The third inductee is William Francis King, otherwise known as ‘the Flying Pieman’.
The flying Pieman
William King was born in London on 19 March 1807.
His father intended him for the Church but his fierce love of field sports and physical activities was not befitting a sacred character and, after leaving school, he entered into a partnership in stock and share broking. The Firm encountered financial difficulties and he sold his interest, then obtaining a position in the Tower of London. However, his restless nature did not see him hold the position for long and he emigrated for the Colony of Australia in 1829, landing at Sydney.
He took a position of Clerk at Bong Bong and then went on to tutor children at Campbelltown. However, his unsettled nature saw him leave that position and take a job as a barman at the Hope and Anchor Tavern at the corner of King and Pitt streets. By 1834 he began manufacturing and selling meat pies around the old cricket ground in Hyde Park and along Circular Quay.
He quickly became a favorite, with his long winded and boisterous bellow of “Pies. Hot pies!. Kidney, pork apple and mutton pies; hot Pies”.
He became known as ‘The Flying Pieman” as a result of his practice where he offered his pies to passengers as they boarded the Parramatta steamer and would then run 18 miles to Parramatta with the unsold pies, to offer them to the same passengers as they disembarked.
Over a period, King became very well known for his many and varied feats of pedestrianism which included the following. Bear in mind that many of these feats were for wagers, thus the distances are likely to be reasonably accurate.
The Pieman’s manner was described as ‘peculiar and vivacious’. He wore a moustache and dressed in striking costume, with white stockings and stout shoes. He wore an open white shirt, crimson knee-breeches, blue jacket and top hat from which multi colored streamers trailed. He also carried a staff from which more streamers trailed.
He was also known for his practice of issuing some sort of proclamation after each feat of pedestrianism. These were usually quite sensible to start but soon deteriorated into energetic diatribes or incomprehensible dissertations. He grew to like the public attention and his speeches grew correspondingly longer and more frequent.
The Pieman set a bristling pace, reeling off 66.5 miles in the first 12 hours, 101 miles in 24 hours and 154 miles in 36 hours. By 8 pm on Thursday, a huge crowd with banners and lanterns had assembled at the racecourse to witness the finish of this historic event.
On his second-last round of the course, the Pieman slowed up to be joined by his many hundreds of wellwishers and friends. As he passed the grandstand, a brass band fell in behind. Suddenly, the Pieman stepped up the pace to a healthy 10 kilometres per hour, causing his admirers to trot and the band to straggle along in disarray. Thirty minutes later, the task was completed to a tremendous roar of cheering, the waving of banners and hats, and the salute of guns. The Pieman had walked 192 miles in 46½ hours, well under his 48-hour time limit.
"On first ceasing to walk quickly, it was with some difficulty that he balanced himself," The Maitland Mercury reported. "But having had some tea and a wash, he gradually recovered a good deal, and at length was making speeches to the crowd assembled around the stand." That night, the Pieman made a round of the town's largest hotels, treating admirers to his own special brand of energetic eloquence. At 3 p.m. the next day, he drove down a main street in a highly decorated gig, once more addressing well-wishers along the way. An account in The Maitland Mercury said: "During these proceedings, the crowd in the streets was greater than at any time since the general election "
In November 1848, again for a wager, he walked a 1000 quarter miles in 1000 quarter hours. The Australian Dictionary of Biography states that on the 9th day (of 10) he had himself horsewhipped to spur him on and when he completed the feat he wagered 50 pounds to 40 to repeat the task, commencing that very night, but had no takers.
In December (1847) he embarked on an even more unique feat. This time he ran a mile, walked a mile, wheeled a barrow a half mile, drew a gig with a lady (14 stone) in it for half a mile, walked a half mile backwards, picked up 50 stones (placing them a yard about) and performed 50 leaps over hurdles in a time of 1.5 hours allowing 5 minutes 15 seconds for rest. He completed the task with 45 seconds to spare.
He left Maitland and traveled to Dungog where he arrived on 1 January 1848, in time for the New Year’s day races. He was given a tumultuous welcome. He walked around the course in 9:16 followed by a vast number of horsemen. He then proceeded to perform further feats of novelty.
For a bet of 20 pounds he walked 500 miles in 500 successive half hours, commencing on 7 February 1848.
He then traveled to Singleton where he performed similar feats. On 4 May 1848 he walked 60 miles in 12 hours. He again performed his various feats of novelty, followed by a long specimen of his eloquence.
Soon afterwards, he left the Hunter Valley for Queensland. He arrived in Brisbane at he end of August 1848. On September 12 he walked from Brisbane to Ipswich, a distance of 35 miles, carrying a pole weighing 100 lbs (45 kg), beating the horsemen by an hour.
He walked from Brisbane to Ipswich and return, a distance of no less than 70 miles, in 16 hours.
The Pieman announced that he would proceed overland to Adelaide and the Swan River (Perth) and decalred that his sole ambition was to surpass the feats of the celebrated Captain Barclay by walking 2000 miles in 1000 hours, to “become the pedestrian champion of the World”.
Barclay’s principal claim to fame was having walked (or ran) 1000 miles in 1000 hours. That is one mile in each and every consecutive hour for 1000 hours.
King described himself as “the Ladies’ Walking Flying Pieman”. The inclusion of the word ‘Ladies’ in his formal title indicated a leaning towards the fairer sex. His behaviour towards them was said to be impeccable, although eccentric.
.After performing his various feat of pedestrianism, jumping etc, he left Brisbane and traveled to other parts of the colony, apparently repeating the performances, arriving back in Sydney in 1855.
He sought further wagers to walk 1000 ¼ miles in 1000 ¼ hours; 1000 ½ miles in 1000 ½ hours and 2000 miles in 1000 hours but no takers were forthcoming. The Pieman’s reputation for achieving such remarkable feats had become too well known.