At the top of my ancestry ‘To Do’ list for many years now has been ‘Find out who Blind Wreford is’.
Today I’ve finally found out…
I’m not even sure where I first heard of Blind Wreford but I’ve kept an eye out for any mention of him. Finally I found mention of him in obituary for another old wrestler, John Bolt.
He was full of anecdotes of “Blind Wreford,” a wealthy farmer of Cheriton, who died in 1835 at a very advanced age, and who, notwithstanding his blindness, was a renowned wrestler, often followed the hounds without sustaining severe falls, and was an excellent judge of the weight and general qualities of cattle.”
According to this, he had been totally blind since he was 8. “He was a strongly limbed, well grown and powerful man, about 5 feet 10 in. in height, and was usually led into the ring by a boy, as a guide, and indulged with the privilege of taking hold of his antagonist by the collar…”
I’m really surprised that it’s been so hard to find mention of this guy as he really does seem quite extraordinary.
Quite an interesting story. I am an American Wreford, actually Raiford, as it transformed after the trip across the pond. According to other Family Trees, I am from the John – Roger – John – John side of things (from Table A-1). From John, it was Elias – Phillip – Phillip, with the later Phillip making the trip to America in the late 1600’s.
Hello [very] distant cousin! Thanks for commenting. I’m curious about where your Wrefords settled when they first arrived in America..?
Hello. My name is Julie How. I am compiling my family tree and discovered that one of my ancestors, Robert How 1650-1711 married Dorothy Wreford 1652-1707. As far as I know, they had three children. I have read your post with much interest, especially about the life and times of “Blind Wreford” as my grandfather Herbert Sidney How (1891-1972) was an Olympic Bantom Wrestler in the early 1900s.
Thank you for commenting, Julie!
If you enter ‘wrestling’ in the site search bar, there are a few other posts about another famous wrestler – William Wreford.
I wasn’t able to find any info on Herbert’s olympic career so far – presumably the England team? Do you know which year/s he competed?
Were you aware that Robert and Dorothy appear on table A3 of the Wreford Pedigree? Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention their children’s names but you can see the table using the menu in the site header. 🙂