Follow up to WHO was the First super hero

Darci asked the following question:

"Usually the answer to the question about Superman's costume points to the strong man's costume at the circus. Do you have a British answer to that question too?Thanks!"

My response was as follows:

"There are quite a few -you mean the long johns look? Skin tight outfits were around and to be honest that is splitting hairs. The question was who was the first costumed character who could be considered a "super hero" -the term super applies to heroic characters are beyond the norm and face enemies and situations beyond the norm. 

The black Whip from 1931 was depicted with cowl and skin tight outfit. Strang the Terrible from 1931 wore the TRADITIONAL circus strongman outfit of a leopard skin that ran over one shoulder -as worn by the uber strong strongman in the later Shipwrecked Circus. Zero the Silent from 1931 wore a tight fitting outfit, cowl and had various gadgets -well ahead of Bat-Man. The definition of a super hero is a person wearing a costume and or a cowl or mask and having extraordinary abilities or powers and that is hat most of us stick to.

 NOTHING against American comics at all but historically you can't change facts.

 In Steranko's History of Comics vol. 1 he refers to the characters of Punch & Judy being the first comic style characters. Wikipedia: The Punch and Judy show has roots in the 16th-century Italian commedia dell'arte. The figure of Punch is derived from the Neapolitan stock character of Pulcinella, which was anglicizedto Punchinello.^[3] He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misruleand Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally called "Joan."   The figure who later became Mr. Punch made his first recorded appearance in England on 9 May 1662, which is traditionally reckoned as Punch's UK birthday.

There are some who claim that the Phantom (Lee Falk) from 1936 was the first super hero since he fought evil in a costume and mask.

Mandrake the Magician was another Falk creation from 1934 and there are those who call him the first super hero    -and a lot of DC characters such as Zatara et al are classed as super heroes.

Someone might say others such as the Clock from 1936 was the first and if you look at Centaur comics they have some characters pre Superman that could be called super heroes.

I plan to work on a catalogue of British characters up to 1950 and most of these are unknown today.
So, for me, if I had to make a choice for first super hero -the Phantom!