Heavyweight champion of England (1783-1863), one of the earliest champions in the history of boxing, later a member of British Parliment. ALS signed 'Jn. Gully,' one page both sides, 7.5 x 9.25, February 12, 1844. Letter to an unidentified gentleman. In full: 'You were kind enough to say you would put my name down on the Speakers list for tomorrow night’s debate. I shall feel further obliged if you will strike out my name and put instead my brother in law, Captain Denham is the Gentleman who commanded the Brig Ann, which was wrecked on the Island of Formosa, and my poor son was a Passenger who was cruelly murdered with 51 of the crew. The above gentleman is going…to China very soon and as he informs me has the case of some things to take out to your son. He never was in the House of Commons to hear a debate will be a great treat to him and I shall feel myself under a great obligation to you.' In very good condition, with two blocks of toning to reverse (passing over the signature and lightly showing through to the front), intersecting folds, two through single letters of signature, and a couple light fingerprint brushes.
The one-time bare-knuckled champion here engages in a personal fight—one seeking justice for his slaughtered son. Robert Gully was a passenger on the Brig Ann, an American ship whose crew traded opium to the Chinese for poultry, when the vessel shipwrecked on Formosa in March 1842. A casualty of the First Opium War between Great Britain and China, Gully was taken prisoner by Chinese authorities and held for five months before he 'was cruelly murdered with 51 of the crew'—their heads left to rot along the shore. Denham, who with Gully had kept a journal of their tribulations, escaped his captors and published both journals in 1844. A unique combination of the worlds of sports, politics, and war. Pre-certified Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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