This Is Your Life: Bella Burge

Bella BURGE (1877-1962)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Bella Burge, retired boxing promoter, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the audience at the BBC Television Theatre.

Bella, who was born in New York and brought to London as a child by her mother after her father's death, developed an early passion for the stage. As a teenager, she became a companion to music hall star Marie Lloyd, and later, in 1891, teamed up with one of her sisters, Rosie, to form a double act – The Sisters Lloyd, appearing in variety for 14 years.

In 1901 Bella met and married former lightweight champion boxer Dick Burge, and together they opened a boxing stadium in a former chapel and derelict warehouse in 1910. Known as The Ring, the venue in London's Blackfriars became extremely popular and well known, and after Dick died in 1918, Bella, as the only woman boxing promoter in the world, continued running The Ring through changing times until the building was destroyed by a German bomb in 1940.

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