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William Bankier (10 December 1870 – 4 September 1949) billed as 'Apollo, the Scottish Hercules', was a strongman stage performer who in 1915 and 1919 was also 'King Rat' of the showbusiness charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Leaving Muldoon he next joined Jack Kilrain, a former heavy weight boxing champion and from whom he learned to box. Aged 17 Bankier joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a circus-like attraction that toured annually. From there he joined the Ginnett Circus for three months, performing as 'Carl Clyndon'.
Next he joined the Frank Bostock, known at that time for having the best performers and acts, and here he polished and honed his strongman skills, part of his new act involving harness-lifting a full grown elephant weighing 32Hundredweight and balancing on the backs of two chairs while raising a man with his right hand above his head while juggling plates with his left.
William Bankier remained active in wrestling promotion until his death aged 79 in September 1949 at the Red Rocks Nursing Home in Cheshire. He left £15663 18s 2d in his will.
Apollo
By the 1890s Bankier was back in Great Britain and it was at this time he was persuaded by Sir John Everett Millais to change his stage name from Carl Clyndon, and as Apollo, the Scottish Hercules he travelled around the world performing to large audiences.
Tomb of Hercules and Bankier Sack
During his act he would perform the Tomb of Hercules, during which he would support a piano with a six-person orchestra and a dancer. He would end his routine by offering £10 to anyone who could carry off the stage a large Gunny sack he claimed weighed . When anyone in the audience had tried and failed Bankier would carry it off himself.
Feud with Eugen Sandow
In 1900 Bankier wrote Ideal Physical Culture in which he challenged popular strongman of the period Eugen Sandow to a contest in weightlifting, wrestling, running and jumping. When Sandow did not accept his challenge Bankier called him a coward, a charlatan and a liar. Chapman, David L. Sandow the Magnificent: Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding, University of Illinois Press (1994), p. 171, Google Books In 1903, Bankier started his own magazine, and in its May 1904 edition appeared a further attack on Sandow, purportedly written by Sandow's one-time opponent 'Cyclops', but clearly actually written by Bankier. It read, "Picture to yourself a good-looking man tripping on the stage with the short pitter-patter of a fussy little woman with sore feet trying to avoid treading on a companion's dress, and forcing herself to look amiable. That is exactly how Sandow walks upon the stage."Chapman, pg 172
Later years
After retiring from the stage, with Monte Saldo (formerly of The Montague Brothers) he opened the Apollo-Saldo Academy in London, which attracted many of the famous lifters and wrestlers of the day, including George Hackenschmidt, Ferdy Gruhen, Maurice Deriaz, Zbysco, and the winner of over 1,000 contests and Lightweight Wrestling Champion of the World, gold and silver medalist in the 1908 Olympics, London born George de Relwyskow. Monte Saldo as a Trainer on the Maxalding website He also went into wrestling promotion, and among his clients was Yukio Tani, a Japanese jujutsu instructor and professional challenge wrestler. With Tani he founded the British Society of Jiu-Jitsu. Another notable client was Masutaro Otani, a Japanese judo master. In 1915 and 1919 Bankier was 'King Rat' of the British showbusiness charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
In popular culture
In 2019, the History Channel's The Strongest Man in History dedicated an episode entitled "Strongmen Go West"; traveling to Cody, Wyoming and recreating several original feats made famous by Bankier. History Channel Strongest Man Show Comes to Wyoming. 101.Kingfm.
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