Jimmy Wilde and Tylorstown Colliery

The first world flyweight champion, 'the Tylorstown Terror', worked underground at Tylorstown Colliery and learned to box from a workmate there.

The mining history in this record

William James Wilde was born in May 1892 at Quakers Yard, near Treharris, and was a child when his family moved to Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach; in the 1901 census the household spoke only Welsh. His father was a coal miner, and Jimmy followed him underground at Tylorstown Colliery, where his slight build let him crawl through gullies that most of his fellow colliers could not pass.

At the colliery he worked with Dai Davies, an old mountain fighter, who taught him a great deal about boxing and had him home to spar in the attic. Wilde lodged at the Davies house and in 1910 married Davies's daughter Elizabeth. He fought in the fairground boxing booths from the age of sixteen, where the booth owner Jack Scarrott gave him his first chance, and he left the pit to box full time, in 1911 by one account and in 1913 by others. An old leg injury from a colliery accident, with his low weight, saw the army turn him down twice before it took him in December 1916 as a physical training instructor at Aldershot.

People

Jimmy Wilde (1892-1969), Tylorstown collier and world flyweight champion. Dai Davies, an old mountain fighter and Wilde's workmate at the colliery, who taught him to box and whose daughter Elizabeth he married. Jack Scarrott, the booth owner who gave him his first chance. Ted Lewis, his manager from 1911.

Legacy today

Wilde became the first world flyweight champion on 18 December 1916, knocking out Young Zulu Kid of the United States at the Holborn Stadium, and held the title until Pancho Villa beat him in New York in June 1923. His heaviest fighting weight was 7st 10lb, and the figure most often quoted for his career is 864 contests. The Mighty Atom, the Ghost with a Hammer in His Hand and, after his pit village, the Tylorstown Terror, he is often rated the greatest flyweight of all, and he was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.

He wrote an autobiography, Fighting Was My Business, in 1938, and was for a time boxing correspondent of the News of the World. He died at Whitchurch Hospital on 10 March 1969 and is buried beside his wife in Barry Cemetery.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Wilde worked underground at Tylorstown Colliery, the pit of the village where his family had settled, until he turned professional. (documented fact) ^1,2,3
• At the colliery Wilde worked with Dai Davies, an old mountain fighter, who taught him to box in the attic of his house. (later recollection) ^2,3
• Wilde was small enough to crawl through gullies in the pit that most of his fellow colliers could not pass. (later recollection) ¹
• Wilde left the pit in 1911 to concentrate on the professional ring. (documented fact, disputed) ²
• Wilde left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913. (documented fact, disputed) ^1,3
• An old leg injury from a colliery accident, with his low weight, led the army to reject Wilde twice before accepting him in December 1916. (documented fact) ¹
• Wilde became the first world flyweight champion in December 1916, beating Young Zulu Kid of the United States. (documented fact) ^1,2
• Wilde was born on 12 May 1892. (documented fact, disputed) ^1,2
• Wilde was born on 15 May 1892. (documented fact, disputed) ³

Mines

• Tylorstown Colliery — Rhondda Cynon Taf
  Wilde worked underground at Tylorstown Colliery until he turned professional (1911 or 1913) and learned to box from a workmate there, Dai Davies.

Real-world mining concepts used here

Coal, Colliery

Sources

1. (secondary) Wikipedia: Jimmy Wilde — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) WILDE, WILLIAM JAMES (JIMMY) (1892-1969), boxer, world flyweight champion — Dictionary of Welsh Biography
3. (secondary) The Tylorstown Terror: the Jimmy Wilde story (Paul Zanon) — British Vintage Boxing

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026