she called herself Charlotte Sayers.

As for children, the Aldridge Sayers children were clearly not his, and my own opinion is that Tom had no offspring other than Tom and Sarah, both of whom were born to Tom senior and Sarah senior before they were actually married.

I follow the story through to 1868 (three years after Tom senior's death) when a court decided that his estate should go to the Aldridge Sayers children. In other words, there was a will, but his estranged wife saw to it that the estate went to her children by James Aldridge, not to those by Tom.

*The Lion and the Eagle (ISBN 978-1-899807-67-3) by Iain Manson, is published by SportsBooks in paperback at £14.99.

[Roy G]

to Iain08     Sent you a personal message separately        Roy G

[billyboy1]

Just stumbled across this and find it fascinating and maybe it has broken one of my brick walls.  We have always been told we are descended from Tom and used to visit the grave in Highgate back in the 1970s before the place was cleared.  On reading the 2 books on his life I have been confused by the quoting of Sarah Henderson and Sarah Powell as his wife.  There were 2 Sarahs?  I couldn't work out how my Great Grandmother could have been a grandaugher of Tom if Tom junior went to Australia and died childless?  And his daughter Sarah's children wouldn't have had Sayers as their surname.  My Grandmothers marriage certificate gives her name as Ada Phoebe Powell Sayers.  Her Fathers name is Peter Sayers.  Is this Peter an illigitemate son of Tom?  We know that some of the family had some of Toms shirts (very broad shouldered) and photographs of him performing in a circus.  It all seems to fit.  Certainly has given me a new line of enquiry.  This has been a a niggle for years!!!!!!!!!!

[Roy G]

Problem with research into Tom is that a few people have 'manipulated' their family histories to claim him as an ancestor, when they are in fact just decended from other Brighton Sayers.  When trying to investigate his life story, you therefore have a difficult job of sorting out the truth from handed down wishfull thinking. 
Furthermore, although Tom's boxing ability was exceptional, he had a number of failings.  One highly unfortunate one for a strong man was that he was also proven to be a wife beater
Roy G

[shellylou]

Hi billyboy1
I was very interested to read your comments,  I have been trying to trace my mothers family tree and like a lot of people have found the Sayers name very confusing.  My grandad was Francis Peter Oxley and i believe his mother was Ida Phoebe Sayers married to Albert Henry Oxley, do you have the same info?
I would love to hear from you
Regards

[billyboy1]

Hi, Albert Henry Oxley who lived in St Albans was my Great Grandfather.  He died when I was about 16, so I can remember visiting him and have phots etc.  Is there a way you can contact me of line?

[billyboy1]

Hi again, sorry if I am being a bit thick here, but i have only just twigged!  Would Francis be Uncle Frank from Archway?

[billyboy1]

Just for the record, books that I have consulted over the years that might be of interest to those following this thread are: - The Great Prize Fight by Alan Lloyd (1977).  My copy is now rather worn and was the first lead that got me searching.  This introduces Sarah Powell ("two years older than himself") as the woman 'parted from her husband' that Tom took up with  and had his first 2 children with.  Back then, without the instant access to census etc from the comfort of our own homes, I suppose we should forgive him if he got it a bit wrong.  Next is Tom Sayers: The Last Great Bare-knuckle Champion by Alan E. Wright - 1994.  This refers to Sarah Henderson and has a lot more detail regarding Toms private life, associates and relatives.  I have since reading this thread been onto Amazon and ordered The Lion & The Eagle by Iain as mentioned above and look forward to it's arrival!  I also have a scan of the magazine 'Famous Fights' Police Budget Edition that was published in either the late 1890s or early 1900's and that has 12 pages on Toms life and dips into his relationships, although as expected of the time, in a quite coy and cryptic way.  You have to try to 'read between the lines' although this has to be classed as gossip rather than fact I suppose.  Anyway, I can now claim with some certainty that my Gx3 Grandfather was Peter Sayers who had something to do with Tom Sayers, maybe, but we are not quite sure what.