Simon Finighty
Simon Finighty was a bare-knuckle prize fighter. London-born, of Irish descent, Finighty was a "popular feather-weight pugilist". He was a long-standing member of the Pugilistic Benevolent Association and the London Prize Ring.
Early life
Finighty was born in Saffron Hill on 19 August 1833, to Irish immigrant parents, Daniel, a furrier and skin draper from County Cork), and Catherine. He was baptised on 29 September, 1833, at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Moorfields. In his youth, Simon Finighty worked as a paper folder.Boxing career
In his time, Finighty was regarded as "one of the civilest, as well as one of the most scientific boxers." According to The Sporting Life, at his best, Finighty weighed 7st 10lb.The same newspaper listed the key points of Finighty's career as follows:
Charley Lynch
Finighty's greatest acclaim derived from his bouts against Charley 'The American' Lynch. Finighty first met Lynch in the ring in October 1857, and the fight was billed as "the first light-weight international championship." Such was the consequence of this match to the boxing world, that it was still being referenced in sporting publications as late as 1923.Finighty and Lynch agreed to a rematch on 2 August 1859. An Era report of the time described the well-anticipated event:
Legal trouble
False incrimination
In 1863, Finighty was wrongly implicated in the murder of John Meers at Teignbridge on 14 August that year. After Meers' body had been found in a large pond on 20 August, it was deduced, by the injuries to his face and neck, that he had met his death by foul play. Subsequent criminal investigation uncovered that, on the second day of the Newton races that year, Meers was seen sparring with a boxer named James Stephens. During the course of the match, the competitors fell out. Stephens, in the company of another prize fighter, John Burke, then set off in the direction of Teignbridge with Meers. A scuffle broke out between Stephens and Meers, with the former dealing Meers "a most severe blow behind the year, knocking him down apparently lifeless" before swinging a brass ball at Meers' head. Meers was then thrown "over the bridge into the pit of water in which was afterwards discovered." It transpired, however, that on arrest, Burke gave his name as Simon Finighty, which was the name widely reported in the initial accounts of the trial. As such, Finighty was compelled to write to the press to clear his name:Arrest
Finighty's aforementioned match against William Mills was of special interest to the public, as "the combatants were for a long time inseparable friends, but one day a quarrel came between them, and Mills threw down the gauntlet, offering to settle their dispute by an appeal to Nature's weapons." In the lead up to the fight, The Sportsman reported that:Finighty was scheduled to face Mills again later that year, on 1 October, 1867. The match was due to be one of a series contested on Hilbre Island that day. Owing to its accessibility at low tide, and isolation when cut off from the mainland, Hilbre was a popular venue for the then-illegal sport of prize fighting. Charles Dawson Brown, a local historian and churchwarden of St Bridget's, West Kirby, wrote that "undoubtedly there was a good deal of rough work, such as prize-fighting, cock-fighting, and such-like 'sports,' which a public-house on the island which existed till about sixty years ago would not tend to restrain." Finighty had previously faced opponents on "the well-selected and secluded island", including his drawn contest against Fox in 1864. Finighty's return to Hilbre in 1867, however, proved a cause célèbre, and was widely reported in the press of the time:
After Mills and Finighty "fell into the hands of the Philistines", as a sympathetic publication put it, they were charged with 'a breach of the peace by fighting' and were bound by '£25 to keep the peace for twelve calendar months.'
Later life and death
Beyond his prize fighting days, Finighty continued to compete in show and benefit matches. In 1876, when he faced Sam Thorne at Cambridge Hall in Newman Street, Finighty was described as having "approached a very advanced age," yet "his smartness was greatly admired."Latterly, Finighty remained in Merseyside and found employment as a caterer. A journalist of The Sporting Times would later recall encountering Finighty, an old friend, at Aintree Racecourse, where the retired boxer was working on the day of the Grand National. The journalist relayed how Finighty, a "dapper little man, formerly a light-weight champion of considerable renown", was able to procure a mulligatawny soup and a hotpot for his friend, only for them to be stolen by another spectator. In doing so, he compared Finighty's accent to that of Charles Dickens' Sam Weller:
Despite having spent the majority of his competitive career in Liverpool, Finighty returned to London towards the end of his life. Here, on 14 November 1881, Finighty married Mary Jane Norman at St Paul's Church in Clerkenwell. Some time after the culmination of Finighty's competitive boxing career, his death was reported in The Sporting Life in May 1890: