Tertius Picton Blakesley

Tertius (Tush) Picton Blakesley was one of the earliest known British skating legends. Born in Leicester in 1869 he was known to be roller skating in his early teens. In fact, it is reported that he used to sneak out of the house to go roller skating once he knew his parents were asleep. The first mention of him racing can be found in 30th November 1882 edition of Sporting Life. The article details a handicap race held on 25th November at the Floral Hall in Belgrave Gate, Leicester, that had 100 competitors and was witnessed by 1,200 spectators. A 13 year old Blakesley was off 105 yards but failed to secure a place into the final, however, his passion for roller speed skating would only get stronger.

On 8th September 1883 Blakesley enters the One Mile Midland Championship at the Floral Hall. Again, he failed to qualify for the final but put up a strong performance in his heat to finish second.

Although roller speed skating was in its infancy throughout Britain the recent boom in the United States had spilled over to these shores. Along with London and Birmingham, Leicester was a major player in the establishment of roller skating races even though the sport had yet to be taken under the wing of the recently formed National Skating Association.  That wouldn’t happen for another 10 years.

Leicester enjoyed more than one rink within the city. As well as the Floral Hall there was the Rutland Hall rink. This rink had hosted the Five Mile Championship regularly and on the third running of this event on 12th April 1884, Blakesley was one of just 10 starters. With the race watched by more than 300 spectators his improvement was noticeable but he would finish outside of the medals once again.

In these early years Championship events were really self-proclaimed and unofficial. They were also held sporadically, usually as a cash generator for the rink management. For example, the ‘unofficial’ Five Mile Championship was first held on 10th October 1883, then again on 1st December of the same year and then a few months later in April 1884. The bona-fide annual events open to amateur all-comers were still to be established.

Blakesley continued to race and try his luck almost every weekend either at the Floral Hall or Rutland Hall, then on 15th December 1884 Blakesley wins his first race. Still only 15 he is victorious in the half mile handicap at the Floral Hall off 163 yards. With 36 entries the event is watched by more than 2000 spectators. The final is close with some good racing but Blakesley takes the victory just ahead of a fast finishing Satchell.

On 31st March 1885, around his 16th birthday, he obtains another medal when he achieves a third place in a mile handicap, again at the Floral Hall, off 119 yards. Initially third place was declared a dead heat between Blakesley and F.Williams, however, in the run off Williams was adjudged to have fouled Blakesley and the youngster was awarded the bronze medal. Amongst the strong contingent of Leicestershire skating supporters, Blakesley was starting to make a name for himself.

For a brief period, the Floral Hall stops holding roller skating events and the Rutland Hall rink takes over as the main roller skating establishment in Leicester. Throughout that time Blakesley continues to impress.  In 1888 his successes lend him to compete further afield and he travels to Birmingham where he finishes a close second to the Birmingham Champion, Hill. Shortly afterwards Blakesley is finally crowned the (unofficial) One Mile Champion of England as well as finding himself a wife. He is still only 19.

On 6th December 1888 he and fellow Leicester-man, Alfred Cooley, travel to Southampton to take on skaters at the local Victoria Rink. Amongst them are the declared Champion of Southampton, Ernie Roberts. Roberts wins just ahead of Blakesley with Cooley taking a fall. Then on the On 6th April 1889 Blakesley retains his title as the (unofficial) One Mile Champion of England again at Rutland Hall. Despite entrants not only from Leicester but now also from Bradford and Nottingham, he wins by almost three quarters of a lap to his regular rival Cooley. He was now widely recognised as the man to beat and in handicap events was invariably off the scratch mark. As soon as his victory was cemented, he announced to the world he was prepared to take on all comers over a mile distance. This announcement meant that Blakesley would now formally be recognised as a professional skater. He didn’t have long to wait for his first challenger as on 10th June 1889 he took to the track against local rival, Oliver Tebbutt, and won by 35 yards.

In Leicester Blakesley was becoming a minor celebrity and his victories in challenge events started to earn him a little extra cash. As his popularity grew, he decided to compete even more further afield, most notably amongst the crack skaters of London. Next up came Perkins, Champion of London, who he also despatched. Shortly afterwards he took part in an open mile race at the huge Kensington Olympia rink, winning in a time of 2 minutes and 53 seconds.

