Elizabeth Wilkinson facts for kids

Elizabeth Wilkinson, also known as Elizabeth Stokes, was an amazing English bare-knuckle boxer and a master of old European weapon arts. She was active in the 1720s and early 1730s. She was one of the very first known female boxers!

During her career, which lasted about ten years, people often called her a "Championess." She was famous for fighting 45 matches without losing, though we don't have official records from that time. Later in her career, she even fought in special matches where she and her husband, who was also a boxer, teamed up against other couples. Elizabeth was also skilled with daggers, short swords, and quarterstaffs. She was one of the most famous prizefighters of her time. Writers like Pierce Egan and Thomas Moore celebrated her achievements even into the early 1800s.

About Elizabeth Wilkinson

We don't know much about Elizabeth Wilkinson's life outside of her boxing career. In one advertisement for a fight, she said she was "of the famous city of London." Like most English boxers back then, she likely came from a regular family.

Elizabeth probably married a boxer named James Stokes. In 1725, an advertisement for a fight called her his "much admired consort" (meaning his beloved partner). Between 1722 and 1726, she started being known as Elizabeth Stokes. After her last recorded fights in 1733, we don't find any more information about her in history books.

Elizabeth's Boxing Matches

In June 1722, Elizabeth Wilkinson challenged Hannah Hyfield to a fight. This might have been one of the first advertised female boxing matches in London! Elizabeth put out a challenge in a London newspaper saying, "I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some words with Hannah Hyfield and requiring Satisfaction, do invite her to meet me on the Stage, and Box with me for three guineas." They made a special rule for this fight: each woman had to hold a half crown coin in each hand. This stopped them from scratching or gouging, which was common in boxing back then. That same year, she also fought a fish seller named Martha Jones and reportedly beat her after 22 minutes.

How Boxing Was Done

In the 1700s, boxing matches were always bare-knuckle, meaning fighters didn't wear gloves. Fights sometimes continued without stopping until one person couldn't go on. Elizabeth was also skilled with daggers, short swords, and quarterstaffs. Many of her matches might have even been fought with these weapons! Elizabeth and her opponents showed they were serious athletes by fighting fully clothed. One advertisement from 1726 said the boxers would "fight in cloth Jackets, short Petticoats, coming just below the Knee, Holland Drawers, white Stockings, and pumps."

Her Famous Fights

Elizabeth Wilkinson became a regular fighter at the boxing places run by James Figg, a famous fighter himself. Both Figg and Elizabeth were good at promoting themselves. Elizabeth often used "trash-talk" in her printed challenges. For example, when accepting a challenge from Ann Field, a woman who drove donkeys, Elizabeth said that "the blows which I shall present her with will be more difficult for her to digest than any she ever gave her asses." By 1726, Elizabeth also often fought at James Stokes' boxing arena.

Newspapers in the 1720s would announce fights, but they didn't usually report the results. So, we don't have a perfect record of all of Elizabeth's wins and losses. However, based on the fight announcements, it seems she was undefeated for most of her career! In October 1726, a London newspaper announced a fight between Elizabeth Wilkinson and Mary Welch, an Irish boxer. In the newspaper, Mary Welch called Elizabeth "the famous Championess of England." Elizabeth replied that she was undefeated, saying she had "never engaged with any of my own Sex but I always came off with Victory and Applause." In other advertisements, she was called the "Invincible City Championess," the "European Championess," the "Cockney Championess," and "Britania's most puissant Heroine."

Team Fights and Teaching

Later in her career, Elizabeth and her husband were often challenged by other mixed-gender couples. Elizabeth would fight the woman, and her husband would fight the man. In one such challenge in July 1727, her former opponent Mary Welch and her trainer Robert Baker challenged "Mr. Stokes and his bold Amazonian Virago." Thomas and Sarah Barret gave a similar challenge in December 1728. James Stokes replied that Elizabeth was "thought not to fight in Publick anymore" but that his "spouse not doubting but to do the same and hopes to give a general Satisfaction to all Spectators." Even though she mostly boxed against other women, one advertisement from 1733 suggests she might have had a fencing match against Edward Sutton, who was also a frequent fighter.

Besides fighting, Elizabeth Wilkinson also taught people how to box. An announcement for one of her fights mentioned that two of her students would fight six rounds with quarterstaffs in between Elizabeth's own matches. Elizabeth continued to appear in boxing announcements until at least 1733. By then, she claimed to have fought 45 matches and never lost. After her last advertised fight, she disappeared from historical records.

Elizabeth Wilkinson's Legacy

According to experts, women's boxing went against what many middle and upper-class people thought was proper during Elizabeth Wilkinson's time. However, her career seems to have been very successful even though she didn't follow the usual rules for women in the 1700s. She was celebrated as a skilled boxer well into the early 1800s. Sportswriter Pierce Egan praised her in his 1813 book Boxiana. Other writers like James Peller Malcolm and Thomas Moore also spoke positively about Elizabeth Wilkinson.

However, over time, mentions of Elizabeth became less common and more negative, especially later in the 1800s during the Victorian era. During this period, people had very strict ideas about what men and women should do. Some writers from that time saw Elizabeth Wilkinson as just a strange historical curiosity. Others even criticized her and her fellow fighters, saying they showed how wild and uncivilized the 1700s were.

See also

• Timeline of women's sports