[Commemorative Boxing silk] Ted Pritchard matched with Jack Burke for the Middle Weight Championship of the World & £2,000 1891. It would seem that this silk was printed in error recording the fight as a World championship when in fact it was for the British title.

London, England, 1891

Silk scarf centred with a portrait of Ted Pritchard, descriptive text below, within a purple polka-dot border.

900 by 900mm (35½ by 35½ inches).
NB. this item is Unframed - framed image shown in room setting is for reference only

Jack Burke, ‘The Irish Lad’(1861-1897)

John (Jack) Burke was born in Killarney, Co. Kerry on 10 September 1861. He was brought to London as an infant and educated at St Joseph’s Catholic Academy. He was apprenticed in the glass blowing trade, his father having such a business in Lambeth.

Burke fought holder Ted Pritchard for his British/English Middleweight title on 12 March 1891, but was knocked out in three rounds. The bout was at 11 stone (154 lb). Pritchard went on to fight Jem Smith later that year for the Heavyweight championship of England, and during his career, Pritchard held both the Middleweight and Heavyweight English titles.
A benefit was held for Burke on 12 April 1891 at the Washington Music Hall, Battersea and in May 1891 he announced his retirement from boxing. However, in late 1893 he went to South Africa and there made a comeback, going on tour with Patsy Donovan as his sparring partner. After giving an exhibition with South Africa’s then most famous boxer James Couper, Jack ‘fought’ two fake fights with the Australian Owen Sullivan, losing both by so-called knockouts, the first in six rounds, the second in seven. He sailed from Cape Town for England on 5 September 1894, having been hounded out of town because of the fake fights. Back in England, after a few exhibition bouts and having tried to make a living as a bookmaker, Burke took over the Florence Tavern, Islington, on 1 November 1895, only to leave in November 1896. After his death, a fund was started to erect a memorial to him. This closed on 29 September 1897 with £70 collected. An old opponent, Charlie Mitchell, when donating £5 at the beginning of September, had stated that if enough money was not collected, he personally would pay to have a memorial erected ‘by Christmas’.

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