Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/226

Winter met Painter a second time at Russia Farm. This was the one and only occasion on which he lost a match. By a chance blow he lost the sight of one eye, and bore a scar for the rest of his life. His reputation was firmly established after his next encounter, when, on 4 May 1819, at Crawley Down, he fought seventy-one rounds with Carter, during which the ropes were broken and both combatants went down several times. Spring won the victory by opposing science to the oldfashioned heavy hitting. He now went on a sparring tour in the west, in company with his friend Tom Cribb [q. v.], the champion. On his return he won an easy victory over Ben Burn on Wimbledon Common (20 Dec. 1819). A third match with Painter was arranged, but fell through, Painter forfeiting the stakes. Spring again met Burn on Epsom Downs (16 May 1820), and, though out of condition, once more displayed the superiority of his method. On 27 June of the same year he won a purse of 20l. for a fight with Joshua Hudson at Moulsey Hirst. On 20 Feb. 1821 he met and vanquished in twenty-six rounds, lasting fifty-five minutes, Tom Oliver [q. v.], winning 200l. After Cribb's retirement Spring claimed the championship of England, and challenged all comers for three months on 26 March 1821. He now married and retired for a time from the ring, in order to keep the Weymouth Arms in Weymouth Street, Portman Square. Early in 1823 he and Shelton underwent a week's imprisonment in default of bail for having acted as umpires in a match between Daniel Watts and James Smith on the Downs, near Brighton, when Smith died from congestion of the brain.

On 20 May 1823 Spring recommenced his career by fighting Neat of Bristol on Hinckley Down, near Andover, a match which had long hung fire, though eagerly desired by the boxing world. Spring won after eight rounds in thirty-seven minutes. He closed his career by winning two other victories and the sum of 1,000l. within the year. On 24 Jan. he met Langan, an Irishman, on the racecourse at Worcester, the stakes being 300l. a side. Before the contest fifteen hundred people were thrown to the ground by the collapse of the grand stand, twenty being seriously injured. A severe and confused fight lasted two hours and twenty-nine minutes, and at the seventy-seventh round Langan was insensible. A long correspondence followed between the principals and their supporters in the pages of 'Pierce Egan's Life in London,' the defeated party contesting the validity of the victory. On 8 June, however, a second contest took place on a raised platform at Birdham Bridge, near Chichester, the stakes being five hundred guineas a side. The fight, which was declared 'one of the fairest battles ever witnessed,' lasted an hour and forty-nine minutes, and Spring again showed his superiority. He behaved with great humanity, and his opponent with incredible pluck. Not less than twenty thousand people are said to have been present. Spring now finally retired from, the ring. He first kept the Booth Hall tavern at Hereford, till in 1828 he took over from Tom Belcher the Castle tavern, Holborn, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1828 he received from the townsmen in Hereford a handsome vase as a testimonial, and in April 1824 was presented with a silver cup at Manchester. In 1846, at a dinner presided over by Vincent George Dowling [q. v.], he was further presented by his admirers with a money testimonial and a silver gallon tankard.

Spring had a fine figure and a remarkable face and forehead, in his early years he stood as a model at the Royal Academy. His height was five feet eleven and a half inches, but he made it equal to more than six feet. His fighting weight was thirteen stone two pounds. He bore a high character for honesty and humanity, and his universal popularity is attested by a doggerel elegy, 'The Life and Death of Thomas Winter Spring.' He died of dropsy and heart disease at the Castle, Holborn, on 20 Aug. 1851, and was buried in Norwood cemetery, where there is a monument to him. He left one surviving son, who bore his father's name.

[Bell's Life in London, 24 Aug. 1851; Miles's Pugilistica (with portrait after G. Sharples, 1822, and other illustrations), ii. 1-51; The Great Battle between Spring and Langan (second fight), illustrated, 1824 ; Fistiana, pp. 115, 116; Gent. Mag. 1851, ii. 662-3.]  WINTER, or correctly WYNTER, WILLIAM (d. 1589), admiral, of an old Brecknock family, was the elder son of John Wynter (d. 1646), merchant and sea-captain of Bristol, and (1645-6) treasurer of the navy. His mother was Alice, daughter and heiress of William Tirrey of Cork. His sister Agnes was second wife of Dr. Thomas Wilson (1525?-1581) [q. v.] It has been suggested that he was a near kinsman, possibly a brother, of Wolsey's mistress, the mother of Thomas Wynter [see under Wolsey, Thomas (DNB00)]. There is no evidence of this, though the friendly correspondence between Thomas Cromwell and John Wynter lends some support to the idea. William may be presumed to have served some sort of an apprenticeship to the sea under his father.