Ground Breaking Boxers

James Jem Wharton

James ‘Jem’ Wharton was one of the most successful boxers in Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was popularly known as the ‘Young Molineaux’ after the famous black American boxer of the preceding generation, Tom Molineaux. Wharton’s early life remains uncertain; he described himself as a Moroccan who arrived in England in 1820 but his place of birth was recorded as London in the 1851 census. Winning his first bout in 1833, he retired undefeated in 1840. In later life, he worked as a trainer and promoter and ran a tavern in Liverpool. This portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.