Motoring into the future: the Ormonde Tri-Car, which ‘will climb any hill with two up’ cost more than a year’s average wages at the turn of the 19th Century
CROYDON CHRONICLES: There was a time when the town’s streets were not such a hostile environment for cyclists as they are today. They even had an annual event to celebrate, and raise large amounts for charity. DAVID MORGAN takes up the story
Imagine Croydon full of bicycles. A bicycle boom.
Now picture them decorated in all kinds of creative ways, with their riders wearing fancy costumes.
In the 1890s and into the beginning of the 20th Century, one of the most popular events held in Croydon was the annual Cycle Carnival. Spectators turned out in their thousands to see the procession, bringing traffic and trams to a halt,
Newspaper cuttings about the Cycle Carnivals have provided a rich source of information about Croydon life. Family tree researchers have taken great interest in the large number of names of the people who won prizes at the Carnival.
Beginning in 1894, the Cycle Carnival was organised to raise money for the Croydon General Hospital. In 1901, £140 10s 6d – worth about £23,000 in today’s money – was handed over to the hospital. The organising committee was proud of the way in which the amount of money collected had grown year on year. In their second year in 1895, just £45 was raised.
Carnival prizes: the Croydon Cycle Carnival had an extensive prize list, for all ages
Two individuals were the driving force behind the carnival. Jack Lyons was the chairman of the committee and the chief steward of the parade. Alfred Underhill was the secretary and collator of the entries and prizes. Underhill was living in Clarenden Road when he first became secretary but later moved to Pemdevon Road.
Both Lyons and Underhill were made life governors of the hospital in recognition of their services to the institution.
The Carnival committee usually met at The Greyhound Hotel in the High Street, with a room provided free of charge. These gatherings were reported in the local press. Readers would have been able to see who had attended, what proposals were passed and the conditions of entry to the parade.
The 1898 Cycle Carnival, held in September, was watched by “tens of thousands” spectators according to the local paper. They couldn’t have all lived in Croydon!
That year the crowds were lining the streets four-, five- or even six-deep on either side of the road. Inspector Cameron, a newcomer to the Croydon police force, was amazed at the size of the crowd and their good humour. Not a single arrest was made during the event.
The crowds were especially large in South Croydon, where the contestants in their fancy dress and with their decorated bicycles began to assemble from about 5 o’clock. Judging would take an hour and a half.
Starting from the Swan and Sugar Loaf at seven in the evening, with the Croydon Town Band leading the way, the procession snaked its way to George Street, then along Wellesley Road, Whitehorse Road, Bensham Manor Road and Brigstock Road to Thornton Heath Pond. The pond was lit up and here the procession stopped for a quarter of an hour to allow everyone to catch up and for the fife and drum band of the 1st Company Thornton Heath Boys’ Brigade to fall in and add to the music of the evening.
The procession turned at the pond, heading back towards the town centre via the High Street. Confetti and carnival brush vendors along the route did a roaring trade. Carnival brushes were coloured or multi-coloured brushes made of a soft material which were on the end of a stick which was used to “tickle” other people in the crowd or in the procession.
Buying a bike: there was a keen trade in bicycles, as these ads from 1898 demonstrate
Some of the loudest applause from the onlookers was reserved for the fire engines. The Croydon Manual, under the command of Superintendent Thompson, won first prize for its immaculate turn-out. The seven-strong crew and a driver were each given a half crown (2/6 – 12½p today) as their reward. Their fire engine was decorated in crimson and gold cloth together with “numberless Chinese lanterns”.
The applause may well have been in recognition of the firemen who were called into action during the Carnival the previous year. The procession had gathered in Katharine Street and, just as it was setting off, a young woman, dressed in blue muslin as “The Snow Queen” and standing beside her bicycle, screamed as a light set fire to her dress.
Thanks to the efforts of Fireman Wood, the flames were quickly extinguished but not before the woman suffered “terrible” burns to her upper body. She was taken to Croydon Hospital. She was named as Miss E Bacon, aged 22, the daughter of a farmer who was living in Stafford Road, Waddon.
The 1898 Carnival went off splendidly with just one exception.
