The Brighton Road Part 6

Accordingly, at one o'clock in the afternoon, amid the plaudits of a hundred men of the adjacent factory, engaged in the congenial occupation of lounging against the blank walls in their dinner-hour, the velocipede was hoisted on to a cab and driven to Portland Place, where it was put on the pavement, and Mayall prepared to mount. Even nowadays the cycling novice requires plenty of room, and as Portland Place is well known to be the widest street in London, and nearly the most secluded, it seems probable that this intrepid pioneer deliberately chose it in order to have due scope for his evolutions.

It was a raw and muddy day, with a high wind. Mayall sprang on to the velocipede, but it slipped on the wet road, and he measured his length in the mud. The day-out was beginning famously.

Spencer, who had been worsted the night before, contented himself with giving Mayall a start when he made another attempt, and this time that courageous person got as far as the Marylebone Road, and across it on to the pavement of the other side, where he fell with a crash as though a barrow had been upset. But again vaulting into the saddle, he lumbered on into Regent's Park, and so to the drinking-fountain near the Zoological Gardens, where, in attempting to turn round, he fell over again. Mounting once more, he returned. Looking round, "there was the park-keeper coming hastily towards me, making indignant signs. I pa.s.sed quickly out of the Park gate into the roadway." Thus early began the long warfare between Cycling and Authority.

Thence, sometimes falling into the road, with Spencer trotting after him, he reached the foot of Primrose Hill, and then, at Spencer's home, staggered on to a sofa, and lay there, exhausted, soaked in rain and perspiration, and covered with mud. It had been in no sense a light matter to exercise with that ninety-three pounds' weight of mingled timber and ironmongery.

On the Monday he trundled about, up to the "Angel," Islington, where curious crowds a.s.sembled, asking the uses of the machine and if the falling off and grovelling in the mud was a part of the pastime. The following day, very sore, but still undaunted, he re-visited the "Angel,"

went through the City, and so to Brixton and Clapham, where, at the house of a friend, he looked over maps, and first conceived the "stupendous"

idea of riding to Brighton.

The following morning he endeavoured to put that plan into execution, and toiled up Brixton Hill, and so through Croydon, up the "never-ending"

rise, as it seemed, of Smitham Bottom to the crest of Merstham Hill.

There, tired, he half plunged into the saddle, and so thundered and clattered down hill into Merstham. At Redhill, seventeen and a half miles, utterly exhausted, he relinquished the attempt, and retired to the railway station, where he lay for some time on one of the seats until he revived.

Then, to the intense admiration and amus.e.m.e.nt of the station-master and his staff, he rode about the platform, dodging the pillars, and narrowly escaping a fall on to the rails, until the London train came in.

On Wednesday, February 17th, Mayall, Rowley B. Turner, and Charles Spencer, all three on velocipedes, started from Trafalgar Square for Brighton. The party kept together until Redhill was reached, when Mayall took the lead, and eventually reached Brighton alone. The time occupied was "about" twelve hours. Being a photographer, Mayall of course caused himself to be photographed standing beside the instrument of torture on which he made that weary ride, and thus we have preserved to us the weird spectacle he presented; more like that of a Russian convict than an athletic young Englishman. A peaked cap, an attenuated frock-coat, very tight in the waist, and stiff and shiny leather leggings, completed a costume strange enough to make a modern cyclist shudder. Fearful whiskers and oily-looking long hair add to the strangeness of this historic figure.

[Sidenote: RECORDS]

With this exploit athletic compet.i.tion began, and the long series of modern "records" on the Brighton Road were set a-going, for during the March of that year two once well-known amateur pedestrian members of the Stock Exchange, W. M. and H. J. Chinnery, _walked_ down to Brighton in 11 hrs. 25 mins., and on April 14th C. A. Booth bettered Mayall's adventure, riding down on a velocipede in 9 hrs. 30 mins.

Then came the Amateur Bicycle Club's race, September 19th, 1872. By that time not only had the word "velocipede" been discarded for "bicycle," and "treadles" become "pedals," but the machine itself, although in general appearance very much the same, had been improved in detail. The 36-inch front wheel had been increased to 44 inches, the wooden spokes had given place to wire, and strips of rubber, nailed on, replaced the iron tyres.

Probably as a result of these refinements the winner, A. Temple, reached Brighton in 5 hrs, 25 mins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN MAYALL, JUNIOR, 1869. _From a contemporary photograph._]

By 1872 the bicycle had advanced a further stage towards the giraffe-like alt.i.tude of the "ordinary," and already there were many clubs in existence. On August 16th of that year six members of the Surrey and six of the Middles.e.x Bicycle Clubs rode from Kennington Oval to Brighton and back, Causton captain of the Surrey, being the first into Brighton.

