Bartley Gorman - King of the Gypsies

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Bartley Gorman was born in Nottingham in 1944. Both his parents were Travellers. His mother was from Ireland and his father from Wales. Several of Bartley's ancestors were boxers and by the age of 12, Bartley had won his first bare-knuckle fight. 

 

Between 1972 and 1992 Bartley was unbeaten in UK bare-knuckle boxing and he declared himself King of the Gypsies. By then he had fought in quarries, down a mineshaft and on mountains in Wales.

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Some of our contributors are related to the Gorman family, who are in turn related to the Fury family of boxers. Tyson Fury being the most famous.

 

Bartley lived for most of his life on a Traveller site in Uttoxeter but in his later years he enjoyed travelling around the Staffordshire Moorlands, including parts of the South West Peak Park area. Bartley died in 2002.

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Thank you to all who have contributed to this story.

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