Freddie Welsh

Freddie Welsh was a Welsh lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, and christened Frederick Hall Thomas, he was nicknamed the Welsh Wizard. Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a middleclass background to make a name for himself in America. He turned professional as a boxer in Philadelphia in 1905, and spent the best part of his career fighting in the United States, leaving many in Britain to incorrectly believe he was an exponent of an ungentlemanly style of American boxing.

Freddie Welsh was born in Pontypridd onMarch 1886, to John Thomas and his wife Elizabeth Thomas . In the late 19th century, Pontypridd was a growing coal mining town, which attracted not only those wishing to make a living down the mines, but also middleclass professionals who saw an opportunity to make a living in a thriving community. Welshs father was one such commercial immigrant, setting up a business on Taff Street as an auctioneer. They moved intoMorgan Street in the town, and Welsh was born there. He had two younger siblings, a brother, Arthur Stanley and a sister, Edith Kate. Unlike most boxers of the period, Welsh had a privileged upbringing, at the age of four he attended Mr Mclunes Grammar School in Pontypridd and was privately educated at Long Ashton College in Clifton, Bristol. A few months after Welsh was born, his mother persuaded her husband to buy the Bridge Inn Hotel on Berw Road, and the family moved there. Welshs mother was the daughter of a hotelier from Me

Source: Wikipedia