Riding a 50-inch "Keen" bicycle he reeled off the fifty miles in 4 hrs. 51 mins. The new machine was something to be reckoned with.

On February 9th. 1874, a certain John Revel, junr., backed himself in heavy sums to ride a bicycle the whole distance from Brighton to London quicker than a Mr. Gregory could walk the 22-1/2 miles from Reigate to London. Revel was to leave Brighton at the junction of the London and Montpellier roads at the same time as Gregory started from a point between the twenty-second and twenty-third milestones. The pedestrian won, finishing in 3 hrs. 27 mins. 47 secs., Revel taking 5 hrs. 57 mins. for the whole journey.

The bicycle had by this time firmly established itself. It grew more and more of an athletic exercise to mount the steadily growing machines, but once seated on them the going was easier. April 27th, 1874, found Alfred Howard cycling from Brighton to London in 4 hrs. 25 mins., a speed which works out at eleven miles an hour.

In 1875 the Brighton Road seems to have been left severely alone, and 1876 was signalised only by two of the fantastic wagers that have been numerously decided on this half-century of miles. In that year, we are told, a Mr. Frederick Thompson staked one thousand guineas that Sir John Lynton would not wheel a barrow from Westminster Abbey to the "Old Ship"

at Brighton in fifteen hours; and the knight, accepting the bet, made his appearance airily clothed in the "shorts" of the recognised running costume and wheeling a barrow made of bamboo, and provided with handles six feet long. He won easily, but whether the loser paid the thousand guineas, or lodged a protest with referees, does not appear. He should have specified the make of barrow, for the kinds range through quite a number of varieties, from the coster's barrow to the navvy's and the gardener's. But the wager did not contemplate the fancy article with which Sir John Lynton made his journey. At any rate, I have my doubts about the genuineness of the whole affair, for, seeking this "Sir John Lynton" in the usual books of reference of that period, there is no such knight or baronet to be discovered.

According to the Suss.e.x newspapers of 1876, over fifteen thousand people a.s.sembled in the King's Road at Brighton to witness the finish of the sporting event between Major Penton and an unnamed compet.i.tor. Major Penton agreed to give his opponent a start of twenty-seven miles in a pedestrian match to Brighton, on the condition that he was allowed a "go-as-you-please" method, while the other man was to walk in the fair "heel-and-toe" style. The major won by a yard and a half in the King's Road, through the excitement of his compet.i.tor, who was disqualified at the last minute by breaking into a trot.

Freakish sport was at this time decidedly in the ascendant, for the sole event of 1877 was the extraordinary escapade of two persons who on September 11th undertook to ride, dressed as clowns, on donkeys, from London to Croydon, seated backwards with their faces towards the animals'

tails. From Croydon to Redhill they were to walk the three-legged walk--_i.e._, tied together by right and left legs--and thence to Crawley (surely a most appropriate place) on hands and knees. From that place to the end their pilgrimage was to be made walking in boots each weighted with 15 lb. of lead. This last ordeal speedily finished them, for they had failed to accomplish more than half a mile when they broke down.

John Granby was another of these fantastic persons, whose proper place would be a lunatic ward. He essayed to walk to Brighton with 50 lb. weight of sand round his shoulders, in a bag, but he sank under the weight by the time of his arrival at Thornton Heath.

[Sidenote: MORE RECORDS]

In 1878 P. J. Burt bettered the performance of the Chinnerys, ten years earlier, by thirty-three minutes, walking to the Aquarium in 10 hrs. 52 mins. Most authorities agree in making his starting-point the Clock Tower on the north side of Westminster Bridge. 52-1/4 miles, and thus we can figure out his speed at about five miles an hour. All the athletic world wondered, and when, in 1884, C. L. O'Malley (pedestrian, swimmer, steeplechaser, and boxer), walking against B. Nickels, junr., lowered that record by so much as 1 hr. 4 mins., every one thought finality in long-distance padding the hoof had been reached.

Meanwhile, however, 1882 had witnessed another odd adventure on the way to Brighton. A London clubman declared, while at dinner with a friend, that the bare-footed tramps sometimes to be seen in the country were not to be pitied. Boots, he said, were after all conventions, and declared it an easy matter to walk, say, fifty miles without them. He challenged his friend, and a walk to Brighton was arranged. The friend retired on his blisters in twelve miles; the challenger, however, with the soles of his stockings long since worn away, plodded on until he fainted with pain when only four miles from Brighton.

On April 6th. 1886, J. A. M'Intosh, of the London Athletic Club, walked to Brighton in 9 hrs. 25 mins. 8 secs., improving upon O'Malley's best by 22 mins. 52 secs.

