William A. Pullum
“The Wizard of the Weight-Lifting World!”
Here’s the story of a young lad born a chronic invalid from birth and overcame the ravages of pulmonary tuberculosis, meningitis, peritonitis, etc., and through the practice of physical culture, became a world champion weightlifter.
Horatio William Albert Pullum was born in 1887 around the time that many famous strongmen such as Arthur Saxon, Eugen Sandow, Thomas Inch, Edward Aston, and Maxick were getting public acclaim through their feats of extraordinary strength.
In fact, young Pullum was so inspired by Arthur Saxon that he opened The Saxon Weight Lifting Club in 1907, later changing the name to, the now famous, Camberwell Weight Lifting Club at 5 Church Street in Camberwell. Most of England’s champion weightlifters of the day got their training there directly from “Pop” Pullum, where the rules as well as much of the science of weightlifting as we know it today were developed.
His lifts were so unbelievable that many times he had to repeat them!
During the early years of Pullum’s meteoric rise to fame, the judges at competitions often requested that he repeat many of his record breaking lifts.
He won many championships, one after another, during his competitive years, sometimes winning two classes in one day!
Here are a few of the weightlifting records set by William A. Pullum:
A Two Hands Anyhow of 204 pounds at a bodyweight of 112 pounds.
A Right Hand Clean and Bent Press of 177 pounds at a bodyweight of 126 pounds.
He did a plank feat where he would support nine men on a plank and three more seated on a barbell held in his hands for a total of about 2,000 pounds at a bodyweight of 122 pounds!
During the early 20th century, Pullum’s world famous Camberwell Weight Lifting Club turned out more champion weight-lifters than anywhere else!
That’s right, “Pop” Pullum was not only a champion himself, but a world class instructor that churned out more champions from his Camberwell Gym than anywhere else in Great Britain!
His roster of world champion caliber pupils reads like a proverbial who’s who of the British weightlifting world of the 20’s and 30’s:
P. W. Arden – British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1912-1913.
C. F. Attenborough – British Olympic Champion (Middle-weight) 1924-5-6-7-8, British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1924-5-6-7, British Amateur Champion (11 st. weight class) 1929.
Alfred Baxter – British Amateur Champion (10 st. weight class) 1920-24-26, British Amateur Champion (11 st. weight class) 1924, British Olympic Champion (Feather-weight) 1924-26-27-28-32, British Olympic Champion (Light-weight) 1937.
William Beattie – British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1929.
T. W. Clarke – British Amateur Champion (11 st. weight class) 1913, British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1914.
Frank Connick – World’s Champion (7 st. weight class).
T. W. Cranfield – Premier Winner of the Title “Britain’s Strongest Youth.”
Sidney Daniels – British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1931-2-3-4-5, British Olympic Champion (Middle-weight) 1931-2-3-4.
Syd Devis of strand pulling fame – 300 lb. “One Hand Anyhow” at 11 st.!
Alfred Hopkins – British Olympic Champion (Feather-weight) 1925, British Amateur Champion (10 st. weight class) 1926-27-28-31.
Douglas Marsden – British Olympic Champion (Light Heavy-weight) 1938, British Olympic Champion (Heavy-weight) 1939 (All this through a special 12 month postal training course by William Pullum!).
Nat Thewlis – British Olympic Champion (Feather-weight) 1935, British Amateur Champion (10 st. weight class) 1929-30-32-33.
A. A. Verge – All-England Amateur Champion 1915, “The 10 st. British Hercules.”
Ronald Walker – British Amateur Champion (12 st. weight class) 1930, British Amateur Champion (Heavy-weight) 1931 to 1936, British Olympic Champion (Heavy-weight) 1931-1937.
C. V. Wheeler – “Daily Express” Challenge Cup 1919, British Amateur Champion (11 st., 12 st., and Heavy-weight) 1920.
Laurie White – British Amateur Champion ((10 st. weight class) 1928-31.
Harold Wood – British Olympic Champion (Heavy-weight) 1924-1929, British Amateur Champion (Heavy-weight) 1924-1930.
How many athletes in any sport can claim to have retired undefeated?
Here is a list of the accomplishments of William A. Pullum:
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- During the years 1911 to 1915 William A. Pullum:
Broke 192 British and World Weightlifting Records.
Won 15 British Weightlifting Championships.
Was awarded 53 Gold Medals for Weightlifting.
- During the years 1911 to 1915 William A. Pullum:
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- In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Pullum was appointed by the British military authorities to take charge of the conditioning of physically rejected recruits. His conditioning program produced a 95 percent success rate. This led to other fitness training assignments doled out by the British government.
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- Following World War I, Pullum performed in London’s music halls, duplicating a number of feats of strength made famous by “The Saxon Trio.” His “Challenge Dumbbell,” with its large diameter grip and weighing 185 pounds, was bent-pressed by him with his right arm, before cleaning-and-pressing a 62-pound kettlebell with his left arm. The equivalent to close to a double-bodyweight lift.
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- Undisputed World Champion Weight-Lifter (9 st. Feather-weight) for 15 years.
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- The Late Technical Adviser to the BAWLA (British Amateur Weight-Lifter’s Association).
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- Acting as an Olympic Coach and Technical Adviser to the BAWLA, he and his pupils held 222 out of a possible 252 weight-lifting records.
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- In 1929, he retired undefeated in weight-lifting at the age of 42.
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- Coach of the 1948 British Olympic Weight-Lifting Team.
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- His two books; “Weight-Lifting Made Easy and Interesting,” and “How to Use a Barbell,” became standard textbooks.
Don’t overlook the opportunity to obtain this valuable information!
William A. Pullum probably did more to advance weightlifting in Great Britain than any other instructor in history. However, because he was a feather-weight, never weighing over 126 pounds, he never received the notoriety and fame of the heavier lifters. What a shame.
But don’t let his being a feather-weight fool you! To this day, his writings through books, courses, and magazine articles have valuable information that cannot be obtained anywhere else.
Yours for greater strength,
Bill Hinbern
Super Strength Training
Check out the following books and you’ll see why they still call him, The Wizard of the Weight-Lifting World!
(click on either book for more information!)
 Weight-Lifting Made Easy and Interesting by William Pullum |
 How to Use a Barbell by William Pullum |
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