Hen Pearce

{{short description|English bare-knuckle boxer (1777–1809)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=June 2015}} frameless|200px|right '''Henry "Hen" Pearce''' (7 May 1777, in Bristol – 30 April 1809, at St. Martin's Lane, London) was an English bare-knuckle prizefighter who fought under the London Prize Ring rules and was the recognised English Champion from 1804 until his retirement due to ill health in 1807.<ref>''Boxiana, or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism'' volume 1 page 145, Pierce Egan</ref>

Pearce was known as "The Game Chicken", a nickname probably derived from his habit of signing his name "Hen" instead of Henry. He was reckoned a fast, skillful boxer who hit hard with both fists.

On 6 December 1805, Pearce defeated Jem Belcher in a Championship decider (a fight reported in Pierce Egan's first volume of ''Boxiana'').<ref>David Snowdon, 'Writing the Prizefight: Pierce Egan's Boxiana World' (2013)</ref>

He was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993.

==External Sources== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=9YYoAAAAYAAJ Chapter on Pearce in ''Boxiana, or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism'' volume 1, 1830, Pierce Egan] *[https://archive.org/details/pugilisticahisto01mileuoft/page/167/mode/1up Chapter on Pearce in ''Pugilistica, the History of British Boxing'' volume 1, 1906, Henry Downes Miles]

==See also== * List of bare-knuckle boxers

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Hen}} Category:1777 births Category:1809 deaths Category:English male boxers Category:English bare-knuckle boxers Category:Martial artists from Bristol Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis