Sir Harry Preston of Brighton

Leaves From An Unwritten Diary, the life and times of Sir Harry Preston

1884: Bantamweight Semifinals

Harry’s love and skill for boxing sees him through to the semifinals of the first-ever Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) Bantamweight (54kg) competition in 1884. Unfortunately, Harry loses by a narrow margin to his opponent, A. Woodward.

Woodward went on to win the championship and held the title for a second year also.

1882-87: London Pubs

From city clerk to publican; After around two years working as a shipping clerk in the city, mixing with the seafaring individuals of the London docks, Harry takes his career in a different direction and serves around five years apprenticeship in the hospitality industry. Recognising his need to learn his new trade from the bottom up, he started by running several hostelries of low repute across London; in Hackney, Holborn, and Lambeth.

Combining his passion for boxing, with his new found clout as publican, it was not uncommon for him to use one or two of these ale houses for illegal boxing bouts!

1870-80s: The Young Sportsman

Outside of his job, Harry put his abundant energies into various sporting activities, including sculling, swimming, boxing and cycling. He was a member of the West London Rowing Club and won several prizes for swimming at the St. James’s Club. At the age of eighteen, he joined the West End Boxing Club.

He and his friends enjoyed travelling to Brighton and back on their penny-farthing cycles, leaving early in the morning and getting back to London at seven or eight at night. It must have been quite some feat back then, perched on a tiny saddle above the huge spoked front wheel, some 5 ft in diameter, with its solid rubber tyre and no gears. The London to Brighton bike ride is now an annual event, and quite a challenge for many even today on a conventional modern bicycle.

But Harry’s main enthusiasm was for boxing; at only 5 foot 1 inch in height though, and weighing just 8 stone he was extremely disadvantaged because at the time there were only three fighting classes, light (over 9 stone), middle, and heavy. But Harry completely ignored such considerations and battered many a taller and heavier opponent into submission!

1870-80s: Early Career

Harry was educated privately and initially obeyed his father’s desire that he follow a scholastic career by becoming a pupil teacher in Lewisham, Kent, for three years. But he was not happy as a trainee teacher and later described the episode as the longest years of his life.

In his early twenties, he escaped to London, “the hub of the world” as he describes it, for a job in a city office. As a clerk working for various shipbrokers, he met life in the raw by talking to the sailors and skippers who had sailed and traded around the world.

1860: Born in Cheltenham

John Henry (Harry) Preston was born on 19th February 1860 into a middle-class family in Queen Street, Cheltenham. He was the second child and first son of John Preston, a solicitor’s general clerk, and Helen Eliza Lovesey. John and Helen would go on to have seven more children, giving Harry four brothers and four sisters.

Above image: Harry, in 1886 (aged 26/27)