The Real Lives of “A Thousand Blows” Part 1 Hezekiah Moscow

This is a new series that recently came on our screens, dealing with the characters in and around boxing in London in the late 19th century. It is highly entertaining and concerns many real life characters, and I would recommend it if you aren’t averse to adult themes of swearing and violence on TV.

This made me want to do my own research on the main characters to dig a bit deeper into their histories, and of course get to their actual stories, as, for the sake of making an exciting drama, the story lines were fictitious in terms of the lives of the real characters, albeit there was obviously some very strong historical research put into the general background of the times.

So the aim was to see if the truth was more strange than the fiction, and as it turned out, to some extent, it was!

Hezekiah Moscow

We’ll start with the main character, an immigrant to London, turned Boxer, named Hezekiah Moscow.

On Saturday 26th November 1904 a cryptic advert appeared in the “Missing Friends and Messages” section of the Adelaide Observer in Australia. It read:

“Moscow (Hezekiah), coloured pugilist, known as Ching Ghook, 13 years ago, is sought by his daughter Eliza.”

Lion Tamer and Bear Wrangler

The First Time “Hezekiah Moscow” under that name appears in any records as far as I can see, is in February 1884 when he and the proprietor of the “East London Aquarium” in Bishopsgate had a prosecution brought against them by an Officer of the RSPCA.

Because of the exotic nature of the case, involving a black man, Bears, a cocky RSPCA Inspector, and an outspoken and entrepreneurial Impresario, the trial garnered a lot of interest in the London Newspapers, as well as further afield, being reprinted across the country.

The East London Aquarium itself was seen as an interesting divergence for the lower classes and younger people, it garnered a lot of press coverage, often tongue in cheek, but was not an enterprise that had been put together “on the cheap” a substantial amount of money had been raised by investors to fund it, and it proved incredibly popular with the public, and in 1882 three Lion Cubs were actually born there. One Theatre Critic reviewed it thus:

“While in the precincts of the Standard Theatre it would be worth your while to cross over the road and have a peep at the East London Aquarium, if only to ascertain the amount of amusement interesting amusement a poor boy or girl can obtain for a penny. Mr Sim, the proprietor of this institution, deserves much credit for the way in which he has catered for the humbler classes, and it is gratifying to find in return that his efforts are fully appreciated by them, and that a continual stream of humanity wanders through the various parts of the building from morning till night.”

There were mixed feelings in the country generally towards the actions of the RSPCA to protect animals, which at the time was considered quite divisive to society, with many believing that there was too much cruelty being carried out and needing stopping, whilst other, often tradesmen and keepers of animals, believing that the RSPCA was acting as a private Police force, and their actions an infringement of civil liberties. Surprisingly perhaps to us, the RSPCA Inspectors were highly unpopular in many areas and had to be very robust characters to hold their own in some neighbourhoods.

In this court case the RSPCA Inspector said that he had witnessed Hezekiah Moscow, described as “a man of colour” and a “Lion Tamer” enter a cage of bears and force them to perform for a crowd of paying spectators by the use of a heavy whip, beating them up to sixty times in total and leaving visible marks on their bodies and heads, forcing them to jump over a plank, and culminating in him riding on the back of one of them before leaving the cage.

The RSPCA Inspector gave a good account of himself in court, taking on the lawyer for the defence in cross examination. It’s easy to imagine the hard bitten RSPCA Inspector, well used to verbal and even physical attacks in carrying out his job not being intimidated by the be-wigged Lawyer, who, was not used to men from a working class background taking the rise out of him:

Defence: “Did you get into the cage?” (To which there was laughter in the court)

RSPCA: “No I did not, but I will go in if you will come as well.” (More laughter in court)

Defence: “Why didn’t you ask the keeper to unbar the cage and let you in?”

RSPCA: “I would not go near a strange dog, let alone a den of bears.” (Even more laughter in court).

The Defence Council became quite angry at the ribbing he was receiving from the Inspector, and eventually the Magistrate, having had enough of his court being turned into a vaudeville act, stopped the trial, as it was clear that the Parliamentary protection of animals bills only applied to domestic animals such as Cows, Dogs, and horses etc, and a Bear did not fall into that category.

Subsequently the RSPCA appealed, and the owner of the show attempted to prosecute the RSPCA Inspector for perjury. But nothing came of either attempt, as the Law needed reinterpretation and clarity before a court could decide on any such outcome.