By 1890 he was now a regular on the professional circuit. On 16th August he took part in another ‘unofficial’ Championship of England, the Three Miles, again at Olympia. In front of an immense crowd, he pulled up with just six laps to go with a broken skate but was now rubbing shoulders with other legends of the day such as Hal Berte and Bill Curtis, eventual winner of the event. Amongst such company it was Blakesley who now felt compelled to again throw down the gauntlet and challenge these elite skaters to a one on one race. Curtis was one such skater and despite taking umbrage with Blakesly declaring himself a ‘Champion of England’ accepted the challenge. Curtis won.

Back in Leicester Blakesley’s dominance was all to evident. In an all-England open mile handicap event, he was given a mark of 25 yards behind the scratch mark. The largest handicap was 300 yards. Blakesley set off at a pace and still came home the winner. More good news was to follow when on 20th June 1891, Blakesley’s wife, Hannah, gave birth to a son, Tertius Percival Blakesley.

Unperturbed by his loss to Curtis, Blakesley continued to challenge all comers. One such skater was the self-proclaimed Champion of All America and ‘unoffical’ World Champion, John Snowden. Snowden was residing in the UK and was currently the Floor Manager of the Fenton Street rink in Leeds. Blakesley was spending some time racing in Manchester and fresh from beating Scriven, the current Champion of London and Jones, the Champion of Manchester, he challenged Snowden to a race. Blakesley wrote this letter to the editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post after Snowden accepted his challenge:

SIR – In reply to Snowden’s acceptance of my challenge, all I have to say is I will try to beat him, and it is no cheap boast on my part when I say that I have defeated all comers in England on roller skates, for one, two and five miles. He may be a little too fast for me for one mile, but if he is I will know it next Saturday night. As I am a stranger in Leeds I hardly think anyone would like to back me, but although I am not possessed of any great wealth I will deposit £10 on the race with Snowden at the rink next Saturday, and I will be at your office on Tuesday afternoon, about five-o’clock, to hang up the money, and then you will see if Snowden covers it. If he does, I will be on hand to race on Saturday night.

He has certainly one great advantage over me, and that is he is well acquainted with the rink whilst I have never been in Leeds.

The money (which is my own) that I am staking I should like to have paid me at the conclusion of the race in the rink, if I win; if he wins let it be paid to him. I wish it to be understood that no excuses will be accepted. If his skates break in any way or he tumbles down, I don’t want to hear him cry off; and if my skates break in any way, or I fall, I won’t cry off.

If you will kindly give this a place in your columns so that Snowden’s attention may be called to it, you will greatly oblige, yours very truly

T.P.BLAKESLEY

Champion of North England

Manchester, November 9, 1891

On the evening of 14th November at 9pm, Snowden and Blakesley took to the rink. The track was small at 14 laps to the mile and from the gun Blakesley set the early pace. The lead then chopped and changed a few times before Snowden eventually took hold and finished ahead by some 15 yards. It was later understood that Blakesley had been under the weather for a few days, but Snowden had gotten the better of the Leicester man in their first meeting.

On 4th April 1892 the skaters met again, although this time they were joined by another elite band of skaters competing for the “Six Day As You Like” event at the Central Hall rink in Holborn, London. Skaters from Australia, America, Austria, Scotland and all corners of the UK descended on the rink with the aim of claiming their own piece of the £375 prize money. Disappointingly, Blakesley retired after the first day, the event eventually being won by Snowden.

Some of this group of skaters took to the track again in January 1893. This time it was at the Floral Hall in Leicester and the home track of Blakesley. The event was a 50 mile handicap with both Snowden and Blakesley skating off scratch. Blakesley took a tumble immediately after the start breaking a skate and very quickly found himself some laps down. Once again there was disappointment as he would eventually retire after 32 miles. The American, Snowden, once again showed just how dominant he was by winning the event by more than 4 laps.

A few days later and another contest, a 12 hour endurance event held once again at the Floral Hall. This time Blakesley would come home victorious ahead of Snowden having clocked up a whopping 198 miles over the duration. It seemed like endurance skating was the thing of the day as a few days on from that event a 100 mile event was held, and once again Blakesley romped home the winner.

