What did Tom Cribb and Bill Richmond black plaque do at 36 Panton Street?

The Story

# 36 Panton Street: A Final Evening of Friendship Standing before 36 Panton Street, you're looking at the site of an extraordinary final chapter in the lives of two pioneering figures whose bond transcended the brutal social hierarchies of Georgian England. On the evening of December 17th, 1829, Bill Richmond—a formerly enslaved man who had fought his way to acclaim as one of boxing's greatest innovators—spent what would be his last hours here with Tom Cribb, the man who had been both his rival in the ring and, ultimately, his friend. This modest Soho address witnessed an intimate moment between two boxers whose careers had shaped the sport itself: Richmond, the Black fighter who had challenged every barrier to prove his skill and worth, and Cribb, the Champion of England whose willingness to acknowledge Richmond's genius marked a rare crack in the racial prejudices of the era. That evening at Panton Street reminds us that friendship, respect, and shared humanity sometimes emerged in the most unlikely places and between the most unlikely men, making this ordinary-looking building a monument to both personal connection and the quiet resistance of two extraordinary lives.