George Taylor (
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1734–1750) was an English boxer also known by the nickname George the Barber. His mentor was
James Figg
James Figg (before 1700 – 8 December 1734; also spelt James Fig) was an English prizefighter and instructor in historical European martial arts. While Figg primarily fought with weapons including short swords, quarterstaffs, and cudgels, he ...
, whose boxing booth Taylor had fought in since 1719.
Taylor took over Figg's "Great Booth" in
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden.
The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...
after Figg's death in 1734.
One of the main attractions at Taylor's establishment was
Jack Broughton
John "Jack" Broughton ( – 8 January 1789) was an English people, English Bare-knuckle boxing, bare-knuckle boxer. He was the first person to codify a set of boxing rules; prior to this the "rules" that existed were very loosely defined and t ...
, the leading boxer of the era, but Taylor and Broughton soon fell out and the latter opened his own ring.
Like Figg, Taylor is remembered primarily because of his relationship with the painter
William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...
, who admired boxers and used them as models.
Hogarth created an elaborate design for Taylor's gravestone, featuring the boxer pummeling death himself.
References
External links
Hogarth's "George Taylor Triumphing Over Death,"at the
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, George
English bare-knuckle boxers
English male boxers
18th-century English people