Bill Dowling

The son of a Lancashire cloth merchant, Bill Dowling was the inaugural secretary of the Lancashire County Amateur Wrestling Association following its formation in 1924. That same year Dowling was a reserve to Edgar Bacon and John Davis in the welterweight division at the Paris Olympics after losing to Bacon in the semi-final of the Olympic trial. Dowling won the Lancashire light-heavyweight title in 1926, and in 1934 was the England wrestling team manager at the British Empire Games in London.

Dowling was also a wrestling and boxing referee and a County-standard rugby player for Tyldesley RUFC, along with his younger brother Brian. Bill played nearly 20 years for the club between the two World Wars and was club captain and at one-time, the Tyldesley president.

Dowling joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) as an 18-year-old towards the end of World War I and in 1918 was the RAF welterweight boxing champion. He remained on the RAF reserve list and was a squadron leader during World War II, and was mentioned in dispatches three times during service in the Middle East. Dowling’s father-in-law was the well-known wrestler, and later boxing referee, Jack Smith, who was in charge of the famous Len Harvey v John Henry Lewis world light-heavyweight title fight at Wembley in 1936.