By the end of 1893 Blakesley was a world renowned figure in professional roller speed skating. In December the National Skating Association of Great Britain officially took roller skating under its wing and held its first amateur event at the West Brompton rink in London. An individual amateur championship soon followed in February 1894, won by Charles Wilson at the Wandsworth rink. Blakesley, being a professional, was of course ineligible to compete. It is without a doubt that at just 25 years of age he would have featured prominently in these competitions, but it was never to be, and his focus would remain firmly on making money from his chosen sport.

Blakesley would later branch out into other ventures that required roller skates. He would play football on skates or take on a cyclist in a head to head. Very rarely was he seen off his skates and his name continued to dominate the professional scene in Britain. In January 1895 a series of races were once again held at the Floral Hall over one, two, three, four and five miles. Blakesley would win all events. His skating exploits were now as much a show put on to earn him money as they were competitions. For example, in 1898 we find him taking up a challenge from G.M.McLeod, an 18 year old sailor posted to HMS Northampton operating out of Chatham. Of course, Blakesley won.

After the British Amateur Championship of 1894 the National Skating Association did not hold another until 1906. Recognising the need to split both amateur and professionals the NSA supported the running of official Professional British Championships. More often than not both amateur and professional championships were held at the same venue on the same day. That didn’t stop other organisations running events and declaring them as ‘championships’ despite the sport now having a formal governing body. Blakesley would continue to enter both official and unofficial championships right into the early part of the 20th century, although by now it was clear that other British skaters were starting to feature more prominently.

In 1909 there was a national boom in roller skating and the sport exploded onto the scene. In just 12 months more than 500 new roller rinks were built across the country, many of which were instigated by the partnership of Chester Crawford and Frederic Wilkins. One of these new rinks was in Leicester, the Empress Rink on Welford Road, later to become part of the Granby Halls complex when a drill hall was built adjacent in 1915. Blakesley took on the role of Acting Manager and his venture into rink management began.

Crawford and Wilkins decided to boost popularity further by announcing an event billed as a World Championship. Qualifying heats were to be held across the country and major cities such as Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield to name a few. The winners of these qualifying rounds each received £10 and the second place £5. The final event would be held in March 1909 at London’s huge Olympia rink with an individual prize of £150 going to the winner and a trophy worth £40. The event attracted all the top skaters of the time, both home and abroad. There was even a Brazilian representative.

Blakesley took part in the Birmingham heat at the Monument Road rink in Spring Hill. He would finish third and not qualify for the final, eventually won by American superstar Harley Davidson (not to be confused with the motorbike!). Blakesley’s time as a speed skating star was beginning wane.

Shortly after the Empress rink was constructed another rink opened in Leicester, The Boulevard situated on the Western Boulevard close to the River Soar. The Boulevard was officially opened on 23rd September 1909 and at 40 years of age Blakesley took on the role of General Floor Manager and immediately set about making it a huge success. His previous employment as a Theatre Bill Inspector, (a person employed by theatre managers to ensure that bills or advertising posters of forthcoming shows were posted correctly and not covered up by other bills), and his brush with advertising probably helped him recognise what would draw in crowds. With renewed vigour he made it an attraction of the rink that three times per week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he would challenge anyone to a race over one mile, giving them a 50 yards head start. Should anyone beat him they would receive a medal. He was still a minor celebrity in Leicester and it was a popular draw for a crowd. He would also regularly host other racing events for both men and women and helped set up the Leicester Boulevard roller skating club. Some reports suggest as many as 3000 would turn up to watch the racing. The rink was also the regular venue for the holding of the Noble Shield event, which in itself was one of the most prestigious trophies of the day. With the addition of a third rink to the north of the city, The Belgrave (later the Coliseum) rink, Leicester was indeed a happening place as far as roller skating was concerned.

By 1910 Tertius Blakesley junior had joined his father as a speed skater and the duo were often seen competing together. Whilst a decent skater who could certainly hold his own, Blakesley junior did not enjoy the same level of success as his father.

