Jimmy Wilde - Early Years

Early Years

Jimmy Wilde's birth certificate shows he was born in the Taff Bargoed Valley community of Pentwyn Deintyr) (now known as the Graig), Quakers Yard, Treharris, in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil but his parents later moved to the village of Tylorstown in the Rhondda Valley when Wilde was twelve years old. Wilde was the son of a coal miner and worked in the coal pits himself. Wilde was small enough to crawl through gullies impassable to most of his colleagues. Wilde started boxing at the age of sixteen in fairground boxing booths, where crowds were amazed by his toughness and ability to knock down much larger opponents, most of which were local toughmen weighing around 200 lbs. In 1910, Wilde married his wife Elizabeth and was a father the same year. He left Tylorstown Colliery in 1913. In 1916, Wilde joined the British Army and was sent to Aldershot as a PT instructor.