The little-known fighters of the Windrush
When Mortimer ’ Buddy’ Martin left Liverpool on the HMS Cavina in February 1948 he had one aim – to identify and recruit the best boxing talent that Jamaica had to offer. He would then bring these young men back to his boxing stable in Birkenhead and, or so the plan went, help them and himself make their fortune. The timing was good because in 1948 the British Boxing Board of Control had lifted its discriminatory ‘colour bar’, which stipulated that a boxer must have two white parents in order to compete for a British title. This change provided Buddy’s boxers with the opportunity to win recognition and perhaps move onto European and World glory. Sadly, the plan failed dismally: the pugilists Buddy selected would go on to lose far more fights than they won. But that is just one small part of the story. The ship the men came to Britain on was the HMT Empire Windrush and they would make a much bigger impact outside of the ring. Buddy was a Jamaican who had come to Britain in 1941 to support the war effort. He met and married Liverpool-born Heather Bradshaw in 1943. When the Windrush left Kingston harbour on 27th May 1948 Buddy travelled with four promising young boxers he had selected.
The first, Vernon Emanuel Sollas, had potential but an injury suffered while working in a coal mine – alongside a lack of discipline, according to Buddy – hampered his fitness to fight. His last recorded bout was in Belfast in September 1953 and he later returned to Jamaica, where he died in 2010.
Vernon’s name did, however, go down in boxing history. His son, also called Vernon Sollas, was a top-class boxer and became British featherweight champion, aged just 18, after winning a title fight at the Royal Albert Hall in 1975. He kept the title until 1977, winning 25 of his 33 professional fights, 21 of them inside the distance. Vernon junior still lives in London today, where his various business ventures have included managing rock bands.
Passenger number 640 on the Windrush was Terence Ansel Everal, better known as Ted Ansel. After winning his first fight in Britain, Ted’s subsequent record was one draw and 15 defeats. Plucky Ted did not give up and fought on until 1956. Ted made Liverpool his home and in 1952 married local girl Elizabeth Owens. He became the city’s overseas welfare officer, the first port of call for newcomers to Liverpool needing support, work and accommodation. Unemployment was high on Merseyside and prejudices meant that people from Africa and the Caribbean often found it particularly difficult to secure work. Ted worked closely with local companies to encourage them to give Black workers an opportunity; and alongside local MP ‘Battling Bessie’ Braddock, fought hard to ensure the council allocated housing fairly regardless of colour or creed. Thousands of migrants have reason to thank Ted for his unstinting efforts. He died, aged 63, in Bootle, Merseyside in 1986.
Calvin Reid, who fought as Essie Reid, was another of Buddy’s proteges who never quite made the grade in the ring. An eye injury in 1950 cut short his faltering career. But when one door closes, another one opens: Essie moved to London and pursued a successful music career, followed by a hugely influential role as an activist. Essie began playing drums and adopted the name of Ezz Reco. In 1964 Ezz Reco and the Launchers, with Boysie Grant on vocals, took Jimmy Cliff’s King of Kings into the British charts.
Musical fame was short-lived, and Essie had become increasingly involved in Black community activism. After changing his name to Donald Calvin Ezzreco, he and his wife Frances set aside their basement flat as a meeting place for members of the Coloured People’s Progressive Association (CPPA), of which Essie was secretary. He died in London in April 2001.
The last of Buddy’s four protegees was 21-year-old John Dinsdale Hazel. Of the four, it was John alone who won more fights than he lost, winning eight of his last ten fights before retiring in November 1953. The highlight of his career was almost certainly a narrow defeat to former European champion Livio Minelli in Italy in 1950. John’s relative success may be attributable to his attitude. The Gleaner of 9th February 1949 quoted from a letter he had sent home to Jamaica: “Ansell [sic] and Vernon Sollas lost their fights because they won’t train…as I know, I have to come back home to contribute to the game [boxing] there. You haven’t got to worry. I am saving most of the money I get.”
At the time these men were fighting, racism still pervaded the boxing industry. Individual bouts would often be advertised as ‘Black v White contests’ and sometimes an entire card would comprise solely Black versus White boxers. That the colour of a boxer’s skin was an important factor in a night’s entertainment for the crowd is illustrated in a letter John Hazel sent home shortly after his arrival in Britain. Due to fight another Black boxer he said, “English people do not like to see two coloured [sic] fight, so they had to change opponent.”
John did not, in fact, go back to Jamaica. He married Alice Fowlis in Liverpool in 1952 and remained in the city until his death in 2000. What became of Buddy? He moved briefly to Canada in 1951, working as a welder, before returning to Merseyside, and boxing, two years later. But the big-time still eluded him and he returned to Canada in 1966, before spending the last ten years of his life in Florida, where he died in 1994. Buddy may have had limited success in identifying great boxers; but he could definitely spot fighters, whose greatest impact was often outside the ring.
Wr by Bill Hearn