Doug Burton, a member of the High Country History Group, dropped in to me a small collection of medals, photographs and sports programmes. The collection all relates to the interest in competitive cycling of Doug’s great-uncle, Bert Burton.
From the medals and programmes, Bert Burton was a keen amateur cyclist around the period 1908-12. He entered a number of events at local sports meetings; the Saffron Walden Friendly Societies’ Athletic Sports and Flower Show; the Athletic Sports at the Harlow and District Floral and Horticultural Society; Hertford Town Fete Athletic Meeting and the Bishop’s Stortford Athletic and Bicycle Club, Athletic Meeting. The programmes for these meetings, circa 1910, are well produced, informative and demonstrate a sense of the ceremonial. Judged from these programmes and from the organizations that accompanied them, they were well-attended local events that generated interest from outside the club itself.
The Sports Meeting at the Epping Cycling and Athletic Club is typical and demonstrates considerable formality. There are numerous stewards, named and organized under various categories including the judges, timekeeper and starter, stewards to control the gates and enclosures, and the Telegraph Board Steward. Racing began at two-o-clock with two heats of the men’s Two Mile Cycle Handicap. Bert Burton competed in heat 1, not as the scratch man but in second place, 140 yards ahead of S. F. Bailey. The handicapper also reckoned that Bert justified an advantage of 100 yards ahead of the fastest man from heat two. Three from each heat were to qualify for the final, held after a rest of about 40 minutes, the winner receiving a cup and salad bowl, with second and third winning a cruet and handbag, respectively.
Event 2 was a 100 yards flat race. There were 15 entrants, again organized into two heats, with three from each again going into a final. Domestic equipment, for example a butter dish, was usually given to the first three in the final; such prizes would avoid any controversy involved in disputed amateurism or professionalism. This sprint race was followed by the Epping Tradesmen’s Race, a one-mile handicap, for which there were only seven entrants and just two prizes accordingly.
A variety of athletic and cycling events filled the afternoon in quick succession. There was the Half-Mile Cycle Handicap, the One-Mile Flat Handicap, the American Boot Race, the One-Mile Cycle Handicap, a 200 yards school-boys’ race, the One Lap Flat Handicap, a Cycle Fruit Race, the Half-Mile Novice Cycle Handicap, the One Mile Walking Handicap, and the final event, the Five Mile Championship. The latter was the main event since the winner was to be known as Champion of the Club, and was the recipient of a gold medal. Conditions for the American Boot Race and the Cycle Fruit Race, presumably novelty races, were to be announced “on the Ground”. And throughout, the Epping Town Band played on with an advertised programme of music.
The medals are heavy, decorative and handsome. They record some of Bert’s competitive times; 10 miles in 28 m 32 ½ s at the Tolgate Club, 43 m 45 s for fifteen miles at the same club, and 25 miles in 1 h 16 m 7 s at Bishop’s Stortford. Perhaps these times are overshadowed by the equivalent times of the present day, but then so was the equipment then in use overtaken by modern racing bikes. As an example, the gearing of racing bikes was allowed only in the 1930’s; previously only two speed bicycles had been permitted. Two speeds were achieved by having one sprocket wheels, one on each side of the rear wheel. To change the gearing, the rear wheel was detached and the wheel turned round to allow engagement with the other sprocket.
Doug has a few photographs of Bert in racing strip. One of these shows Bert posing next to a table, covered with a heavy cloth, on which are displayed his recent prizes. The photo’ has been carefully posed in a corner of the garden; the stance strongly suggests that the cyclist has just cycled through the hedge! The handlebars are dropping and, as the bike has a ‘fixed wheel’, there are no brakes. Thoughtfully a bell is retained on the handlebars. Mudguards have been left off.
Now, a century ago, the period in which Bert raced was an exciting one for competitive cycling; as one contemporary example of this, the first Tour de France was held in 1903. Nationally, Great Britain had been successful at the Olympic Games in 1908 in London, winning 56 gold medals. This was more than half of the total of 110 to be won (we were at home, of course) but in the cycling, Great Britain did proportionately better being victorious in winning five of the seven events. This success at national level was reflected at local level in the sporting shows staged in the area. The many local cycling events, often supported by a programme of athletics, were a result of the high enthusiasm in cycling at the time. There is much current argument and controversy about the likely legacy of the forthcoming 2012 Olympics. Was Bert’s interest in cycling attributable to the legacy of the first London Olympics? Whatever the spur may have been, Bert was a successful participant in the competitive part of the ‘bicycle craze’.