The year 1888 was notable. On January 1st the horse "Ginger," in a match against time, was driven at a trot to Brighton in 4 hrs. 16 mins. 30 secs., and another horse, "The Bird," trotted from Kennington Cross to Brighton in 4 hrs. 30 mins. On July 13th Selby drove the "Old Times" coach from the White Horse Cellar, in Piccadilly, to Brighton and back in ten minutes under eight hours, thus arousing that compet.i.tion of cyclists which, first directed towards beating his performance, has been continued to the present day.

IX

Selby's drive was very widely chronicled. The elaborate reports and extensive preliminary arrangements compare oddly with the early sporting events undertaken on the spur of the moment and recorded only in meagre, unilluminating paragraphs. What would we not give for a report of the Prince of Wales's ride in 1784, so elaborated.

A great drive, and a great coachman, worthily carrying on the good old traditions of the road. It has, however, been already pointed out that neither on his outward journey (3 hrs. 56 mins.), nor on the return (3 hrs. 54 mins.), did he quite equal the record of the "Criterion" coach, which on February 4th, 1834, took the King's Speech from London to Brighton in 3 hrs. 40 mins.

Selby did not live long to enjoy the world-wide repute his great drive gained him. He died, only forty-four years of age, at the end of the same year that saw this splendid feat.

Selby's memorable drive put cyclists upon their mettle, but not at once was any determined attempt made to better it. The dwarf rear-driving "safety" bicycle, the "Rover," which, introduced in 1885, set the existing pattern, was not yet perfected, and cyclists still rode solid or cushion tyres, instead of the now universal pneumatic kind.

[Sidenote: THE CYCLISTS]

It was, therefore, not until August, 1889, that after several unsuccessful attempts had been made to better the coach-time on that double journey of 108 miles, a team of four cyclists--E. J. Willis, G. L. Morris, C. W.

Schafer, and S. Walker, members of the Polytechnic Cycling Club--did that distance in 7 hrs. 36 mins. 19-2/5 secs.; or 13 mins. 40-3/5 secs. less; and even then the feat was accomplished only by the four cyclists dividing the journey between them into four relays. Two other teams, on as many separate occasions, reduced the figures by a few minutes, and M. A.

Holbein and P. C. Wilson singly made unsuccessful attempts.

It was left to F. W. Shorland, a very young rider, to be the first of a series of single-handed breakers of the coaching time. He accomplished the feat in June, 1890, upon a pneumatic-tyred "Geared Facile" safety, and reduced the time to 7 hrs. 19 mins., being himself beaten on July 23rd by S. F. Edge, riding a cushion-tyred safety. Edge put the time at 7 hrs. 2 mins. 50 secs., and, in addition, first beat Selby's outward journey, the times being--coach, 3 hrs. 36 mins.; cycle, 3 hrs. 18 mins. 25 secs. Then came yet another stalwart, C. A. Smith, who on September 3rd of the same year beat Edge by 10 mins. 40 secs. Even a tricyclist--E. P.

Moorhouse--essayed the feat on September 30th, but failed, his time being 8 hrs. 9 mins. 24 secs.

To the advent.i.tious aid of pacemakers, fresh and fresh again, to stir the record-breaker's flagging energies, much of this success was at first due; but at the present day those times have been exceeded on many unpaced rides.

Selby's drive had the effect of creating a new and arbitrary point of departure for record-making, and "Hatchett's" has thus somewhat confused the issues with the times and distances a.s.sociated with Westminster Bridge.

The year 1891 was a blank, so far as cycling was concerned, but on March 20th an early Stock Exchange pedestrian to walk to Brighton set out to cover the distance between Hatchett's and the "Old Ship" in 11 hrs. 15 mins. This was E. H. Cuthbertson, who backed himself to equal the Chinnerys' performance of 1869. Out of this undertaking arose the additional and subsidiary match between Cuthbertson and another Stock Exchange member, H. K. Paxton, as to which should quickest walk between Hatchett's and the "Greyhound," Croydon. Paxton, a figure of Brobdingnagian proportions, 6 ft. 4 in. in height, and scaling 17 stone, received a time allowance of 23 minutes. Both aspirants went into three weeks' severe training, and elaborate arrangements were made for attendance, timing, and refreshment on the road. Paxton, urged to renewed efforts in the ultimate yards by the strains of a more or less German band, which seeing the compet.i.tors approach, played "See the Conquering Hero Comes,"[5] won the match to Croydon by 1 min. 18 secs., but did not stop here, continuing with Cuthbertson to Brighton. Although Cuthbertson won his wager, and walked down in 10 hrs. 6 mins. 18 secs. (9 hrs. 55 mins. 34 secs, from Westminster) and won several heavy sums by this performance, he did not equal that of McIntosh in 1886. The old-timer, deducting a proportionate time for the difference between the finishing-points, the Aquarium and the "Old Ship," was still half an hour to the good.

