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Biography
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Billy left school at 13 having worked in the local mill part time form the age of 12. He started his boxing career early on and at 19 he became the Territorail Lightweight Champion for Lancashire. He had many fights but the one he liked to talk about was when he beat Jack O'Neill, the champion of the Indian Army at Chorley Town Hall. The fight was a sell out with hundreds waiting outside that couldn't get in. During World War 2 he worked at Leyland Motors in Chorley and the management provided a ring and a gym and Billy was appointed instrutor and also trained the Air Training Corps cadets. However, this all came to an end in 1943 when Billy injured his back at work while taking the weight of a 20 feet metal plate on his shoulders, weighing over 1 tonne which was about to fall on a female colleague. In saving the lady's life, Billy's manger said that 'No doubt Mr Bonehill's fine sense of sportmanship prompted him in his brave act just as it brought out the the fighting spirit'
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