Young Dutchy

Who was Young Dutchy?

Young Dutchy was born Frederick Hamstead in London, Young Dutchy began boxing at age 16. Standing five feet eight inches and weighing from 135-140 pounds, Dutchy rose to become lightweight champion of Australia before sailing to America, perhaps motivated by a warrant for his arrest, at age 30. His arrival was delayed when the bark Martha Rideout was shipwrecked in Tahiti, where Dutchy kept himself busy besting the island champions. Upon landing in San Francisco, he quickly made himself useful in local boxing circles as a capable referee and exponent of the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, so much so that the Examiner newspaper noted, “It is said of him that he has displayed more fairness and ability in that line within a few days than has, perhaps, been shown here before in months.” While waiting for challenges to materialize so he could resume his own fistic designs, Dutchy was swept up by the Grand Jury along with three other principals of a November 1883 bout on charges of conducting a prizefight, illegal activity in mid-1880s San Francisco. A farce of a trial later that winter saw Dutchy and colleagues go free, and he continued to be active in the boxing venues of late 19th century San Francisco including among others the sporting houses of Harry Maynard, Jack Hallinan, Clarence Whistler and the various notable halls of the city. Professor Young Dutchy had taught the manly art in England and Australia, and did so again upon arriving in California. In 1885 he introduced into San Francisco boxing circles his pupil from Stockton, the black boxer Charley Turner, who at the time claimed to be the “middleweight champion colored pugilist of the Coast.” Dutchy decamped for Alaska, perhaps taken by Klondike fever, and was a boxing instructor in Fairbanks by 1906. On a return trip from Alaska to California, aboard the steamship Yosemite out of Nome, Dutchy died the day his ship arrived at port in San Francisco, 21 November 1911. Old-time boxing friends there saw to his funeral arrangements.