Discover Victorian Cyclist Tessie Reynolds on the Brighton Museums Blog

Tessie Reynolds

 

 

 

Tessie Reynolds, a long-forgotten cycling athlete from the late Victorian era, has returned to the spotlight through Brighton Museums.

Brighton Museums “100 First Women Portraits” celebrates women’s accomplishments through the photography of Anita Corbin. Portraits range from Lady Hale of the Supreme Court, to football manager Hope Powell, to musician Suzi Quatro. The exhibit ran February 15th-June 7th 2020 but has been extended online.

As a companion to the exhibit the Brighton Museum Blog launched ,“100 Pioneering Women of Sussex.” Posts by staff and guest writers dig deep into local women’s history. To mark world Cycling Day on June 3rd, I contributed a piece about teenage cycling sensation Tessie Reynolds who smashed the Brighton to London and back record in 1893.

To discoverTessie’s story read “Record Breaking Brighton Cyclist Tessie Reynolds” on the Brighton Museums blog.

For more on Tessie’s amazing accomplishment, see my article “Tessie Reynolds: The Stormy Petrel in the Struggle for Women’s Equality in Cycling Racing and Dress.”

Through her accomplishments in cycle racing and dress reform, Tessie Reynolds made an important contribution to women’s emancipation. She is a Brighton native to be proud of.

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Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecture 2018, “Pedalling Days”

Sylvia lecture banner

 

The  Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecture 2018 took place at Wortley Hall, near Sheffield before a packed audience. The topic was “Pedalling Days: Sylvia Pankhurst and Political Cycling Traditions from Clarionettes to Suffragettes.” Previous speakers have included Dr Helen Pankhurst and Dr Richard Pankhurst.

As an exciting addition to the lecture, Pedal4Pankhurst organised sponsored rides to fundraise for the statue of Sylvia that will soon be erected in Clerkenwell Green. You can support the Sylvia Statue by visiting the Just Giving fundraising page.

Curious about Sylvia’s cycling connections? You can read an abbreviated summary of the talk below.

“Pedalling Days: Sylvia Pankhurst and Political Cycling Traditions from Clarionettes to Suffragettes”

Dr Sheila Hanlon, August 2018

Sylvia StatueWith the Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial statue campaign in full swing and the centennial of the 1918 Representation of the People Act being celebrated, it is an honour to be addressing cycling and suffrage as the 2018 Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecturer.

Sylvia Pankhurst’s important legacy as a leading suffrage and human rights campaigner is beginning to get the recognition it deserves. Much less is known about her participation in another progressive activity with a political edge; cycling.

Sylvia’s cycling world included rides with her family, the politics of the Clarion Cycling Club and campaigning for the vote with the cycling suffragettes. Cycling and suffrage intersected in Sylvia’s personal and political life.

Continue reading

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Dr Sheila Hanlon to Deliver 2018 Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecture

PEDAL4PANKHURST flyer

I’m honoured to be the guest speaker for the 2018 Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecture. I’ll be delivering a Cycling to Suffrage Talk with a focus on how cycling was part of Sylvia Pankhurst’s personal and political life.

The 2018 Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Lecture takes place on Saturday 16 August, 7:00pm at Wortley Hall near Sheffield. Refreshments and further discussion to follow.

There will be several bike rides in varying distances during the day to get you on your bike and ready for the talk! The talk and rides are part of the campaign to support a new statue of Sylvia Pankhurst in Clerkenwell.

You can contribute to the campaign at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sylviastatue

For more details and to register please contact @pedal4progress, @mdobney or @sylviastatue on Twitter.

“Pedalling Days: Sylvia Pankhurst and political cycling traditions, from Clarionettes to Suffragettes”

A Cycling to Suffrage Lecture by Dr Sheila Hanlon

Saturday 11 August, 7:00-10:00pm, Wortley Hall

In this illustrated lecture, Dr Sheila Hanlon will trace the history and politics of women’s cycling from Victorian times to today. The talk will focus on the integration of the bicycle into the Edwardian suffrage campaign as a form of transportation, protest and spectacle. Sylvia Pankhurst, an avid cyclist, will be at the centre of the narrative from her early days learning to ride with the Clarion Cycling Club to the adaptation of the bicycle into the battle for the vote for women and beyond. We’ll ride along with lady cyclists from the golden age of the tricycle to the everyday use of safety bicycles with a few surprises along the way.

