But Armstrong refutes this: “The prisoner’s statement is a tissue of lies… I had been writing a long article, and wanted to go to bed. I have been three times assaulted in my neighbourhood, but have never been robbed.”

[…] for example, or his death. Given how many of his friends, family, and journalists such as Walter ‘The Cross-Buttocker’ Armstrong who covered his career in the sports papers were long dead by 1923, it appears that the passing of […]

In 1901 there’s a Walter Armstrong, also married, also a newspaper reporter, living three miles from Loughborough Road, on Whittlesey Street, as a lodger. But he’s two years older than our guy, and born in Carlisle, not Scotland. Is it just a coincidence, perhaps, that there are two similarly-aged journalist Walter Armstrongs in South London? Is this our Armstrong and the date and place of birth a mistake? Or is the date and place of birth correct, and incorrect on the earlier censuses? Carlisle makes much more sense. There is no reference to Armstrong being Scottish in any wrestling reports I’ve found so far. There are lots of references to him being from Carlisle.

As a wrestler Armstrong trained – or as David King puts it, ‘picked up his chips’ – in Carlisle, under Jemmy Scott and Harry Ivison, before making his first public appearance in 1860 at the Carlisle Easter Wrestling where he gained first prize among lightweights.

WONDERFUL FAN. Thank you so much this Fan is amazing & the water for mist at the top is lovely, the movement of the 2 fans everyway round is great,we love it ...

Medical device ; Original Instruction For Use (IFU), 12/14/2022, IFUeIFU, TRUCLIP TCLIP05 (27) ; Copy of the labelling or packaging, 12/14/2022, CGL CNT, CASE, ...

A 3.6 V Li-ion battery from a Nokia 3310 mobile phone · Specific ... LiMn2O4 can also intercalate more than 0.5 Li per Mn at a lower voltage around +3.0 V.

[…] former wrestler turned referee and Sporting Life wrestling columnist, Walter ‘The Cross-Buttocker’ Armstrong also gave his support to “one of the most civil and most unassuming boxers to be […]

[…] journalism pioneered by Hunter S. Thompson in the 1970s. I believe the author of this piece to be Walter ‘The Cross-Buttocker’ Armstrong (1838-1917) but cannot be […]

There is much more to come on this blog about Walter Armstrong from the late 1880s onward, including some of his wonderful interviews and Cross-Buttocker columns and his role in the establishment of a governing body for athletic wrestling – there’s far too much to include in this already rather lengthy post.

Let me introduce you to the enigmatic Walter Armstrong, a wrestler, Sporting Life writer, and esteemed match referee who often went by the pseudonym Cross-Buttocker or The Cross-Buttocker. I say ‘esteemed’ now – but there’s a surprising plot twist in 1884 and, it seems, a rather sad ending.

Between the 20th and 24th December 1917 the Penrith Observer, Lancashire Evening Post, Yorkshire Post and others published variations on the following obituary:

Trane PAN03350 Pan-Drain Uf Medium. Trane. Trane PAN03350 Pan-Drain Uf Medium. MSRP: Was: Now: $228.77. Quick view. Compare Add to Cart The item has been added.

15, 15005PF1025-L · Foot Motor Tube ; 16, 15005P-1040, Sleep surface hook (BX) ; 18, 15005SPN, Adjustment Button ; 19, 15544HGB, Head Board Gear Assembly.

Pressure Cleaner (Hot). 3,000 PSI – 8.0 GPM Hot Water Pressure Washer – Honda GX690 Engine BAR. $ 19.544,25 $ 4.886,06. Sale! Add to wishlist. Quick View. Air ...

“Armstrong proposed that if we could get 20l. each he and I should go to Brisbane, and afterwards he said that he had some old cheques by him which he had when in business for himself; and a day or two afterwards he said that he knew several gentlemen who had an account at the same bank, and among them was Mr. Statham, and he used to practise making Mr. Statham’s signature in my presence—we were afterwards out together, and went into a public-house in Kennington Park, where he asked me if I would go to the bank with a cheque if he wrote one out—he then wrote a cheque…”

The Cross-Buttocker’s articles, letters, interviews and match reports, as well as his 1870 book Wrestliana and 1890’s Wrestling, have been invaluable for my research. At first it was much harder to find biographical details about the man himself, but this has now become a very long blog post as I kept finding new information every time I attempted to finish writing it.

From the 1860s right into the 1900s Armstrong appeared in the newspapers often, predominantly as a referee in the later decades. He adopted the pseudonym The Cross-Buttocker in the late-1880s and also began to write to, and for, The Sporting Life. There’s just one very obvious period, in 1884, where Armstrong briefly disappeared from wrestling coverage entirely. Why?

