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It is remarkable that Painter, at the first attempt, was defeated by Oliver, Sutton, and Spring, but that in each case on demanding another trial, he reversed the verdict, and proved the conqueror in all three instances.

At a public dinner at North Walsham, after the battle, Painter, on his health being drunk, repeated the declaration he had made, previous to his encounter with Oliver, that he would never fight again; and this resolution he adhered to.

Painter now lived retired from the ring, but was a publican for many years at the Anchor, in Lobster Lane, Norwich; he afterwards removed to the Market Place, and died in that city on the 19th of September, 1853.

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Tom Oliver, originally a member of the most ancient of callings—a gardener—lives in the memory of hundreds of modern ring-goers as the civil, active, diligent, and respectable custos of the P.R. ropes and stakes; enjoying in a green old age, despite occasional twinges of the gout, the post of “Commissary,” assisted latterly in his duties by his son Fred, also known as a pedestrian. Tom, who was a fine specimen of manhood, entered the ring somewhat late in life. An anecdote is preserved that his first appearance in the ring was owing to his accidentally witnessing the battle between Silverthorne and Dogherty, at Coombe Warren, in January, 1811, where Tom was engaged in digging and planting. He is said to have remarked on their display—“Well, if you call this prize-fighting, I’ll be hanged if I don’t think I could fight a little,” and he determined to put his abilities to the test of experiment. At his début Tom received the appellation of “The Battersea Gardener,” from his general place of employment; he was, however, born at Breadlow, in Buckinghamshire, in June, 1789. He left his native place a mere boy, and lived in the service of Mr. Baker, a gardener at Millbank. Here he made his first attempt at milling, with one Kimber, a stonemason from Walham Green. The battle took place in the dominions of old Caleb Baldwin, Tothill Fields, Westminster, for a couple of guineas a-side. Oliver was seconded by Silverthorne and Byrne. It was a heavy fight for an hour and forty minutes, when Oliver’s strength and game prevailed, and he was hailed the conqueror.