[BITList] Bio. Pugilist and Gypsy leader

[John Feltham]

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Gorman,  Bartholomew  [Bartley]  (1944-2002), pugilist and Gypsy leader, was born on 1 March 1944 in a barrel-top wagon at Home Farm, Giltbrook, Nottinghamshire, the eldest of the three sons of Samuel Gorman, a scrap iron and rag dealer of Irish descent, and his wife, Kathleen, nee Wilson. His grandfather was Bulldog Bartley, a legendary bare-knuckle boxer after whom the young Bartley was named. The reputation of the Gorman men as great fighters went back five generations, and from an early age Bartley was aware that he was expected to maintain that tradition.

Gorman's early life was spent surrounded by his close-knit family of Irish Roman Catholic Travellers. He grew up outdoors, delighting in the natural world that was his playground. In the early 1950s the family moved to a stopping place near Bala, north Wales, and in 1953 moved again to Bedworth, north of Coventry. Gorman was educated at the local Catholic primary school, St Francis of Assisi, where he learned to read, a pastime he enjoyed throughout his life; he often said that the Bible was the first book he had read and in adulthood he remained a regular churchgoer and a devout Roman Catholic. Gorman started to box at the age of ten when his father took him to a gym; three years later he left school and joined his father, uncle, brother, and cousins, painting barns, mainly in East Anglia, before the family moved to Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, in 1963.

Gorman was by now a powerfully built figure, standing six feet tall and weighing fifteen stone. At Uttoxeter he came under the supervision of an old boxing trainer, Wogga Wood, who helped him perfect his ring-craft skills. These were put to good effect in a series of bare-knuckle contests in which he took part, and from which he gained a reputation as a highly successful fighter during the 1960s. At a race meeting at Doncaster in September 1972 Gorman challenged for the title of the 'king of the Gypsies', awarded to the supreme exponent of the illegal practice of bare-knuckle fighting. He was widely considered invincible and when Uriah Burton, the then holder of the title, failed to turn up, Gorman fought and easily beat another man, Jack Fletcher, to be crowned 'champion of the Gypsies of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales'. Over the next twenty-five years he remained undefeated in the several hundred bare-knuckle fights which he contested. His most effective punches included a blow to an opponent's Adam's apple and a right-hand strike to the forehead which he dubbed the 'bullhammer'. In his own assessment he was 'the most dangerous unarmed man in the world', and refused to fight a 'normal man' because he was 'liable to kill him with one punch'  (Daily Telegraph, 23 Jan 2002). However, his title was also a burden in the later years as challengers sought to defeat him and so claim the mantle. A bout in 1975 at the St Leger meeting at Doncaster racecourse saw Gorman hospitalized when, after beating a would-be champion, he was set upon by a mob who attacked him with iron bars and even attempted to saw off his legs.

Gorman's claim to the title of king of the Gypsies also extended beyond the ring and, like Uriah Burton before him, he was a leading figure in the Gypsy community who regularly engaged in charitable acts. In 2000 he was also recognized as one of Uttoxeter's leading figures, when his name was included on the town's millennium memorial. In 1995 he was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary by Shane Meadows, and he used television as a means to pursue his campaign against abortion. Gorman's reputation as a bare-knuckle pugilist brought him to the attention of Muhammed Ali, with whom he once sparred, and he fought an American challenger in 1994, three years before his 'retirement' from contest on the grounds that, while still capable of defeating any opponent, he was 'too intelligent to fight'  (Daily Telegraph). Throughout his career he competed not for money but for family honour and the respect he gained within the Traveller community. A proud and clever man who enjoyed debating, his reputation was both as a great fighter and as an advocate of Romany culture and the natural world. He died on 18 January 2002 of liver cancer at the Nightingale Macmillan Continuing Care Unit, Derby. He was survived by a son and daughter from his relationship with Gwendoline Wheeldon, from whom he was separated.

Joseph M. Wilson 

Sources  S. Meadows, The king of the Gypsies, Channel 4 documentary, 1995 + B. Gorman and P. Walsh, King of the Gypsies: the undefeated bareknuckle champion of Britain (2002) + Daily Telegraph (23 Jan 2002) + The Times (27 Feb 2002) + personal knowledge (2006) + private information (2006) + b. cert. + d. cert.
Likenesses  photograph, 19847-19847, repro. in Gorman and Walsh, King of the Gypsies; priv. coll. [see illus.] · obituary photographs · photographs, repro. in Gorman and Walsh, King of the Gypsies
Wealth at death  under £210,000: probate, 11 March 2002, CGPLA Eng. & Wales




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