So the outcome was indecisive, but it did cause Hezekiah Moscow to leave the show, and despite the publicity, the wild animal show and the London Aquarium did not last for much longer, and eventually the owner filed for Bankruptcy.

Who was Hezekiah Moscow?

Based on the research I’ve carried out it would seem to me that “Hezekiah Moscow” only existed in the records for a maybe eleven years between 1884 and 1895.

What we do know is that he claimed to have been born around 1862 as a British Citizen in the West Indies, exactly where is not recorded in any records I have found. However at the end of this blog I shall reveal my own theory.

Lion Tamer

What we know is that he first appeared in his role as a Lion/Bear Tamer in 1884 at the East London Aquarium immediately after the previous incumbent, another West Indian named “Alicamousa” who left the Aquarium sometime in 1882/1883. It appears that the two men were known to each other, and seems likely that Alicamousa either recruited or at least trained Hezekiah Moscow as his replacement as an animal tamer at the East London Aquarium, allowing Alicamousa to take his now perfected act further afield.

However the first mention of him at the East London Aquarium was under the pseudonym “Ching Hooke” in December 1883, ready for the Christmas season, advertised as performing several times daily “with the Bears, Wolves, and Hyenas”.

It seems that animal tamer was not Hezekiah Moscow’s first choice of career, and we find him, under a the pseudonym before this in London.

Ching Hook The Boxer

In May 1882 there was a Newspaper report of a black boxer named “Ching Ghook” in May 1882, described as “the black” fighting at the Metropolitan Pub in London, Hezekiah was taking part in the final heat of a 9 stone (i.e. 126 pound) category.

Mentioning the fact that he was black was to add to the novelty and draw a bigger crowd, as most Londoners, outside of those who lived in the Docks, or who had served onboard ship or in the army had never seen a black person in the flesh, and this would have peeked the curiosity of the average Londoner.

Although somewhat uncomfortable to our ears, the term was not necessarily meant as a derogatory term, rather it was descriptive, and was meant to create excitement and draw the crowds, to create a “gimmick” to encourage gambling and the backing of certain boxers (even though such gambling was illegal). The use of a nickname was not unusual at the time, and one of the other competitors was a man named “Beaky” Smith, most likely because he had a big nose! Punters didn’t want to see boring boxers, that craved men with a good back story, or that stood out in some other way.

In September 1882, there was a Newspaper report of a boxer named “Ching Hook” alongside a number of other boxers (including one other West Indian boxer named Alec Monroe) fighting at the Goldsmith’s Arms London, every Saturday and Monday evening. This implies exhibition matches rather than competitive, so the boxers would have been receiving some sort of payment rather than a prize purse, otherwise there is no way that they would have been able to have fought to such a regular timetable due to injuries.

In October 1882 Ching Ghook was up for fighting in a six man competitive contest for a Silver Cup, at “Punch” Lewis’s newly renovated “Bluecoat Boy” Pub in Spitalfields. He was described as; “The Sable Chinaman” so it seems that he was adding an even more exotic description to himself, or perhaps the promoters of the bout were. as it happened his opponent pulled out before the fight leaving him put on a “very amusing bye” of sparring with a stand-in scratch boxer, and this use of humour in his sparring would be mentioned many times in his future career. Interestingly “Sugar” Goodson was named as Master of Ceremonies and “Custodian of the Room”, and again both Alec Munroe and “Beaky” Smith were present giving sparring displays.

A week later, again at the Bluecoat Boy, Ching Ghook fought in the finals, in an odd three way contest, where he beat his first opponent easily, but then had to fight the third man, who was obviously fresher and beat him after a much closer match.

Later in October 1882 Ching Ghook was again on the bill at the Bluecoat Boy, this time for a beneficiary match for a fellow Boxer, where he initially had a highly spirited sparring match with Alec Munroe where they “knocked each other about with great energy” before he fought the last spar of the evening with the boxer for whom the benefit was being held. This last fact would tend to reinforce his standing in boxing circles of the time, and his ability and skill to go up or down a gear depending on the demands of the match, a real set-to, an instructional spar, or an amusing sketch of a spar. The last mentioned display was fought with what are described as Black and White gloves.

Another bout was fought between a number of boxers on 17th October 1882, fighting each other in turns, including Ching Ghook fighting Alec Monroe, and in the same evening Sugar Goodson. This was in an 8st 6lb category (118 pounds). This was organised by the Tower Hamlets and East London Boxing Club, and took place at The Old Mile-End Gate Tavern.

