From Werner's Magazine, September, 1901:
A word for the ladies...
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From what that has been gathered it appears so. By the late 1930's the attitude towards women being involved with "physical culture" as it was referred to took a nose dive. It wasn't "lady like", and certain groups applied a lot of pressure to make sure that such activities were removed from the schools ( young women were taught to box in many district curriculums prior to this).Last edited by Dutchman; 07-19-2010, 05:58 PM.
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Originally posted by Mrs Mitts View PostWas this golden era of 'bag punching' an American thing only?
From Australia, below is a Harris, Scharfe & Co. Ltd. catalogue page of "punching balls" ca. 1913. The maker of their bags was Spalding, of London.
Also from Australia was inventor Thomas W. Sherrin of Collingwood, Victoria, the patent holder of "...the celebrated punching ball used by all athletes..." The Cyclopedia of Victoria from 1904 goes on, "This invention is such a valuable one that it is now being copied by other manufacturers throughout the world." Wish I could find that patent and see what type of punching ball it is. Here's a page with more on Mr. Sherrin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrin
Boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, from Helston, Cornwall, wrote a book ca. 1901 on physical fitness. That's him posing with a bag in the images posted earlier today.
Also from your part of the world, Chamber's Journal of 1896 gives an account of a steeple-jack that "...still jumps into cold water every morning of the year, and spends 20 minutes with the clubs and the punching ball...". Sounds bagified to me.
Then there is this text from 1907 written by a woman onboard a trans-oceanic cable laying ship in Southeast Asia:
"As for amusements, these were not lacking, what with reading, writing, bag-punching...". From A Woman's Journey Through the Philippines by Florence Kimball Russel.
I found a book ca. 1930 in French titled Punching Ball at a boxing website there. And so on.
Whatever you call it - speed ball, speed bag, punching ball, striking bag - our friend the bag seems to have exploded onto the scene in the late 1800s, and was used by both genders the way god intended. What Dutchman mentions about the bag being taken away from woman makes my blood boil. Never again!
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According to the "Second Supplement to the Victoria Government Gazette" (June 19, 1893) p.2793 (p.5 in the scan) Sherrin paid for his second patent term (#7751). It doesn't specify for what, but the number may help.
Interestingly enough, on p.2790 (p.2 of the scan) there is a provisional patent granted in May to a Herbert Martin (#10514) for "improvements in punching balls for athletic exercises".
I hope it's a start. I'll have to look at it again later.
Here is a pic of the Sherrin ballLast edited by crapshoot; 07-19-2010, 08:37 PM.
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From Germany, ca. 1928, is an image of a woman in her bathroom hitting a double-end bag:
Volltext Kulturgeschichte: Farbige Illustrationen. Reznicek, Paula von: Auferstehung der Dame. Stuttgart [o.J.].
From the book Auferstehung der Dame (Resurrection of The Lady) by Paula von Reznicek. Paula recommended punching the ball "...as part of any lady’s morning toilette."
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