The world of boxing has always been considered a predominantly male combat sport that has been around for thousands of years. However, if there’s one thing that we’ve learned, it’s the fact that ability and strength have nothing to do with gender.
However, what most people don’t know is that throughout history, there have been fistfights led by women. In the case of boxing, these female fighters have participated in the sport for almost as long as it has existed.
Sadly, little is known about women’s boxing due to the lack of rights that they had back then. Furthermore, the social oppression led to an attempt of wiping out the accounts of the pioneering female pugilists.
However, some of these fighters managed to fight for their place in boxing history. One of them was Elizabeth Wilkinson.
Who was Elizabeth Wilkinson?
There’s little evidence left about Elizabeth’s life. However, the remaining documents proclaim that the boxer was born in England during the 18th century, proclaiming herself as being “of the famous city of London”.
Although there’s no exact register about her family or childhood, it appears that Elizabeth Wilkinson was raised in a working-class English household; this was the common background of 18th-century English boxers.
Because of the above, Elizabeth’s birth name remains a mystery. Still, there has been speculation regarding Elizabeth Wilkinson’s surname.
In his article, 1720′s English MMA Fighter, Christopher James Shelton suggests that Wilkinson was not her legal name. Instead, she adopted it as her alias to strike fear into her opponents by suggesting a connection to the vile thief and murderer, Robert Wilkinson.
The first female boxer
Many consider Elizabeth Wilkinson to be the first recorded female boxer. She spent her life as an 18th-century woman who enjoyed the sport of boxing. At that time, the fights were with bare knuckles.
In the early 1700′s, organized street-fighting became an early popular form of entertainment in England. While combats had been around even earlier, “bare-knuckle fighting” became popularized by James Figg, a recognized bare-knuckle boxing champion.
To improve her boxing skills, she became a student of Figg’s training academy, School of Arms and Self Defense. While there, Elizabeth stood out for being able to fight both genders, proving that a person’s sex did not represent their strength.
Because of the population’s increase, James Figg and other fighters started to advertise their fights in newspapers by promoting their boxing challenges and triumphs.
As a result, these papers, which are preserved historical documents, were the evidence of the boxers’ fights, including Elizabeth’s. Thanks to these records, what we know about Elizabeth Wilkinson’s life and career comes from her printed boxing matches.
Elizabeth, boxing champion of Clerkenwell
Elizabeth Wilkinson’s first documented fight took place in June 1722. Wilkinson challenged another fighter, Hannah Hayfield of Newgate Market, to what may have been the first female prizefight in London.
The London Journal printed her following statement:
“I, Elizabeth Wilkinson of Clerkenwell, having had some Words with Hannah Hayfield, and requiring Satisfaction, do invite her to meet me on the Stage, and Box me for Three Guineas, each Woman holding Half a Crown in each Hand, and the first Woman that drops her Money to Use the Battle.”
After beating Hayfield, Elizabeth became a regular fighter in James Figg’s boxing venues. Her career went from 1722 to 1728, and she earned the nicknames the “European Championess” and the “boxing champion of Clerkenwell.”
In the same year that she fought Hannah, Elizabeth Wilkinson faced a fisherwoman named Martha Jones, who she reportedly beat after twenty-two minutes. Elizabeth’s bare knuckles dominated the ring, and her reputation as a reigning boxer started to spread.
An advertisement in the Weekly Journal, printed in October 1726, announced a fight between Elizabeth and an Irish woman, Mary Welch. In that ad, Elizabeth claimed to be undefeated, and she was described as being “the famous Championess of England.”
The forgotten female boxer
At some point between 1722 and 1726, Elizabeth married her promoter, James Stokes, a fellow boxer who was also one of Figg’s associates. Thus, her name was changed to Elizabeth Wilkinson Stokes.
The couple would often accept challenges from other pairs. Elizabeth fought the wife of the opposing couple, whereas James faced the husband. Elizabeth’s career rose, taking her fights to the amphitheater that Elizabeth’s husband owned.
Though Elizabeth defied gender roles, such as talking in an “unladylike” way, she was celebrated by many. Wilkinson was praised as a “national figure” with prowess. So much so that she was even more popular than her teacher, James Figg.
This began to change at the end of the century. There was a sudden shift in the athletic world, which led to redefining masculinity through sports— including boxing. In his essay, Christopher Thrasher pointed out the following:
“Boxing, which had long been British regardless of gender, now became male, regardless of nationality. Men built a mythical past for boxing that ignored Wilkinson and crowned one of her contemporaries, James Figg, the sport’s first champion”.
With the above plus the lack of records of her past, Elizabeth was gradually forgotten from History. She disappeared without leaving any information as to why she left boxing as well as the year of her death.
Elizabeth Wilkinson’s legacy
Despite the limited details of her life by the lack of documents, Elizabeth Wilkinson has reemerged thanks to people that have been in charge of bringing her back to boxing’s history.
Elizabeth’s impact as the first recorded female boxer gave the chance for other women the opportunity to participate in what was once called a “man’s sport” by inspiring others to break outdated gender norms.
