John "Jack" Langan - The Legendary Irish Pugilist

By Paul Langan

John "Jack" Langan was born during the firestorm of insurrection on May 18th, 1798, at Clondalkin, in the county of Kildare, Ireland. For the first time, Paul Langan has compiled a book on Ireland's fabled pugilist.
The book covers his early years. The two epic 74 and 76-round battles with England champion Tom Spring are discussed in significant detail. The book then follows Langan's retirement in Liverpool as a publican and brewery owner until his death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Langan
• Release date: Mar 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9781998829392

Book preview

Jess Willard, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion 1915-1919 For the greatest Irish Fighter, Jack Langan! No braver, finer man ever climbed through the ropes.

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CONTENTS

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Catherine Muss, editor extraordinaire, for taking the time to review this book. I would also like to thank Dónal Murray for his  encouragement.

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1 INTRODUCTION

I was researching another book and came across an article from 1910 reflecting on the Tom Spring vs John Jack Langan second fight that took place 86 years earlier. It lasted an amazing 76 rounds. I was so enthralled by the article I began to do a historical review of information on Irish pugilist John Jack Langan. The result of that work is this publication. I feel a few things need to be clarified first.

How do I refer to John Jack Langan throughout the book? The news articles I referenced and used in this compilation, used John, Jack, or even just Langan. I also used all these names to reference Mr. Langan.

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As mentioned in the book, Langan was born in 1798 in a blaze of insurrection. It was a time of rebellion against the British Crown by Irish nationalists. So many good books deal with this topic. I did not dwell on this subject. It would be correct to say this had a significant impact on the character that Langan would become. It also gave greater significance to his two fights against England’s champion, Tom Spring.

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The modern sport of boxing is far different then how it was fought in the 1820s. Pugilism rules were few and far between. Pugilists in the ‘30s and ‘40s lost their lives as a direct result of injuries occurring in the ring. In 1743, English Champion Jack Broughton developed 7 basic rules to guide the fights. The rule that stated what you could or not do was rule #7: You are not allowed to hit the opponent when he is on the ground, nor to grab him by the leg, by the breeches or by any part of the body located below the waist; a contestant will be considered down if on his knees, (see Appendix 2 for all the rules).

In the following years, each fight might have had slightly different variations of these rules, but as you will find, it truly was a no-holds-barred event. It was not until after Langan retired that these rules were changed.

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Many references commiserated about the lack of information on Langan’s personal life. Researching this book, I also came up with limited information on Langan. I could not find out what happened to the child he fathered early in his career, or the child’s mother. Though it is stated in Langan’s obituary how his wife died and that he had a large family. No specifics of how many children he had were given.

There is, however, a chapter regarding the murder of his son, Charles Langan’s murder. He was gunned down on a street. In the trial news articles it came out that Charles Langan lived a life of ill-repute. He had been found guilty of a garrote robbery. Charles also had two brothers mentioned in at the trial. Little other information was uncovered about Jack Langan’s family.

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Enjoy this book,

Paul Langan

Hespeler, Ontario, Canada, April 2nd, 2024

2 John Jack Langan, The Irish Champion 1891-1824 - The Early Years

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John Langan, one of the bravest of pugilists—and whose fortune it was to find his ambition foiled when struggling to the topmost rung of the ladder, by the superior skill of Tom Spring, the English champion—well deserves a chapter in the history of pugilism. As the author of Boxiana was not only the countryman but the friend of Langan, we shall accept, with a few alterations and additions, the biography of the Irish Champion, as we find it in that work; and for the further reason that it is, in its earlier pages, a lively and amusing specimen of the historian’s apocrypha.

Born in a Blaze of Insurrection

John Langan was born May 18, 1798, at Clondalkin, in the county Kildare. Ireland was then in the full blaze of insurrection, and Pierce Egan tells us That young Paddy had scarcely become one of his father’s family five minutes, before his ears were saluted by a tremendous fire of musketry from a party of United Men who were attempting to get possession of a powder-mill situated within fifty yards of his daddy’s mud edifice. 

Mrs. Judy O’Shaughnessy, his nurse, had her own way of explaining this as rather ominous that little Jack Langan was born to make a noise in the world. The early years of little Jack passed as is usual with lively urchins, until his father left Clondalkin, and settled in the suburbs of Dublin, at a place called Ballybough Lane, adjoining that beautiful spot of freedom known as Mud Island.

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John is supposed to have gone to school in the Irish capital, and to have scared the class by his fistic knowledge, theoretical and practical, but this information, handed down to us by the chroniclers, must be taken cum grano salis. Langan himself told in later years, when he blossomed into a Boniface, how, at the age of nine, he fought for over an hour, the result of an argument as to who would climb a tree to claim a bird and her young. This merry mill he won and having tasted the sweets of warfare, he sighed for more.

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The Joseph Denals Fight

On the borders of the Dublin canal, when only thirteen years of age, he thought himself man enough to enter the lists with a strong youth, Joseph Denals, a farm labourer of eighteen years of age; in fact, he stood forward as champion for his friend, who had received a blow from the youth. In fourteen rounds, lasting forty-five minutes, against weight, length, and height, Langan proved the conqueror.

A Short Time at Sea

Shortly after the above battle, Jack persuaded his father to let him go to sea and, ultimately, he was bound in apprenticeship to Messrs. Dunn and Harris, of Dublin. Langan sailed for Oporto and Lisbon in the New Active, Captain M’Carthy. In Bull Bay, Lisbon, despite the stiletto used by two Portuguese, he made the cowards run before him; but Jack received a scratch or two on his body from their knives. His courage, however, did not desert him for an instant, though he was attacked in such an assassin-like manner.

On Langan’s passage home, he severely drubbed one of his messmates, of the name of Dunn, who had taken liberties with the fame of Ould Ireland. Erin-go-Bragh! said Jack Langan, after giving Mr. Dunn a receipt in full of all demands, then retired to his berth to take his grog, singing—

"St. Patrick is still our protector,

He made us an Island of Saints,

Drove out snakes and toads like a Hector,

And ne’er shut his eyes to complaints:

Then if you would live and be frisky,

And never die when you’re in bed,

Arrah! come to Ireland and tipple the whiskey,

And live ten years after you’re dead!!!"

Like all new schemes and occupations, a sailor’s life, for a short period, was highly relished by Langan; some terrible gales of wind, however, and a tremendous storm or two, on his return to Ireland, showed the other side of the picture so emphatically that Jack spoke to his ould dad to get his indentures from the captain, as he had a great wish to try his fortune on shore. Old Langan accomplished this circumstance for his darling boy, and Jack apprenticed to a sawyer. 

Langan Becomes a Sawyer

Langan soon became a proficient in his business and arrived at the climax of his trade, a top-sawyer; but he was anxious to get a cut above the pit and turn his hand to another account. Although fifteen years of age, our hero had a taste for milling. He was fond of fighting, but not quarrelling; yet he was always ready to punish impudence and insolence, whenever rude fellows crossed his path.

From little causes great events arise!

Jemmy Lyons and Jack Riley Fights

Throwing snowballs at each other near the Dublin canal produced a most determined mill between Jemmy Lyons, a Hibernian pugilist, and Jack Langan. It was a cool situation for a fight, but warm work while it lasted; and Jack’s blows were put in so fast and hard upon the face of Paddy Lyons, for the space of twenty-five minutes, that he cried out Enough! too much! This turn-up was