In November 1882 Ching Ghook gave a sparing display at the end of a competitive boxing competition (that he did not take part in) at the Goldsmith’s Arms Clerkenwell. Also in November a benefit night of fighting was organised for Ching Ghook, and although plenty of boxers turned up to take part including Alec Munroe, but due to a number of other such events taking place on the same night the event was postponed to later in the month. He was described in the article as “the coloured boxer (the winner of half a dozen competitions)”. In the same month Ching Ghook and Alec Munroe spared for a silver cup at another benefit match, and at the end of the month Ching Ghook put on another exhibition bout.

In December 1882 Ching Ghook and Alec Munroe took each other on in another full boxing bill as “the blacks” so it seems that the two of them had put together an “act” drawing on their most obvious difference from the rest of the boxers present, and were using it as their “gimmick” to ensure bookings in an increasingly competitive and busy boxing calendar.

A similar pattern of engagements with a more or less emphasis on sparring matches and displays of skills, interspersed with more serious bouts followed in 1883, then in 1884 the engagements reduced, probably because of the court case with the Cruelty to Bears. After that year they picked up again, although Hezekiah temporarily moved to Nottingham in 1886 where he was billed as “Prince” Ching Ghook, described as a Cockney, and ran boxing training as well as taking part in sparing.

From 1887 Hezekiah seems to have taken to sparing and training up and coming youngsters, more exhibition sparing, and also developing his comic sparing sketches, with some other descent fighters such as Bill Cheese, receiving highly enthusiastic write ups in the London and Sporting press, he also performed these in grand martial “Call to Arms” displays associated with local Army volunteer Units, alongside military men showing displays of bayonet sparing and drills, and displays of sword fencing.

In 1888 Ching Ghook took over Management of a boxing ring in the City of Norwich Pub in Whitechapel, followed in 1889 by Ching Ghook touring and performing sparring matches with another black boxer – Jack Watson, many bouts put on to large audiences at various Music Halls and Variety Theatres, showing a move towards the theatrical and “scientific” displays of boxing, rather than the more punishing competitive bouts for a purse or cup.

1890 started badly for Ching Ghook when a young amateur boxer named Arthur Knight suddenly dropped dead in the middle of a bout, that Ching Hook was acting as the Master of Ceremonies for. Although there was no evidence that he had received any blows that had caused his death, it appeared that he had an underlying epileptic condition, and that this may have been a partial cause of his demise. Later in 1890 there were display adds for Ching Ghook in various boxing displays sometimes billed as “Cockneydom’s Coloured Champion” sparring for three rounds twice an evening for a week against Fred Johnson an 8st 4lb champion “Belmont’s New Seabright Wholesome Amusement Temple” in the Hackney Road London. In this year he also took to the stage in an amusing boxing sketch with a “Corporal Higgins” and “Miss Alice Daultry” (both boxers) for comic turns between the three of them.

Marriage

Then in 1890 Hezekiah Moscow reappears in the records, acting as Master of Ceremonies at sparring contests, but at the Exmouth Arms in Clerkenwell in January 1890 one contestant who was apparently an epileptic, froze in the ring and collapsed. Hezekiah immediately grabbed him and got him to his corner where medical help was provided, but to no avail and the young man died.

After this shock Hezekiah sought solace outside of the ring and on 21st July 1890 in St Ann’s Church Whitechapel, Hezekiah Moscow, 28 years old, married he married a South London Irish Cockney lady named Mary Ann Maddin aged 31.

True to her faith, Mary married Hezekiah under the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, and to be a legal marriage as such, it was certified by the local civil registrar and two independent witnesses, as Catholic Priests would not be able to sign a marriage certificate until 1898.

This lead to an interesting discovery, as the two witnesses were “Lascoff” and “Mary Humphrey” a married couple. Lascoff Humphrey (sometimes John, sometimes Humphreys) was the real name of the Lion Tamer Alicamousa, who had gone on tour of the UK after most likely training Hezekiah to take his place at the East London Aquarium. Lascoff was originally from St Vincent in the West Indies. Lascoff’s wife, Mary (actually Marian) was, like Hezekiah’s wife, an Irish Cockney from South London.

Hezekiah was living at 5 Quaker Street Spitalfields, and Mary Ann at 28 Katherine’s Buildings Whitechapel. Somewhat oddly Hezekiah registered his occupation as a “Tailor” which is odd, as he is never referred to anywhere else in such a profession, and he was definitely still a professional boxer and performer in 1890. However we do know that some years later his wife Mary was a Tailor’s Presser, so it is possible that Hezekiah was doing a separate day job to help make ends meet, alongside his wife.

