{{Short description|Boxer from Saint Lucia (1900–1957)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Dixie Brown | image = Dixie Brown.jpg | alt = | caption = Dixie Brown, c. 1930 | birth_name = Anthony George Charles | birth_date = 27 June 1900 | birth_place = Castries, Saint Lucia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|04|20|1900|06|27}} | death_place = Bristol, England, UK | occupation = Boxer }} '''Anthony George Charles''' (born 27 June 1900 in Castries, Saint Lucia;<ref name=EMAS>{{cite web|url=http://www.emas4success.org/acrobat/TeachingMaterials/Biographies/BlackBristolians/Dixie_Brown.pdf |title=Dixie Brown Biography |work=Bristol Ethnic Minority Achievement Service |year=2009 |accessdate=9 July 2011 |pages=17–18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006234739/http://www.emas4success.org/acrobat/TeachingMaterials/Biographies/BlackBristolians/Dixie_Brown.pdf |archivedate=6 October 2011 }}</ref> died 20 April 1957) was a boxer, commonly known as '''Dixie Brown'''.
He worked on the construction of the Panama Canal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thevoiceslu.com/features/2009/october/17_10_09/2nd_generation_offspring_of_famed_UK_boxer_visits_St_Lucia.htm|title=2nd generation offspring of famed UK boxer visits St Lucia|last=Staff|work=The Voice, Saint Lucia|date=17 October 2009|accessdate=9 July 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006231530/http://www.thevoiceslu.com/features/2009/october/17_10_09/2nd_generation_offspring_of_famed_UK_boxer_visits_St_Lucia.htm|archivedate=6 October 2011}}</ref> and emigrated to Cardiff, Wales in 1919. In the West Country of England, he survived by working as a bare-knuckle boxer in fairground booths. He moved with his wife, Lily Sellick, to Bristol in 1923, and registered as a professional boxer, fighting 85 bouts in the 1920s and 1930s, as welterweight and middleweight. He trained at the White Horse in Milk Street.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/nexis/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T12319077115&format=GNBFI&sort=BOOLEAN&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T12319077118&cisb=22_T12319077117&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=166254&docNo=10 |title= We could make a book about the Pomphreys and boxing |first=R. |last=Wilson |work=Bristol Times |publisher=Bristol Evening Post, archived at LexisNexis |pages=6–7 |date=29 June 1999 |url-access=subscription |accessdate=9 July 2011}}</ref> He could not contest any British championships owing to the colour bar then in operation.<ref name=clifdioc>{{cite web |url=http://www.cliftondiocese.com/assets/files/pdf/2007/december/Dixie%20Brown.pdf |title=Dixie Brown |work=cliftondiocese.com |year=2007 |accessdate=9 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323210901/http://www.cliftondiocese.com/assets/files/pdf/2007/december/Dixie%20Brown.pdf |archivedate=23 March 2012 }}</ref> He had two wins, both over one-time champion Billy Green, five losses and two draws in his professional career.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=214449&cat=boxer |title=Dixie Brown – Boxer |work=boxrec.com |year=2011 |accessdate= 9 July 2011}}</ref>
Brown started family life in the "tough neighbourhood" of Philadelphia Street, St Jude's. He was blinded in a fight in the 1930s and then moved with his family to Knowle West, Bristol after the Blitz.<ref name=engpast>{{cite web |url=http://explore.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk/items/dixie-brown |title=Dixie Brown |work=explore.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk |year=2011 |accessdate=9 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325101555/http://explore.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk/items/dixie-brown |archivedate=25 March 2012 }}</ref> A collection was made to send him to the Catholic shrine of Lourdes in France, in search of a cure.<ref name=clifdioc /> He was visited by many African American soldiers during the Second World War, as they respected him as "a well known and a much admired character".<ref name=EMAS />
Brown had nine children and thirty grandchildren. One of his grandsons used to take him to his local public house, the Venture Inn, where he had his own special chair.<ref name= engpast /> He was popular and well respected throughout Bristol. Brown died in 1957 and is buried in Holy Souls Catholic Cemetery next door to Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol.<ref name=EMAS /> Bristol historian Madge Dresser described him as "a family man who founded a virtual dynasty of Bristolians of mixed heritage, all of whom remember him with fondness."<ref name=clifdioc />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{boxrec|id=214449}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Dixie}} Category:English male boxers Category:1900 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Martial artists from Bristol Category:Black British sportsmen Category:Saint Lucian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:20th-century English sportsmen