Page 17 - PBCOctober2018

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 15 No.2 October 2018 @17

Miscellaneous Items…………….. 1

Too late to be included in the last magazine, was the news of a “Barn Find”. Such finds are
usually found to be classic cars, but this was ……A BICYCLE.
A bike enthusiast claims to have found the “holy grail” of collector’s items after discovering
what he believes to be Britain’s oldest bike dating to 1819. Glynn Stockdale couldn’t believe
his luck when he received a call about a long-forgotten bike in a disused barn.

He recognised the bicycle as a rare example of a
“hobby horse” and has now displayed the cycling
relic in his penny farthing museum in Cheshire. The
bike was discovered during a building demolition in
Beaconsfield, Bucks, but how long the bike has been
hidden away remains a mystery.
Mr Stockdale said: “I have been a bike enthusiast
for 40 years and so to come across this, really is
the holy grail for me..

“The bike was found in a barn and I got a call. I knew from the description it was a Hobby
Horse.” The 199-year-old bike was originally made by Denis Johnson who registered a patent
in 1818. He made 320 of the machines in 1819, with only 12 known to be in existence today.
Mr Stockdale believes his is the oldest of the remaining machines, as unlike the others it
has no frame number, suggesting it predates them. Glynn has given the 199-year old bicycle
pride of place in his penny farthing museum in Cheshire.

(courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)

Miscellaneous Items ………… 2

Did you know that from 1870 onwards, the military were quick to realise the advantage of
that new contraption - the bicycle? In 1888 the first British unit consisting only of
bicyclists, was formed as the 26th Middlesex (Cyclist) Volunteer Rifle Corps, divided in
troops by Ordinaries, Safeties and Tricycles.