Hezekiah’s father was stated to be John Moscow a deceased Ship’s Carpenter. unfortunately it has not been possible to find any trace of John Moscow a ship’s carpenter in any records.

By 1891 Hezekiah and Mary were living in a single room in Elder St Whitechapel, in a shared house with the King family, the head of which was a Lithographic Printer a pretty reasonable job for a working man, William King was letting or sub-letting a room in the house to Hezekiah and Mary, perhaps William King was a boxing fan and liked the idea of renting to a local celebrity.

After his marriage in 1890, Hezekiah went on the road with his comic sparring act to good acclaim, appearing between 1890 and 1891 at the Alhambra Palace Hull, Garcia’s Princes Palace  Leeds, The Gaiety Palace Birmingham, Princes Theatre Bradford, Whitechapel Horns Pub Barkingside, The New Alhambra Landport, Victoria Hall Westminster.

He then spent a short period in Leicester Infirmary in January 1891 for treatment for abbesses on his leg. Four months later on the 19th June 1891 Mary Ann gave birth to his daughter Eliza in Norton Folgate London. It was then back on the road for Hezekiah, more locally now with appearances at the Goodwin Gymnasium Kingsland Rd London, and his last recorded appearance in November 1891 at the London Gymnasium again performing his comic sparring match. It looks like Hezekiah did less travel after this date, 1891, and the next time he appears in any records is in the admission record for his daughter Eliza in 1895 at George Yard School in Whitechapel London, at the time the family were living at 36 White Lion Street St George Whitechapel.

After 1895 Hezekiah disappeared, as if into thin air.

Family Abandonment

Sometime between 1895, when he was last recorded, and 1896, Hezekiah up and left his family. In 1896 an advert appeared in the Sporting Life Newspaper:

This was Mary Ann trying to make contact with her husband Hezekiah. Frank Craig was a successful professional Black Boxer from the USA, and it seems that Mary Ann believed that he was in contact with Hezekiah, albeit under his boxing name of Ching Ghook. We don’t know if her attempt was successful, but there is no indication that Hezekiah made contact.

Again the trail went cold. There were scattered mentions of Hezekiah as Ching Ghook in boxers’ reminiscences over the following years, and in 1897 it was rumoured that he was last seen in New York in the USA working as a Dockside Policeman, as well as another story that he was in New York but was completely destitute. There are no records of Hezekiah going to the USA but it is not impossible that he landed there and simply melted into the local populace without formally registering at Ellis Island.

Plea from His Daughter

Not to be put off, even after his wife had given up hope of finding him, his daughter Eliza persisted. And in 1904 the following advert for Missing Persons was printed in the Adelaide Observer:

Quite a sad and forlorn attempt to find her father. Why her plea should have been aimed a Australia is not clear, and I can find no reference to Hezekiah being in Australia.

Life After Hezekiah

Life went on for Hezekiah’s abandoned family, by 1901 Mary and Eliza were living in Whitechapel in a large tenement building split into numerous individual single room flats, containing a bed, table and chairs and fire place, with a shared tap and sink on a landing, and probably a privy (toilet) shared by all, outside in the yard, for urgent use there would’ve been a “Chamber Pot”, under the bed, otherwise called a “Gazunder” (“Goes Under” the bed), or simply a “Piss-Pot”.

Mary took up work Office Cleaning, what was called a “Char Lady” or simply a “Char” she would have probably had to go in either in in the evening after the office workers had left for the day or in the early hours of the morning prior to their arrival in the morning, 9 year old Eliza would most likely had been left with neighbours or just on her own in the house depending on the shift that Eliza was working. Wages were low, barely survivable, this poverty may have been what drove Eliza’s desperate attempt at the advert in the Adelaide Observer, although it is possible that Mary had used Eliza’s name as a way of trying to prod Hezekiah’s conscience about abandoning the family.

In 1908 Mary was admitted to Stepney Workhouse Infirmary with a septic wrist, she was a Tailor’s Presser, putting the creases into trousers and other clothes, either with an Iron or a steam pressing machine, an occupation that could easily lead to burns, which in the less than cleanly environment of Victorian London could easily turn septic. She was in the infirmary for just over a week at the end of December 1908 to the end of the first week in January 1909.

