Also known as Count Royle
Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.
The Count of Abbey Hulton
A grafter. Part of the backbone of British wrestling now largely forgotten and overshadowed by those with the privilege of television exposure. George Goldie was a familiar name around the midlands and northern England for more than twenty years, rarely sharing the glory of those more favoured.
George Gould was born on 16th August, 1920 in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. He was born into a mining family, with both his father, Alfred, and grandfather being coal miners, with mother, Alice, also working for the local colliery. It was a big family, George being the youngest of seven children, life must have been hard. We have no knowledge of George following in his father’s footsteps, or if he did it was for only a short time as by nineteen years of age he was working a lathe for Birkett, Billington and Newton in Hanley.
Teenager George became interested in wrestling as a fan and went along to watch shows at the Ideal Skating Rink in Hanley in the mid 1930s. Along with his friends Bill Ogden, Ken Woods and John Hall they persuaded referee Jock Anderson to teach them how to wrestle. They trained in a room above the Black Boy pub in Cobridge Road, Burslem.
George took up wrestling in his teens. He said he turned professional in 1938, his debut being against Chester’s Ron Bell.
During the war George got married, in 1941, and was called up to serve with the legendary Chindits, the British India ‘Special Force’ that served in Burma and India during 1943 and 1944
In wrestling circles George was known as one of the “Hanley lads,” four friends who could often be seen working together, Bill Ogden, John Hall, Jack Santos and George.
The four friends would travel in Bill’s van, working all over the place for the independent promoters. George travelled and wrestled for more than twenty years, until ill health forced retirement in January, 1966.
Admittedly not one of the biggest names in wrestling George did work at some of the biggest halls, like the Belle Vue, Manchester, against some of the better remembered and highly respected names that included George Kidd, Jack Dempsey and Tommy Mann. He earned himself a reputation amongst colleagues as a very hard man to wrestle.
Like each of the Hanley lads George led something of a double life and at times pulled on a mask and wrestled as Count Royle.
When George retired from wrestling he turned his attention to concentrating on his other sporting interest, bowling, at which he played for Staffordshire.
George Gould died on 30th April, 2003.
13013
Wrestling Heritage 