Dr Sheila Hanlon is an historian specialising in the history of women’s cycling, particularly as it intersects gender politics from Victorian times to today. She completed her PhD at York University, Toronto and held a Vera Douie Research Fellowship at The Women’s Library. Her research has been featured on BBC radio and TV, and published in journals and magazines. Much of her work focuses on the importance of bicycles to the Edwardian suffrage campaign. She also brings history to modern cycling advocacy, working with a number of organisations such as CyclingUK.

Sponsored by the Sylvia Pankhurst Memorial Committee, the National Assembly of Women, and Wortley Hall. The lecture will be followed by light refreshments.

**Join us for a day of cycling and suffrage at beautiful Wortley Hall!**

 

Sylvia Statue

 

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Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling 2018

100 Women in Cycling 2018

Cycling UK has announced its “100 Women in Cycling” for 2018. I’m honoured to be included along with 99 other inspirational women from the cycling world!

A flurry of nominees came in from across the country. The final list includes well known cyclists such as Beryl Burton, figures from history including Millicent Garrett Fawcett, industry leaders such as Liz Colebrook and cycle campaigners like Hester Wells.

The objective of 100 Women in Cycling is to get more women on bikes by introducing female role models and acknowledging the great work being done by women in cycling.

Julie Rand of Cycling UK, project coordinator for the initiative explains, “Far fewer women than men cycle regularly in the UK, and yet the physical and mental health benefits of cycling are particularly beneficial for women. By highlighting some of the amazing achievements of these 100 women, we want to inspire other women to build cycling into their everyday lives.”

100 Women in Cycling is part of Cycling UK’s Women’s Festival of Cycling which runs throughout July 2018. The festival includes events of all description and for cyclists of all levels, starting off with “From Bloomers to Baggies and Beyond” in Manchester June 30th.

This is the second year Cycling UK had run the 100 Women in Cycling project – that means a total of 200 significant women have been recognised!

Be sure to check out the list: www.cyclinguk.org/100women

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Tessie Reynolds: The Stormy Petrel in the Struggle for Women’s Equality in Cycle Racing and Dress

 **Updated: Originally posted 12 May 2015.


Tessie Reynolds, 1890

In 1893, a remarkable sixteen year old girl rode from Brighton to London and back in record time, covering the full distance in just over 8.5 hours. Her name was Tessie Reynolds, and though the news of the day had much to say about her ride and the outfit she accomplished it in, she is one of Britain’s unsung sporting heroes.

Tessie was born in Newport on the Isle of Wight on August 20th 1877. Her family soon relocated to Kemp Town, a working class neighbourhood in the seaside town of Brighton, in 1877. She was the oldest of eleven children. Her father RJ Reynolds had a number of connections to the cycling world. He ran a bicycle dealer with a shop at 25 Brighton Road, was a member of the National Cycle Union, served as secretary to a local cycling club, and umpired bicycle races. To make ends meet he dabbled in a number of professions including PE instructor for the Brighton Police, coaching local athletes and a serving a stint in the army. Tessie’s mother managed the family’s boarding house, which was popular with cycle tourists.

Under their father’s tutelage, the Reynolds children learned to cycle, fence, box, and practice sports of all kinds. Tessie in particular set her heart on competitive cycling. Preston Park Velodrome, a state of the art racing track was built in 1877, the same year that Tessie was born, was three miles from the Reynolds’ house. Her father may have been able to negotiate use of Preston Park Velodrome for Tessie’s training regime, a rarity at a time when racing was seen as a mens sport. The London to Brighton cycle route was popular with leisure riders and athletes in the late Victorian era, placing Tessie even more in the centre of cycling culture. Tessie’s family connections to the cycling world, her proximity to both a velodrome and a key route for setting road records, and her determination culminated in a remarkable accomplishment for this young athlete. Continue reading

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1918 Representation of the People Act Centennial

Representation of the People Act

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: Parliamentary Archives, HL/PO/PU/1/1918/7&8G5c64

The 1918 Representation of the People Act granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who met property requirements. It was only a partial franchise, with the full women’s franchise on equal terms to men still a decade away. Some 8.5 million or 40% of adult women were enfranchised. Considerable work remained to achieve the full female franchise, but it was a step in the right direction.

