JOHN

See also:

• JOHN GULLY (1783-1863)

GULLY (1783-1863)  , English sportsman and politician, was born at Wick, near Bath, on the 21st of August 1783, the son of an innkeeper . He came into prominence as a boxer, and in r8o5 he was matched against Henry Pearce, the " Game Chicken," before the duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.) and numerous other spectators, and after fighting sixty-four rounds, which occupied an hour and seventeen minutes, was beaten . In 1807 he twice fought Bob Gregson, the Lancashire giant, for two hundred guineas a side, winning on both occasions . As the landlord of the "Plough " tavern in Carey Street, London, he retired from the ring in 18o8, and took to horse-racing . In 1827 he lost !40,000 by backing his horse " Mameluke " (for which he had paid four thousand guineas) for the St Leger . In partnership with Robert Ridskale, in 1832, he made £85,000 by winning the Derby and St Leger with " St Giles " and " Margrave . " In partnership with John Day he won the Two Thousand Guineas with " Ugly Buck " in 1844, and two years later he took the Derby and the Oaks with " Pyrrhus the First " and " Mendicant," in 18J4 the Two Thousand Guineas with "Hermit," and in the same year, in partnership with Henry Padwick, the Derby with " Andover." Having bought Ackworth Park near Pontefract he was M.P. from December 1832 to July 1837 . In 1862 he purchased the Wingate Grange estate and collieries . Gully was twice married and had twelve children by each wife . He died at Durham on the 9th of March 1863, He appears to have been no relation of the subsequent Speaker, Lord Selby .