I could not believe at first that this was the same Walter Armstrong, author and former Honorary Secretary of a wrestling society and so on. But there his address was in the Old Bailey transcript: 60 Loughborough Road.

“What has he done to deserve such a compliment? For my part, I think, apart from his wrestling, his greatest claim to notice is his successful term of honorary secretaryship to the Wrestling Society during that struggling period between 1868 and 1879. Almost immediately after he was appointed to the post he took the trouble to write a book containing the history of the club, and which, no doubt, was of material assistance as an advertisement in promoting the sport of which he has so long been associated.”

Let’s go back a bit to Armstrong’s glory days. Match results and reports across the 1860s and 70s show that in his 20s and 30s, Walter had a pretty good career as an amateur wrestler. Over several days in 1882 The Sporting Life advertised a benefit or testimonial in Armstrong’s honour, to be held at the South London Palace on 27 April, and these previews give us some extra detail about his earlier career including reference to a fight with John Graham in front of Emperor Napoleon III (date and details currently unknown, but Napoleon III was Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870).

“The prisoner, in his defence, stated, on oath, that as he had been drinking, that he sat down on a door step and afterwards on the kerb; that the prosecutor and he knew each other; that two men came up, one of whom had a big portmanteau, and knocked the other down with it…”

Over this period our Walter Armstrong regularly pops up in The Sporting Life as a wrestling referee – including women wrestlers! – all over London. He’s getting letters delivered to him at The Sporting Life offices. In 1901 the newspaper even publishes this:

So the early 1880s started well. At the April 1882 testimonial in his honour, Armstrong – who was by then around 44 years of age – repeated his legendary fight with Graham and “brings down the house” by felling his opponent with an “outside stroke”, although Graham ultimately proved successful by means of a “hench”. Trooper Ottaway demonstrated his sword skills by slicing up lemons (easily pleased, the Victorians), and Jack and Christopher Wannop faced off against each other in just one of many “highly interesting” wrestling displays. The whole night raised a handsome sum.

Using that information I traced Armstrong, a commercial clerk in the tea trade, born in Scotland in 1838, to Lewisham Road in 1871, where he’s living with his Lambeth-born wife Emma and three children, daughters Ada and Minnie and a newborn son, Harley. It’s then on to 60 Loughborough Road in Brixton by the time of the 1881 census. He’s still with Emma, Ada, Minnie and Harley but now also a fourth child, Robina.

In April 1917, a Walter Armstrong was admitted to the St George’s Workhouse on Mint Street, Southwark. His date of birth was entered as 1835 rather than 1838, and he was noted as being formerly of “36 Nelson Square” with a “wife, Emma, 60 Loughborough Road”.

It might seem odd to us in the days of GDPR and online stalking, but not so long ago newspapers were inclined to publish a letter writer’s full house address, rather than just a street or town name, under their printed correspondence. So that was my starting point for finding Armstrong. His letters on wrestling are printed with his address: 60 Loughborough Road, Brixton, London.

The moment a star was born in the #CarabaoCup ! #EFL | @England.

[…] careering behind “four spanking greys”. The Sporting Life’s report, most likely scribed by Walter ‘The Cross-Buttocker’ Armstrong – a regular Life columnist and Wannop career chronicler – sets the […]

Armstrong moved to London in 1861 where he was introduced as the ‘New Champion’ and fought first in Chalk Farm then in 1862 came third in an ‘all-comers prize’ in Hornsey. In 1863 he started a long-running tradition of winning a guinea for best costume. Armstrong, it seems, was a fan of fashion, and his white silk stockings and scarlet drawers attracted prizes right into the late 1880s. There is an entire chapter in his book, Wrestling, on traditional attire should you wish to know more.

DisplayPort 1.4a: 2560 x 1440 (180 Hz max.) 2 x HDMI 2.0b: 2560 x 1440 (144 Hz max.) Specification. Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology. No. AC Adapter ...

Throughout the 1870s, annual Good Friday gatherings of the Cumberland and Westmorland club were held at London venues seating up to 10,000 spectators, including the Agricultural Hall and Lillie Bridge, and they became hugely popular events.

Our Signature Double Thick Canvas is ideal for beginners. It features a 36mm (1.4in) depth frame which looks modern and neat. No need for framing after completion of painting. These canvases are back stapled for a clean edge look. Suitable for light applications of paint. The Environmentally friendly cotton duck canvas is triple acrylic titanium primed and ready to be painted on.

On 28 July 1884 the 46-year-old Armstrong, a 23-year-old named Ebenezer Frederick Cobley, Francis Williams Adams, 24, and James Reigate, 27, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with the crime of “feloniously forging and uttering an order for the payment of 2l., with intent to defraud”.