The next four years were exclusively cyclists' years. On June 1st, 1892, S. F. Edge made a great effort to regain the record that had been wrested from him by C. A. Smith in 1890, and did indeed win it back, but only by the fractional margin of 1 min. 3 secs., and only held that advantage for three months, Edward Dance, in the last of three separate attempts, succeeding on September 6th in lowering Edge's time, but only by 2 mins. 6 secs. Then three days later, R. C. Nesbit made a "record" for the high "ordinary" bicycle, of 7 hrs. 42 mins. 50 secs., the last appearance of the now extraordinary "ordinary" on this stage.

The course was from 1893 considerably varied, the Road Record a.s.sociation being of opinion that as the original great object--the breaking of the coach time--had been long since attained, there was no need to maintain the Piccadilly end, or the Cuckfield route. The course selected, therefore, became from Hyde Park Corner to the Aquarium at Brighton, by way of Hickstead and Bolney. On September 12th of this year Edge tried for and again recaptured this keenly-contested prize, this time by the respectable margin of 35 mins. 13 secs., only to have it s.n.a.t.c.hed away on September 17th by A. E. Knight, who knocked off 3 mins. 19 secs. Again, in another couple of days, the figures were revised, C. A. Smith, on one of the few occasions on which he deserted the tricycle for the two-wheeler, accomplishing the double journey in 6 hrs. 6 mins. 46 secs. On the 22nd of the same busy month Edge for the fourth and last time took the record, on this occasion by the margin of 14 mins. 16 secs. The road then knew him no more as a record-breaking cyclist, and his achievement lasted--not days, but hours, for on the _same day_ Dance lowered it by the infinitesimal fraction of 12 seconds. On October 4th W. W. Robertson set up a tricycle record of 7 hrs. 24 mins. 2 secs. for the double journey, and then a crowded year ended.

The much-worried records of the Brighton Road came in for another turn in 1894, W. R. Toft, on June 11th, reducing the tricycle time, and C. G.

Wridgway on September 12th lowering that for the bicycle. This year was also remarkable for the appearance of women speed cyclists, setting up records of their own, Mrs. n.o.ble cycling to Brighton and back in 8 hrs. 9 mins., followed on September 20th by Miss Reynolds in 7 hrs. 48 mins. 46 secs., and on September 22nd by Miss White in 42 mins. shorter time.

The season of 1895 was not very eventful, with the ride by A. A. Chase in 5 hrs. 34 mins. 58 secs.; 34 secs. better than the previous best, and the lowering by J. Parsley of the tricycle record by over an hour; but it was notable for an almost incredible eccentricity, that of cycling backwards to Brighton. This feat was accomplished by J. H. Herbert in November, as an advertising sensation on behalf of the inventor of a new machine exhibited at the Stanley Show. He rode facing the hind wheel and standing on the pedals. Punctures, mud, rain, and wind delayed him, but he reached Brighton in 7 hrs. 45 mins.

On June 26th, 1896, E. D. Smith and C. A. Greenwood established a tandem-cycle record of 5 hrs. 37 mins. 34 secs., demolished September 15th; while on July 15th C. G. Wridgway regained his lost single record, beating Chase's figures by 12 mins. 25 secs. In this year W. Franks, a professional pedestrian in his forty-fifth year, beat all earlier walks to Brighton, eclipsing McIntosh's walk of 1886 by 18 mins. 18 secs. But, far above all other considerations, 1896 was notable for the legalising of motor-cars. On Motor-Day, November 14th, a great number of automobiles were to go in procession--not a race--from Westminster to Brighton. Most of them broke down, but a 6 h.-p. Bollee car (a three-wheeled variety now obsolete) made a record journey in 2 hrs. 55 mins.

The year 1897 opened on April 10th with the open London to Brighton walk of the Polytechnic Harriers. The start was made from Regent Street, but time was taken separately, from that point and from Westminster Clock Tower. There were thirty-seven starters. E. Knott, of the Hairdressers'

A.C.--a quaint touch--finished in 8 hrs. 56 mins. 44 secs. Thirty-one of the compet.i.tors finished well within twelve hours.

On May 4th W. J. Neason, cycling to Brighton and back, made the distance in 5 hrs. 19 mins. 39 secs., and on July 12th Miss M. Foster beat Miss White's 1894 record by 20 mins. 37 secs., while on the following day Richard Palmer made a better run than Neason's by 9 mins. 45 secs. Neason, however, got his own again in the following September, by 3 mins. 3 secs., and on October 27th P. Wheelock and G. J. Fulford improved the tandem record of 1896 by 25 mins. 41 secs.