To celebrate the centennial of this important milestone in British democracy, Cycling to Suffrage will publish 18 profiles of pioneering cyclists on the Wheelwomen page.

Alice Hawkins is the most recent addition. Read the story of Leicester’s working class suffragette to find out more about the women who fought for the vote, but remained excluded by the 1918 franchise.

 

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Happy Holidays from Cycling to Suffrage!

Cycling to Suffrage is looking forward to a busy 2018!

It’s a bumper year for bicycling and suffrage, during which we’ll celebrate 200 years Denis Johnson’s proto-bicycle hobbyhorse patent and 100 years since the limited franchise was achieved for women under the Representation of the People Act.

I’ll be delivering a number of Cycling to Suffrage talks in 2018 – watch the listings page for details.

Happy holidays!

Screen Shot 2017-12-23 at 20.08.19

 

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Read More Bicycle History on The Cycling UK Website

CTC Gazette Masthead, Stancer and RG Shaw

Are you interested in reading more about cycling history? Visit the history section of the Cycling UK website!

As Cycling UK’s historian, I have been researching the history of this influential organisation from it’s foundation as the Bicycle Touring Club in 1878, through its development as the Cyclists’ Touring Club, to its legacy today as one of the world’s largest and oldest cycling establishments.

New Cycling UK history articles will appear each month. Here are a few to get you started.

www.sheilahanlon.com_Old_CTC_signHappy Birthday Cycling UK: Celebrating 138 Years of Cycling History

 

 

Jeanie Welford

Jeanie Welford – The First Female Member of Cycling UK

 

 

CTC Monthly Gazette The History of Cycle Magazine

 

 

Laufmaschine 200 Years Since the Father of the Bicycle Baron Karl von Drais Invented the Running Machine

 

Be sure to check out the Cycling UK Timeline for highlights from club history as well.

Forthcoming articles will explore the CTC’s 1899 legal case against the Hautboy Inn for refusing service to Lady Harberton for wearing rational dress, CTC danger boards and accommodation schemes, and well known figures in Cycling UK history such as founder Stanley Cotterell.

Watch Cycling UK for regular history updates. If you’re not already a member, do consider joining this important cycling organisation – providing a voice for cyclists everywhere for over 100 years!

 

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Bicycle Fashion Files Part Three: The 1890s Craze


Hyde Park, Vanity Fair, 1896

Innovation and experimentation in Late Victorian women’s cycling costumes

An explosion of women’s cycling fashion accompanied the cycling craze on the 1890s. The third and final blog in the Bicycle Fashion Files series looks at practical, popular and inventive approaches to late Victorian cycling dress.

The New Safety Bicycle

Starley Drop FrameThe introduction of the Safety bicycle in the mid-1880s ushered in a new era of popular cycling for men and women. With its low stature, diamond frame, two roughly equal sized wheels, and chain wheel rear drive The Safety was similar to the bicycle of today. A ladies’ drop frame was devised by lowering or removing the crossbar.

By the mid-1890s, cycling was a leading leisure trend among fashionable women and they needed the outfits to match their outdoor pursuit. Creating a costume that was practical, becoming and met dress conventions was a big ask  – cycling manufacturers and clothing designers met this challenge through innovation and experimentation.

Continue reading

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Cycling to Suffrage on BBC Two “Inside The Factory: Bicycles”


You may have seen me pedaling across your television screen this summer!

Ruth Goodman on a TricycleAs part of BBC Two’s “Inside the Factory: Bicycles,” Ruth Goodman and I explore the significance of cycling to women’s emancipation. Using archival materials from The Woman’s Library, LSE we look at how the bicycle became part of the votes for women campaign.

The segment is in an episode of the series where Gregg Wallace and Cherry Gregg Wallace at Brompton FactoryHealey go inside the Brompton Factory to see how these innovative machines come together. Other segments highlight issues in modern cycling culture, safety, and racing. You’ll also see other cycling historians discussing the golden age of Highwheelers and folding bikes taken into battle during the two world wars.

“Inside the Factory: Bicycles” first aired 16 August 2016. You can catch in on BBC iPlayer for a limited time.

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