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Muscular and moustachioed Granville Lawrence was a popular and well respected wrestler of the 1940s and 1950s. Granville was unrelated to Clem Lawrence. Barnsley’s Granville Lawrence was “A fantastic wrestler.” Don’t take our word for it, but that of Sam Betts, better known to wrestling fans as Dwight J. Ingleburgh.
Coming from Barnsley it’s hardly surprising that Granville was a graduate of Charlie Glover and his Junction gymnasium. Granville was born in 1921 and was a good friend of Harry Broadfield, who wrestled as Harry Fields. However, it wasn’t to wrestle that Granville went along to the Junction, but as a boxer. Boxing, physical culture and wrestling were Granville’s loves from his teenage years.
As so often happened at the Junction Granville, who had gone along primarily for the boxing joined the wrestlers for a tussle and the rest became history.
Granville took to the wrestling and was soon held in high esteem by his Junction compatriots as a technically accomplished wrestler. He had his first professional match in 1943 according to newspaper reports but the earliest documented match we found was in November, 1945, knocked out by Carlton Smith at Nottingham after putting up a “grand and colourful display.”
During the next twenty years wrestled the best in the business, Carlton Smith Jack Dempsey, Mick McManus, and beat them. Charlie Glover was impressed, and gave Granville the task of teaching his lad, “Our Brian” how to wrestle.
“Our Brian,” of course was to learn something from Granville as he was to become northern favourite Leon Arras.
Granville worked for both independent and Joint Promotions, finally disappearing from our rings whilst working for the independents around 1960.
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