Norfolk Annals, Vol. 2: A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth CenturyMackie, Charles
History
Norfolk Annals, Vol. 2: A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century
Mackie, Charles
Norfolk (England) -- History
16.—Messrs. Jolly and Son, coachbuilders, Norwich, advertised that they
had “arranged to supply from a noted French maker the celebrated bicycle
velocipede, so much in vogue in Paris.” The price of the machine was
from 8 gs. upwards. On the 30th there was an editorial announcement to
the effect that “an attempt is being made to introduce this latest
novelty in locomotive machinery, now so fashionable in Paris, to the
Norwich public, by Mr. C. Thorn, who has two at his establishment, for
the inspection of the curious.” The “first velocipede journey of any
considerable distance from Norwich” was performed on March 30th by Mr. B.
W. Jolly, who travelled from Norwich to Yarmouth, including a stoppage of
fifteen minutes at Acle, in 2 hours 30 minutes. “The progress of the
traveller was considerably retarded by the roughness of the roads and a
powerful gale.” A short time previously Mr. G. W. Bellamy, of
Saxlingham, on a velocipede built by Messrs. Jolly and Son, but under
much more favourable conditions as to roads and weather, accomplished a
distance of 56 miles in 6 hours 25 minutes, exclusive of a short delay
midway on the journey. A Norwich Velocipede Club was established in the
month of April, and on the 29th an exhibition of the machines was held at
the Corn Hall, under the management of Mr. Thorn. On the same occasion
was exhibited “one of the old-fashioned dandy horses, the original or the
velocipede tribe,” but, it was added, “the now velocipede is more easily
managed.” The first velocipede races took place at the athletic sports
of the Norwich Gymnastic Society, held on Newmarket Road Cricket Ground,
on May 24th. A “slow race,” ridden by Messrs. Jolly, Griffiths, and
Goldsmith, was won by the last-named. A “plank race,” in which the
bicycles were ridden upon a seventy yards’ length of plank, was won by a
competitor named Ewing. A one mile “fast race” was ridden in heats, the
first of which was won by Kent, of Beccles, and the second by Bellamy.
Kent was the winner of the final heat, in 4 minutes 49 seconds. “He came
over on his bicycle from Beccles in the morning, and returned the same
way after the sports.” By the end of the year there was a marked
increase in the number of local cyclists. Accidents to inexperienced
riders were frequently recorded, and many complaints were made by drivers
of the alarm occasioned to horses by the appearance of these new-fangled
machines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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