1900 - 1994

Silverwood Mine

Hollings Lane

Thrybergh

Local Sport

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Facts, Stories and Features

1932   CLIFFORD LAWRENCE   1995

Welterweight Boxer

Presented by Steven Lawrence

Cliff Lawrence was born on the 5th of August 1932 the son of William Lawrence of Dalton who worked at Silverwood. Cliff was to join his father and five brothers at the mine, Ron one of his brothers  was an amateur boxer who joined the army and went on to fight in the Korean war .

Cliff was soon to prove himself in the ring and appeared in approximately 120 amateur fights of which he won around a hundred. The amateur record I've got for him in actual NCB/ Amateur Championship Finals (from the scrapbook and trophies I've got) is this:
 
1950 National ABA Championship (Northern Territory) Featherweight - Runner-up
 
1951 Mineworkers Amateur Boxing Championships (North Eastern Division) Light-Weight - Runner-Up
 
1952 Mineworkers Amateur Boxing Championships (NE DIvision) Light Welter Weight - Winner
 
1953 Mineworkers Amateur Boxing Championship (NE Division)  Welter Weight - Winner

THE PROFESSIONAL YEARS

 Cliff today is remembered with the Global I.D. 84505 in the annuals of world boxing history, as a Welterweight, and his statistics are as follows;

Won 14 bouts with 5 K. O's and lost 23 bouts with 7 K. O's  a total of 37 bouts which were as follows:

2/ 11/1953-11-02 a TKO win over Les Garbutt  at the Town Hall, Walsall.

30/11/1953 a points loss to Danny Harvey at Derby, Derbyshire.

15/04/1954 a points loss to Del Willis at the Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside.

06/05/1954 a TKO win over George Eastham at the Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside.

28/06/1954 a points loss to Billy Taylor at the Engineer's Club, West Hartlepool, County Durham.   

09/08/1954 a TKO win over Stan Turner at the Queen's Hall, Carlisle, Cumbria.

02/11/1954 a points loss to Ken Ashwood at Spalding, Lincolnshire.

29/11/1954 a points loss to Trevor Sykes at the Town Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire.

17/01/1955 a points win over Arnold Beaumont at Doncaster Race Course, Doncaster, Yorkshire.

24/01/1955 a points win over Johnny King at Farrer Street Stadium, Middlesbrough, Yorkshire.

01/02/1955 a points win over Art Henry at Spalding, Lincolnshire.

21/02/1955 a points win over Art Henry at Doncaster Race Course, Doncaster, Yorkshire.

28/02/1955 a points loss to Billy Keirnan at Wembley, London.

10/03/1955 a TKO loss to Tommy Molloy at the Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside.

09/05/1955 a points loss to Ron Kensington at the Hippodrome, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

04/08/1955 a DQ win over Don Cope at Sheffield, Yorkshire.

19/09/1955 a KO loss to Tommy Organ at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

27/09/1955 a points win over Don Cope at Buxton, Derbyshire.

11/10/1955 a points loss to Billy Taylor at Spalding, Lincolnshire.

02/11/1955 a KO loss to Colin Spittle at Smethwick, West Midlands.

14/02/1956 a points loss to Ken Ashwood  at Kettering, Northamptonshire.

03/05/1956 a DQ win over Malcolm Tiffany Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside.

14/05/1956 a TKO win over Ernie Vickers  at Kirkby, Merseyside.

19/05/1956 a points loss to Gerry Smythe at Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

28/06/1956 a points loss to Bill Wooding  at the Embassy Sportsdrome, Birmingham, West Midlands.

03/10/1956 a points loss to Ken Ashwood at Buxton, Derbyshire.

11/10/1956 a points loss to Joe Rufus at Liverpool, Merseyside.

25/10/1956 a KO loss to Bob Roberts at the Stadium, Liverpool, Merseyside.

06/11/1956 a TKO loss to Eddie Williams  at Spalding, Lincolnshire.

12/03/1957 a points win over Roy Alway at Rotherham, Yorkshire.

16/04/1957 v Jeff Hollingsworth at Rotherham, Yorkshire was to be the fight that really displayed the true grit of  Clifford Lawrence. Now most of us lads when growing up would get in a fight or two and if you were put down well you kind of figured that's enough, however Clifford was put down ten times during this bout, and not only did he get back up ten times he went on to win the bout with a technical knockout!

09/05/1957 a points loss to Tommy Cavan  at Glasgow, Scotland.
28/05/1957 a points win over Harold Palmer at Doncaster Race Course, Doncaster, Yorkshire.

07/10/1957 a points loss to Wally Swift at the Ice Rink, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire.

21/10/1957 a TKO loss to Gerry Bedford at the Town Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire.

02/12/1957 a points loss to Ted Buck at Doncaster Race Course, Doncaster, Yorkshire.

27/03/1958 a KO loss to George Eastham at Preston, Lancashire.

Cliff married Margaret Barlow at Dalton Holy Trinity Church, on the 16th of July 1955! He left Silverwood in 1964 to begin a career as a pub manager for Whitbreads Brewery. At first he managed the 'Ladys Bridge' Pub in Sheffield, then the 'Bush Inn', Barnsley, then the 'Gateford Hotel' in Worksop. He left the licensed trade in 1979.

The area lost another great character when Clifford Lawrence sadly passed away in Dalton Magna in 1995.

© 2007 Steven Lawrence aka Steven Elder actor and John Doxey

Clifford Lawrence pg2