John Cavanagh (died 1819) was an Irish sportsman, regarded as the greatest
fives
Fives (historically known as hand-tennis) is an English handball sport derived from ''jeu de paume'', similar to the games of handball, Basque pelota, and squash. The game is played in both singles and doubles teams, in an either three- or f ...
player in
Regency
In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
London.
Life
Cavanagh was employed as a house-painter in London, and was an Irish Catholic by birth. At one point he lived in
Buckbridge Street in
St Giles-in-the-Fields
St Giles in the Fields is the Anglicanism, Anglican parish church of the St Giles, London, St Giles district of London. The parish stands within the London Borough of Camden and forms part of the Diocese of London. The church, named for Saint ...
, which was associated with London's Irish Catholic community.
[Williamson 2004.] He played fives at the court on St. Martin's Street, in Westminster, and "for wagers and dinners" at
Copenhagen House and at other public houses.
[Hazlitt 1821.] In his essay 'The Indian Jugglers',
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
– an enthusiastic fives player himself
[Wu 2008, 257-8.] – described Cavanagh's play as follows:
Whenever he touched the ball there was an end of the chase. His eye was certain, his hand fatal, his presence of mind complete. He could do what he pleased, and he always knew exactly what to do. He saw the whole game, and played it; took instant advantage of his adversary's weakness, and recovered balls, as if by a miracle and from sudden thought, that every one gave for lost. He had equal power and skill, quickness and judgment. He could either outwit his antagonist by finesse, or beat him by main strength.
Hazlitt remarked that the only unusual aspect of Cavanagh's game was that he:
... never volleyed, but let the balls hop; but if they rose an inch from the ground he never missed having them. There was not only nobody equal, but nobody second to him. It is supposed that he could give any other player half the game, or beat him with his left hand.
Cavanagh died at his home in
Burbage Street,
St Giles
Saint Giles (, , , , ; 650 - 710), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 7th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly legendary. A ...
, in early 1819. He had ceased playing fives several years earlier.
After his death, an obituary was written by Hazlitt and published in ''
The Examiner'', an extract from which later appeared in Hazlitt's ''
Table-Talk'' collection as part of the 'Indian Jugglers' chapter.
Notes
References
* Tony Collins ''et al.'', ''Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports'' (Oxford: Routledge, 2005).
* William Hazlitt, 'The Indian Jugglers', in ''
Table-Talk; Or, Original Essays'', vol. 1 (London, 1821).
* Karina Williamson, 'Cavanagh, John
ack(d. 1819)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) �
online version accessed 3 Nov 2012.
* Wu, Duncan. ''William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavanagh, John
1819 deaths
Fives
19th-century Irish sportsmen
Sportspeople from London
Year of birth unknown