On 26th April 1910 Blakesley and the great Charles Wilson met in competition for the first time. Wilson had turned professional a year earlier and was the reigning One Mile Professional Champion, Blakesley having not entered in 1909. Wilson, the very first British (amateur) Champion was unbeaten as an amateur and now they would face each other on the newly built large Brixton rink. Wilson would romp home the eventual winner whilst Blakesley would not get through his heat. The same would happen in 1911 and by now Blakesley must surely have been wondering how many more competition days were left to him.

By 1912 the roller skating boom was pretty much over. It went as fast as it came. Rinks were either closing down or being converted into dance halls or the new craze, picture theatres (or cinemas as we know them today). Thankfully, The Boulevard was not one of these and it continued to thrive. Being the canny businessman that he was, Blakesley had supported the use of the rink for other ventures such as boxing matches and as a temporary picture house on occasion as earlier as 1909. In fact, by doing so he became the first ever manager of a picture theatre in Leicester. Such was the success that in July 1910 a separate picture theatre was erected adjacent to the rink and Blakesley took over the management of this as well as his rink duties.

In 1914 the world was turned upside down. With the outbreak of the First World War roller skating was furthest from the mind of many. The Boulevard closed its doors and was turned into a drill hall for new army recruits from the Newarke barracks. Blakesley’s roller skating dreams took a back seat as the war raged. He still had other business ventures that he oversaw but nothing compared to the running of his beloved Boulevard. After the war the building was taken over and used for many years as a warehouse for yarn. But all was not lost.

In January 1930 a group of businessmen, including the well know pioneer of sporting matters in Leicester, William Golland, made a bid to rent the old rink. The floor was still there and a recent boom in roller skating, especially at the recently refurbished Granby Halls, got Golland thinking. Negotiations were concluded in February and on Friday 14th March The Boulevard once again opened its doors to the world as a roller rink. Shortly afterwards Blakesley once again took on the role of Manager of The Boulevard.

On 14th February 1931 the rink hosted its first official British Championship event, the Half Mile for the inaugural running of the Allworthy Cup, eventually won by Joe Weatherburn. It was a proud moment for Blakesley and one that would be repeated when on the 23rd January 1932 the NSA used the rink as the venue for the British Relay Championships of that year. The likes of Bill Ross, Jimmy Reed, Joe Weatherburn, Eddie Stumbke, Alec McLagan, all superstars of their own era, took to the floor and created a spectacle for the crowd.

Blakesley eventually retired in 1934 but undoubtedly would have been there to witness Doug Jackson of the Leicester Boulevard club become their first British Champion. He did so on his home rink when he won the Half Mile British Championship on 4th December 1937. One can only imagine the immense pride and joy Blakesley felt knowing he had a hand in Jackson achieving such a feat, and even more so that his grandson, Ken, placed 3rd.

The Leicester Boulevard club was thriving and amongst its members were Blakesley’s own grandchildren, Tertius (known as Percy) and Ken. Both would compete as juniors at the rink and would go on and be recognised nationally. Percy was a Jesson Cup winner (1939) whilst Ken would take bronze medals in each of the British Championship distances, the Half Mile (1937), One Mile (1936 and 1938) and Five Mile (1948) as well as several medals in the Northern and Midland Counties events. The icing on the cake, however, was when the brothers helped secure Leicester’s one and only victory in the British Relay Championship for the Burgoyne Shield at the Alexandra Palace rink on 16th March 1939. Along with Ray Smith and Doug Jackson the quartet beat all comers to secure the famous Burgoyne Shield. Sadly, “Tush” Blakesley was not alive to see this momentous occasion.

Less than a year earlier, on 19th July 1938, Tertius Picton Blakesley passed away at the Harrow Inn, Thurmaston, the home of his daughter. He was just 69 and had been in failing health since suffering a broken elbow the previous Christmas.

The Boulevard closed its doors for good as a roller rink in 1939, war once again casting its shadow. The building was commandeered by the MoD and used to build Spitfire wings for the war effort. Latterly the building has been taken over by the De Montfort University and renamed in 2015 as The Venue, an events centre. Other than the arched roof the building is unrecognisable and inside there is no suggestion that it ever housed a famous roller rink or was indeed considered “home” to possibly the first British skating legend, Tertius Picton Blakesley.