Instructor, Boxing Platoon

L/Cpl O'Keefe, English Middle Weight Boxing Champion and holder of the Lonsdale Belt, assisting with training men of 1 Battalion, Surrey Rifles at Camberwell.

O'Keefe was born in London in 1883 and began his boxing career in 1906. Between 1907 and 1911, he pursued his boxing career in Australia. In May 1914, he won the Middle Weight Title by defeating Jim Sullivan.

During the war, he served as a Physical Training Instructor but also won several bouts. In 1915, he knocked out Bandsman Jack Blake in Round 13 and defeated Jim Sullivan again in 1916. In a return match in May 1916, Bandsman Blake defeated O'Keefe with a knock out in Round 20.

However, in the final match of his career in 1918, O'Keefe defeated Blake again, winning the Lonsdale Belt and regaining the Middle Weight title. O'Keefe retired from boxing aged 35 and died in 1970 after many years as a publican.

Faces of the First World War

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This image is from IWM Collections.

• The Museum released this image on a custom licence - IWM Non-Commercial license. However where the photograph has no known author, these are public domain under the 70 rule and where they were owned by the Ministry of Information, any other government department or agency, taken by a member of the military during their service or by a photographer commissioned by the services, these are now out of copyright restriction.