One of the decorated bicycles was made to look like HMS Croydon, with a tall mast and rigging. As the procession was passing through Thornton Heath, the “ship” got tangled with some overhead telephone wires which “took away some of the mast”. Neither Mr J Butler, the cyclist who was dressed like an admiral, nor the marines and sailors who were accompanying the “ship” on foot were hurt.
Among the prize-winners that year was Mr Ryman of St Saviours Road, who won first prize in the character costume class, dressed as a matador. Miss Mable Wallace, of 15 Parker Road, won second prize in the ladies’ decorated bicycle class, adorning her machine to look like a “Sunflower”. Miss Ford of 75 High Street won fourth prize in the ladies’ costume section, dressed as the “Croydon Press”.
And Mr T Powell of Whitehorse Lane won first prize in the decorated tandem/tricycle section dressed as “The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe”.
No mention was made that year as to what the prizes were. In 1895, the prize for the best decorated tricycle was a clock, presented to Mr and Mrs D Jackson with their themed decoration “The bobby, the cook and the rabbit pie.”
There were lots of entrepreneurs in the area ready to sell a bicycle, from the very latest models to a renovated second-hand one.
Top of the range: Wulfruna were regarded as the best bicycles on the market at the time
An advertisement from 1898 showed that one of the places where you could go to purchase an up-to-date model was Hutchings, on Old Palace Road. Edward Hutchings was living in the School House in that road. The advert stated that Hutchings was an agent for Ormonde, Quinton, Beeston and Wulfruna bicycles, known as among the very best on the market at that time.
Wulfruna bicycles were made in factory in Wolverhampton. It was a lightweight machine weighing only 30lb and costing £14. A Wulfruna tricycle would set you back £18.
Ormonde cycles were available from Wells Street, off Oxford Street in London. Their safety bike was priced at 12 guineas – £12/12. However, they had an additional range of motorised tricycles, described as Tri-Cars. A three-and-a-half horsepower engine guaranteed that any hill could be climbed with two passengers on board, their advertising claimed. A Tri-Car would cost a huge sum of money for the time, £67 10s: at least £12 more than the annual wage of a typical skilled tradesman at the time.
Quinton bicycles were manufactured in Coventry. In 1892 the company was making 15 different makes of bicycle, including the Quinton Scorcher and the Quinton Racer. In 1897 the company was taken over by the New Beeston Cycle Co Ltd.
Various additions and changes occurred over the next few years. The 1899 Croydon Cycle Carnival was watched by another vast crowd. The day ended with a “smoking concert” in the Greyhound Hotel.
By 1905, the event included a fete at Brigstock Road, with a football match to be played between Thornton Heath Wednesday and North Croydon. A dance also took place in the evening with the Upper Norwood Temperance Band providing the music.
Members from one of the local cycling clubs, Emerald Wheelers’ Cycling Club, based in Penge, were charged with collecting donations from the spectators along the route.
But it was getting more difficult to attract people to take part in the procession. The 1906 event was listed as a “Decorated Car and Cycle Parade”. The organisers linked it with an event which was to have taken place in Penge. Without those additions, wrote the local paper, the parade would have been in a sorry state.
To drum up support on the evening of the event, a town crier, dressed in red and wearing a cocked hat and carrying a bell, walked the route 30 minutes before it was due to arrive so that folk could come out from their homes and view the spectacle.
After 1906, there were no more Croydon Cycle Carnivals.
It was inevitable with the cycling boom of the late Victorian era that accidents involving bicycles would increase. In the same edition of the local paper which reported on the 1898 Cycle Carnival, a cyclist was arrested, taken to court and fined for “riding a bicycle in London Road to the common danger”.
A police sergeant and an army soldier had just got off a tram when a lad came hurtling along on his bike. The police sergeant was knocked to the ground and the conductor of the tram suffered a broken arm. The young lad, William Cayley, who lived in Frant Road, told the magistrate he couldn’t help speeding along the High Street. His explanation didn’t prevent him from being fined.
The next time a bicycle whizzes past you in Croydon today, or when you have to wait to cross a road as a group of cyclists pass by, remember that we’ve been there before. About 120 years before.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for almost a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Gertrude Massey’s masterstrokes showed Royalty in best light
- Nickel Support group is providing people with real life skills
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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