Also known as Dick The Dormouse
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The Mouse That Roared
A middleweight who in the 1950s grew to a 19 stone heavyweight Dick was no Dormouse. Come to that, he wasn’t a Dick either. At the inquest of Martin Schutz, who died whilst Dick was refereeing, he gave his name as Albert John William Rogers, born 15th May, 1909.
Dick started out on the boxing and wrestling booths around his hometown of Plymouth, and went on to run booths himself. He made two professional boxing appearances before embarking on life as a professional wrestler. Our earliest verified professional wrestling appearance occurs in February, 1935 when he defeated Jock Stuart in Camborne, though there were likely to have been earlier ones. The two men certainly earned their money that night. Stuart took the lead in 13 minutes, Rogers equalised three minutes later, and the bout continued, with a great deal of pumching, until Stuart submitted in the 90th minute.
For the following two years Dick could be seen working regularly in the South West of England, mostly against local opponents, but with the occasional nationally known names that included Bully Pye, Sonny Wallis, Jules Kiki and The White Owl. Reports suggest he was a rough wrestler, making good use of his fists and incurring the wrath of the fans.
In January 1937 Dick ventured out of the south west and we find him in Preston using the name Dick the Dormouse, a double knock-out against Wild Tarzan. He travelled more extensively towards the end of the decade, retaining the name Dick Rogers in the South West, but using both his own name and Dick the Dormouse elsewhere. By now a fully blown heavyweight Dick’s opponents included the likes of Man Mountain Benny, Ernest Baldwin and Alf Robinson. 1937 was also the year that Dick made his debut at Manchester’s Belle Vue, working for the country’s first female promoter, Kathleen Look. We guess he never imagined that in just a few years time he and his wife would be running the hall.
In 1939 Dick was living in Wolsdon Street, Plymouth, there was no sign of Jessie. Shortly afterwards he signed up to the Royal Navy for service during the Second World War. At some point after 1939 Dick and Jessie moved to Manchester to take up management of the wrestling at Belle Vue. Exactly when they moved is not known but 1942 seems likely as that is when they took up their duties. The tenure of Dick and his wife, Jessie, as promoters at Belle Vue in Manchester is documented in the Promoters section. Links with Devon were not broken with Dick and Jessie putting on shows simultaneously in Manchester and Plymouth. They travelled weekly between the two towns, carrying wrestlers and a fish tank holding their pet fish!
Although wrestling appearances were obviously limited he did still wrestle and referee around the north of England. Following the end of the war Dick resumed his wrestling career, sharing his time between combatant and referee. In July 1946 he featured on BBC television in a wrestling demonstration with Chick Elliot. Dick retired in 1956 but remained active as a referee around northern England.
Post war Dick was the resident referee at Belle Vue and sometimes wrestled. Ray Noble remembers, “One of the most memorable fights I saw at the Kings Hall Belle Vue was Saturday 12th June 1954, Dick (The Dormouse) Rogers, Belle Vue’s popular Referee V Bill Benny. I think they were both disqualified.”
In July, 1959 Dick took up management of the Jubilee Club in Pickmere, the Cheshire village in which he was now living. In 1966 he was co-opted to the Board of Directors of Northwich Victoria Football Club.
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