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Spring by name and spring by nature |
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Queensberry Rules
Spring was an influence on the future development of the sport. 
The Tom Spring Memorial in West Norwood, London
© Courtesy of Jon Hurley |
The Marquis of Queensberry [1844 – 1900] was a keen patron of all forms of boxing and was a fighter himself. Following the developments that Spring and the “Fair Play Club” had instigated, he supervised the compilation of new governing rules of boxing in 1867. These became known as the "Queensberry Rules" which were adopted for the amateur sport with the intention of making the sport more widely acceptable.
These rules included the mandatory wearing of gloves and the banning of wrestling. Rounds lasted three minutes with a one minute rest period between. Finally a boxer had 10 seconds to recover from a knockdown. With the demand of the use of gloves, bare-knuckle fighting went underground.
Many 
The rustic memorial at Spring’s birthplace in Woolhope mill
© Courtesy of Jon Hurley |
thought that Spring was an inveterate gambler with the prize-money he won over the years. But on the publishing of his will after his death in 1851, it could be seen that he had been quite astute. His earnings with the Castle Tavern ensured he died a reasonably wealthy man.
He was all but forgotten soon after his death, until, in 1951, a Herefordshire police sergeant, A V Lucas formed the Tom Spring Memorial Committee to fund a memorial in West Norwood, London where Spring was buried. The committee also established a rustic memorial made from a cider press near Spring’s birthplace in Woolhope mill and a suitably inscribed bronze plaque.
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