The Belshaw Bothers

[Eddie Rose]

I saw a comment in the guest book regarding the Belshaw brothers from one of the family.

The trio of brothers, Jack Beaumont, Arthur Ricardo and Cliff Belshaw were perhaps the most talented family group in wrestling - ever.

I spoked to Alf Cadman about Jack Beaumont and Alf rates him as the best & toughest wrestler he ever met in his long career.

Promoter Jack Atherton always spoke very highly of the Belshaw's and their wresling prowess rating them on a par with the Rileys.

Cliff Belshaw was an ace tumbler and acrobat and any one who was lucky enough to have ever watched him in action will smile with pleasure at the memory. Jack Atherton told an amusing but grisly story about Cliff Belshaw and a dead man's head that I described in "Send in the Clowns".

Of the three brothers, I perhaps knew Arthur best -and this gives me away - he had the Robin Hood pub just by the modern Piccadilly Station on London Road in Manchester. I was a fairly regular visitor for a chat and a bevvy.

Times dims the public memory a bit but these three lads were three of the very best of their time and would have more than held their own in any wrestling era.

[Hack]

Arthur, Jack and Cliff are in the A-Z.

[john shelvey]

Yup, the few times I saw them they were as smooth as silk.
Cheers, John.

[julie belshaw]

Im so happy to hear how respected my dad and his brothers were. Im Julie Belshaw, Cliff Belshaws daughter. I never thought to look on any websites for my dad., but I cant tell you how chuffed I am to see that people still remember him.Thank you so much. Ive still got magazines and pics etc of them if anyones interested in seeing them. You can contact me through;  [e-mail]. I look forward to hearing from any one.thanks.

[Beancounter]

Julie,
As a very keen fan of your Dad during the 1960s, I am sure I am not alone in wishing he was still around for us to let him know how much his brilliant wrestling was appreciated.(In my humble opinion only Jack Dempsey and Alan Colbeck came anywhere near to him in the welterweight division).

However, I can do the next best thing and pass these sentiments on to you.

With kindest regards.
Beancounter

[Shirley Harrison (nee Belshaw)]

Great to hear from someone who knew my Dad (Arthur). I am his eldest daughter. He had four children. I remember going to watch him as a child but I don't really know what he achieved and unfortunately he died prematurely at 57. I was pleased to hear about his achievements.
Many Thanks
Shirley

[Ray Plunkett]

Shirley
If you e mail me on
[e-mail] I can e mail you some copy programmes

I am just sending Julie a large envelope of copies in the post of her Dad

Ray    

[Glenys]

I I am Glenys ,  Jack Beaumonts Daughter I am delighted with this site and  am trying to put some interesting info together  for it .




Nice to see  some of my cousins on here  all proud of  Our  dads achievements we were brought up on Wrestling ,our House in Manchester being a favourite stopping off place for many of the Wrestlers in the 50s and 60s .Sadly My dad died in october 1963 after a wrestling bout at Chorlton Manchester he had a massive coronary he was actually 45.

My Dad trained every day and was considered very fit so it was a tremendous shock.
Some may want to correct this but as I understand it  Jack was the Britsh European Middleweight Champion at the time of his death.

I would love to hear from anyone who knew him  as I was 12 at the time of his death I would like to know what kind of person he was as to me he was my hero and not many days go  by  even still I dont remember him.


 

[Glenys]

Forgot to say and cant see edit option I can be contacted on

labrador.rescue:btinternet.com

In reply To Eddie re Cliff being an acrobat all the brothers were in fact they were an acrobatic team before they were wrestlers .
Just thought you may be interested in that.

[Eddie Rose]

Glenys & Julie

It's great to hear from you both on this website.

Thank's for the information that all 3 brothers were acrobats before they were wrestlers. Jack Atherton descibed the Belshaw brothers as "tumblers", I suppose an old fashioned word for acrobat. I was always interested because I was a gymnast in my late teens and early twenties and was once a PE teacher. I never attained the skill that, for instance, I saw Cliff exhibit in the ring and in my book, "Send in the Clowns" I describe Cliff''s flying arm scissor move as one of the most outstanding sights I ever witnessed in the ring. (And didn'the always have a little smile playing around his lips whenever he perfomed his very special agility skills.

Arthur was bigger, very strong and extremely skilled and could really mix it whenever the going got tough. I used to call in the pub (THe Robin Hood) by the old London Road station for a drink and a chat and he was always very welcoming to a new and young wrestler.

Jack Beaumont is and was often described as one of the very best wrestlers in British rings. Old timers like Count Bartelli, Alf Cadman, Billy Robinson and Jimmy Hussey always referred to Jack as the creme de la creme along with Bert Assirati. Very skilful, very strong and unflinching. I wrestled at the Princess Theatre Club, Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton the show before Jack's untimely demise and was as shocked as the rest of the wrestling world at his passing.

My very best wishes to all the family.
Eddie Rose

[Glenys]

Eddie thank you, its great to read your comments on my Dad and uncles .


Best Wishes Glenys

[Hack]

Eddie is quite right. Count Bartelli was undefeated for twenty years and yet he rated two men as head and shoulders above the rest - Bert Assirati and Jack Beaumont. He told me that his draw against Jack gave him great satisfaction.

Royalty In Crewe 

[Hack]

I came across this posting on the Wrestling Classics board. It was a post by Charlie Thesz of a message received from Bill Robinson

From Billy Robinson:
There were many shooting schools in Wigan. The best being Billy Riley's and Pop Charnock's. At this time, they were the best schools in the world. In the rest of the world they had weight class's etc lightweight middleweight lightheavyweight America still had the best heavyweights.You and Lou have all that information. Riley's best were George Gregory, Billy Joyce, Billy Robinson, (heavyweights) Ernie Riley, John Foley, (lightheavyweights) Jack Dempsey, Tommy Moore, (welterweights) Melvin Rhys (lightweights) and many many more. too many to name. Pop Charnock's best were three brothers Cliff Belshaw, lightweught, Jack Belshaw (Jack Beaumont) and Arther Belshaw (Arther Ricardo) Light heavy. Pound for pound I would say in my time it was a toss up in the heavy's Billy Joyce, myself, Gotch, lightheavy's Ather Belshaw, Ernie Riley, middle Jack Beaumont, John Foley, welter, Jack Dempsey, lightweight, Cliff Belshaw, and Melvin Rhys. You have to remember at this time they would jump a weight or drop a weight for money. eg. I dropped from 215 lb to 187 lb for a shoot with Hungarian Joseph Molnar the match lasted 17 minutes, I won of course (ha) but prior to the match they argued about what weight I should weigh in at, for three months.


Wrestling Classics

[Jamie Yates]

Hi julie , My grandad james yates wrestled and done acrobats with your dad and his brothers back in their early days. He died when i was only four and i'm trying to see if i can find any pictures or memorabillia. I don't think he used his own  name for wrestling though. I also believed that when he was a younger he worked for your grandfather cleaning the funneral cars etc. I hope you can help. thanks.....     Please contact me at [e-mail]       I,ve just been looking into this site a bit before and believe that my granddad wrestle before the war. Talking to my father Roy Yates whom was born in 1946 and was born in essex. Which is where my granddad resided since he move from wigan until he died in 1979