Independent Women

As Eliza grew older and was able to work, the lot of her and her mother slightly improved, and in 1911 Eliza was working with her mother as a Char Lady Office Cleaning. They managed to find lodgings in a five roomed house in Spitalfields, courtesy of a young Jewish Cockney School Teacher named Solomon Aarons and his wife and child. Mary and Eliza must have seemed respectable despite their background in poverty, and it’s possible that they may have helped with the housework as part payment for their lodgings. It is also possible that having the surname “Moscow” may have lead Solomon to believe that they were Jewish, or at least Hezekiah had been, “Moscow” being a commonly adopted name by East European Jews coming from the Russia.

In 1918 Mary and Eliza must have been making a respectable living for themselves as we find Mary Registered to vote, and a time when most women were unable to. This was not for the Parliamentary Elections, but was for Local Government Elections, her qualification seems to have been “Occupation” i.e. she occupied a premises that made her eligible to vote, even as a lodger in a house of a high enough rateable value, she could qualify if she paid enough rent.

In 1921 Mary and Eliza were separated, Mary being a patient in the Infirmary of the Hackney Workhouse and Eliza living in a three room flat in Stoke Newington in the East End. It seems likely to me that the two had been living together until Mary fell ill and needed to go to the Infirmary, so I don’t believe she was an “inmate” as such, and is described as a “Patient”, as well as this, Eliza is described as “Daughter” on the census which is crossed through and replaced with “Head” as well as the address being listed as being inhabited by a “Mrs” Moscow, all seeming to point to their separation being a temporary one. Mary was still a Char working for an Oil Broker’s firm in the City of London (the central business and finance district) and Eliza was a Housekeeper (one level above a cleaner) for a Colliery Proprietor also in the City of London.

Eliza Married

In 1938, at the mature age of 47, Eliza married a 59 year old Postman named Henry Frederick Thompson from Bethnal Green. Henry was a War Veteran who had served in the Seaforth Highlanders in the Boer War, and The London Regiment in the First World War, when he was wounded in action. Taking his pension Henry and Eliza moved to Dartford in Kent, a semi-rural part of Kent at the time. It also seems that they took Eliza’s Mum Mary with them, as she died in Dartford in 1939.

Ten years later in 1949 Henry died. Eliza carried on living in Kent eventually dying there in 1968. Eliza had been born at the height of the Victorian age, to a Celebrity West Indian Boxer and Lion Tamer, had looked after her mother after her father abandoned them, lived through the Boer war, and two World Wars, seeing first Zeppelins bombing London, then V1 Rockets raining down on Kent during the Blitz. When she was born travel was by Horse and Steam power, by the time she died there were men travelling to space. As far as we know, she never discovered what happened to her father Hezekiah Moscow.

So who was Hezekiah Moscow?

This all brings us back to this same question “Who was Hezekiah Moscow”. My theory is that Hezekiah Moscow was, most likely, “Ezekiah Mascoe”. I believe his surname was Mascoe, but sounded like Moscow to the Cockney ear when said with a Jamaican accent. I’ve come to this conclusion through purely circumstantial evidence, there is no direct evidence whatsoever as to who he was, so we are left with speculation.

The circumstantial evidence is that there is a concentration of an Afro-Caribbean Family from St Andrew’s, Stoney Hill, Kingston, Jamaica, and although the evidence for this is circumstantial, I believe that this was Hezekiah’s family of origin. The surname Mascoe, and the Christian name “Ezekiah” (Hezekiah) was prominent within that family at exactly the time that Hezekiah was born and on through the time when he was most famous. Interestingly it seems that there were not always birth records for all births, perhaps because of illegitimacy, for children born in the 1860s, some only turning up in the records when they married, and my theory is that Hezekiah was one of these. A number of men in the family joined the British Army and traveled abroad, and some eventually came to England in later years.

Where did Hezekiah End Up?

Interestingly a few of the men from the Mascoe family went to work in America, and one at least worked in the Docks around New York around the time that Hezekiah was rumoured to have been there working as a Dockside Policeman.

For my money Hezekiah most likely came from Jamaica, and perhaps he died as per the later rumours, penniless and destitute in New York. Although the mystery may never be solved.

For another good read on Hezekiah have a look at this blog from Sara Elizabeth Cox, who researched the series for TV, it’s a great piece of research : https://grapplingwithhistory.com/2025/08/18/where-did-you-go-hezekiah-moscow-belsize-boxing-club-historians-full-ching-hook-ring-record-is-available-here/

To read the next installment follow this link: The Real Lives of A Thousand Blows: Alec Munroe