Old photo

[lnr]

More nostalgia. My mum emailed me this photo yesterday.

The chap with the cane is former world light heavyweight boxing champion Georges Carpentier. Mum says "The question is which of the others is related to you and who are the other characters? (I know the answer to the first part only!)".

The filename included the name "Jack" and the message subject was "Racing picture". I wonder how on earth you'd go about finding out about such things. Still it's a nice pic - love the hats and capes!

Update from my mum, after me making a couple of guesses based on bad memory:

Jack is in fact John Cockeram who was a champion jockey - yes the really
tiny one! He was in fact my granddad's brother and your granddad's
uncle.

If anyone can tell you what the uniforms are that would be great.
Some important European race meeting probably France or Austria.
He did ride for the Aga Khan - and repute has it he married Buster
Keaton's sister.

Comments

[pm215]

One of your tags is typoed; I point it out only because you might want to use it to find this post again later...

[lnr]

thanks, fixed.

[abdoujaparov.livejournal.com]

You might want to ask this guy (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/misc/profile/crivers.shtml) if it fits into anything he's found out about Carpentier. (Heck, maybe he'd be interested in the photo anyway)

[lnr]

Thanks, that's a good idea, I've sent him a message pointing here :-)

Feel very churlish for not adding thanks before I hit send on it though, I hate mailing people through web forms!

[abdoujaparov.livejournal.com]

Kewl! Let us know what he says.

(Alternatively - Prof. Rivers, if you're reading, let us know what you have to say in a comment :))

Carpentier photo

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, this is Chris Rivers. Many thanks for passing this along. I am, for better or for worse, always interested in anything that has to do with Carpentier and I hadn't seen this picture before. I'm afraid I can't help out here, though-- none of the others in the photo are at all familiar to me. I can't even date it for sure, though my best guess would be circa 1925.

Carpentier was not only a world champion boxer but a twice-decorated World War I aviator (hence the uniforms in the picture?). He was also a music hall song-and-dance man and appeared in a few movies. He was just an all-around celebrity, especially in the 1920's and, as such, was very widely photographed. Everyone, it seems, wanted to have his picture taken with Carpentier.

He was much loved, not only in France but in the US and England as well. In fact, the Brits probably loved him more than anyone, despite/because of the fact that he annihilated two of their heavyweight champions (twice each: Bombardier Billy Wells in 1913 and Joe Beckett in 1919 and 1923; the second Wells fight and both Beckett bouts took place in London and all three ended in spectacular, first-round, one-punch knockouts-- the Prince of Wales was at ringside for both Beckett bouts). Many of his music hall performances took place in England (and a couple of his movies were filmed there).

Sorry not to be more helpful but hope this provides a bit of semi-interesting context for who Carpentier was.

Re: Carpentier photo

[abdoujaparov.livejournal.com]

Many thanks! Most interesting.