But by 1891 Walter’s found his calling. Still living on Loughborough Road with Emma (a collar dresser) and with two of the kids moved out, he’s listed as a reporter.

Without Armstrong, I would have only half the project on my hands that I do now: it was he who discovered and promoted Jack Wannop long before my attempts to.

In 1912 a new weekly sports magazine launched, following the merger of The Mirror of Life and Boxing World. Cross-Buttocker was named among its contributors:

At the age of 43 he has not yet become The Cross-Buttocker. In fact, in 1881 he’s unemployed and a former ‘carman’ – a vague definition which most likely refers to a job, or in Walter’s case, a lack of one, on the railway.

The natural alternative pharmacy-quality & lifestyle · Welcome to the Natural revolution · Never compromise on your health · Our favuorite Products · Eye Bags Away ...

“Turn your left side to your opponent, get your hip partially underneath him, then, quick as lightning cross both his legs by your left and lift him from the ground. Both will come down, but your assailant will be undermost… The cross-buttock is a very fancy-looking move…” – Walter Armstrong, Wrestling, 1890

The next bit is interesting, confusing, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet. On the 1901 census Emma’s still at Loughborough Road with Harley, and a friend called Margaret. Walter is not with them.

[…] “deserved all the applause bestowed on them,” reported the Royal Cornish Gazette. The Sporting Life’s Walter Armstrong officiated as […]

The trial transcript is difficult to follow and contains no testimony from Armstrong himself, but to summarise: It was argued that Armstrong forged the signature of a Henry Statham on a number of cheques and gave one to Adams, who entered a boot-makers on 11 July and purchased a pair of 9s. 6d boots with a cheque for 2l. The boot-maker, James Parish, gave Adams 1l. 10s. 6d. change. Parish sent the boots to Reigate and the cheque to the bank, where it was declined for being a forgery. Armstrong had signed it under the name of his neighbour and fellow carman Statham, but the bank clerk determined that it was not Statham’s true signature. I’m not quite sure how Cobley was involved other than introducing Adams to Armstrong.

Maximum seating weight. Do not allow unsupervised children to play near the power chair while the batteries are charging. Read and follow the information in the ...

At the Agricultural Hall in 1865 Walter came second for the ‘London Prize’, although in 1866 and ’67 King bluntly states: there was nothing worth noting. In ’68 Walter was elected to the honorary secretaryship of the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Society in London and puts competition on hold while working to encourage younger aspirants to fame.

In 1911 we find our Walter Armstrong again, newspaper journalist, Scottish, born in 1838, married (not widowed) for 46 years and with four living children. But he’s registered at 31 Nelson Square – the same street name he gave at the Old Bailey in 1900, albeit a different house number. He’s passing his old age without Emma, and sharing the home of a middle-aged brother and sister and a couple of male tenants. Emma is still at Loughborough Road, with 40-year-old son Harley, and now-married daughter Minnie.

In 1900 a Walter Armstrong appears at the Old Bailey as the victim of a robbery. His address is “27 Nelson Square”, and he mentions that he is a journalist and “70 years of age”. He was robbed and knocked down by two men, who he thought were coming to shake his hand. He hastens to add that the pubs were closed and he was perfectly sober. The prisoner, John Dwyer, claimed to be a friend of Armstrong [the prosecutor].

Armstrong is not, much to my disappointment, the same Walter Armstrong who was also born in Scotland in 1850, educated at Oxford, had a career as an art critic, became Director of the National Gallery of Ireland and later received a knighthood. It would have been such a joy to discover arty moustachioed Sir Walter moonlighting in the sweaty pub gyms of New Cross. I’d definitely pay to watch that movie.

Adams and Reigate were found guilty and sentenced to six months hard labour. Cobley and Armstrong received “good characters” but both were found guilty, with Cobley sentenced to nine months hard labour and Armstrong to eight by Mr Justice Hawkins.

In 1902, 1904 and 1907 a Walter Armstrong is found on the records of a workhouse in Hackney but the details I’ve found so far, logged on Discharge Registers held by the London Metropolitan Archives, are not sufficient to determine if it is the same man. It’s unlikely:

Dwyer was found not guilty. Hopefully Armstrong managed to finish his article more quickly than I’ve managed with this one.

Some of what follows I am certain of, other parts remain a little sketchy and confused. There is some discrepancy with Armstrong’s date of birth, for example, but I understand this to be common in records of this period. Additionally, there is some information I simply find too surprising and difficult at this time, with my limited resources, to fully explain. I’m hoping once I’m further down the road with my research to seek out descendants of some of my ‘characters’ and so I am hesitant to write on criminal histories, for example, without really solid evidence to support those stories. But as I’ve said previously, these blogs are for my work-in-progress.