Summary

Summary of Victorian Six Day Races

The search for forgotten Victorian achievements continues and the total number of cycle races in the British Isles - for men and women - raced over 6 days, and the variants that were raced over 5, 7, 11 and 12 days, continues to grow ....

TotalSixes1

Newly discovered. There were an additional four races just outside the century, in 1901, that retained the 19th Century format. And two more women’s races in Newcastle at the end of 1895 [Thanks to Dag and eBay]

Recorded Races

These are all races that were reported as news in the mass-circulation publications of the day - within a day or two of the actual event.


18 November 1878	Agricultural Hall, Islington, London	William (Bill) CANN	reports
28 April 1879	Agricultural Hall, Islington, London	George William WALLER	reports
1 September 1879	Agricultural Hall, Islington, London	George William WALLER	reports
27 October 1879	Bingley Hall, Birmingham	Henry HIGHAM	reports
22 December 1879	Rifle Barracks, Kingston upon Hull	George William WALLER	reports
14 March 1880	Agricultural Hall, Islington, London	Charles TERRONT	reports
26 April 1880	Molineux Grounds, Wolverhampton	Henry HIGHAM	reports
3 May 1880	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	Charles TERRONT	reports
17 May 1880	Cardigan Fields, Leeds	F J LEES	reports
31 May 1880	Rifle Barracks, Kingston upon Hull	Charles TERRONT	reports
14 June 1880	Burnbank Drill Hall, Glasgow	Henry HIGHAM	reports
21 June 1880	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	W PHILLIPS	reports
21 June 1880	Town Moor, Newcastle-on-Tyne	G E EDLIN	reports
12 July 1880	Sands, Carlisle	J W LAMB	reports
9 August 1880	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	W PERRY	reports
9 August 1880	Earlsfort Rink, Dublin	T ANDREWS	reports
23 August 1880	Skating Rink, York	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
30 August 1880	Sunderland	R ROBERTS	reports
27 September 1880	Gilkes Street, Middlesbrough	F J LEES	reports
11 October 1880	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	R ROBERTS	reports
8 November 1880	Feethams, Darlington	J BATTENSBY	reports
15 November 1880	Drill Hall, Bristol	Robert JAMES	reports
15 November 1880	Drill Hall, Dundee	W PERRY	reports
27 December 1880	Cricket grounds, Newcastle-on-Tyne	George William WALLER	reports
9 May 1881	Queen Street South, Huddersfield	J W LAMB	reports
6 June 1881	Granby Row, Manchester	J W LAMB	reports
27 June 1881	Town Moor, Newcastle-on-Tyne	F J LEES	reports
4 July 1881	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	Henry HIGHAM	reports
8 August 1881	Cricket Field, Bishop Auckland	W PARKES	reports
29 August 1881	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	George William WALLER	reports
19 September 1881	Cattle Market Ground, Middlesbrough	J W LAMB	reports
10 October 1881	Next to Baths, Stockton on Tees	abandoned through gales	reports
7 November 1881	Cricket Field, Sunderland	George William WALLER	reports
3 June 1882	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	J CLEMINSON	reports
14 August 1882	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	George William WALLER	reports
16 October 1882	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	George William WALLER	reports


26 March 1883	Drill Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne	J W LAMB	reports
14 May 1883	Holmeside, Sunderland	W PARKES	reports
7 July 1883	Recreation Grounds, Aberdeen	W PERRY	reports
4 August 1883	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	H O DUNCAN	reports
3 September 1883	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	F J LEES	reports
10 September 1883	Cricket Ground, North Shields	W PARKES	reports
8 October 1883	Albert Road, Middlesbrough	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
27 December 1883	St George’s Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
5 July 1884	Recreation Grounds, Aberdeen	W TYRE	reports
15 December 1884	Westminster Aquarium, London	James BIRT	reports
13 June 1885	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	J W LAMB	reports
20 July 1885	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
30 August 1885	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
28 December 1885	Recreation Grounds, Aberdeen	Sam CLARK	reports
22 May 1886	Bon Accord Recreation Hall, Aberdeen	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
19 June 1886	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	W TYRE	reports
5 July 1886	Cycling Grounds, North Shields	W Wood (Amateur)	reports
14 August 1886	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	F J LEES	reports
11 December 1886	Recreation Grounds, Inches, Aberdeen	J YOUNG	reports
24 October 1887	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	John Dunlop LUMSDEN	reports
5 December 1887	Drill Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
28 February 1888	Newcastle-on-Tyne	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
10 March 1888	Bon Accord Recreation Hall, Aberdeen	abandoned 14 March	reports
22 July 1889	Cycling Grounds, North Shields	R H ENGLISH	reports
2 November 1889	Skating Rink, Sunderland	Miss Lottie STANLEY	reports
11 November 1889	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	John Dunlop LUMSDEN	reports
18 November 1889	Skating Rink, Sunderland	Tom BATTENSBY	reports
24 December 1889	Drill Hall, Sheffield (5 Day)	Miss Lottie STANLEY	reports
? December 1889	Newcastle-on-Tyne	Tom ENGLISH	reports
16 August 1890	Victoria Recreation Grounds, Aberdeen	Tom ENGLISH	reports
18 April 1892	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	A H ROBB	reports
2 May 1892	Central Hall, Holborn, London	J W LAMB	reports
5 December 1892	Waverley Market, Edinburgh	W PARKES	reports
30 January 1893	Burnbank Drill Hall, Glasgow	John Dunlop LUMSDEN	reports
18 November 1895	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Monica HARWOOD	reports
3 December 1895	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle CANNAC	reports
9 December 1895	Drill Hall, Sheffield	Mdlle SOLANGE	reports
16 December 1895	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle PALLIARDE	reports
17 December 1895	Bingley Hall, Birmingham	Mrs GRACE	reports
?? December 1895	Drill Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne	Mdlle SOLANGE ?	reports
30 December 1895	Westminster Aquarium, London	L DAVIS	reports
? January 1896	Drill Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne	Mdlle SOLANGE ?	reports
6 January 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mrs GRACE	reports
23 March 1896	Agricultural Hall, Islington, London	Arthur V LINTON	reports
27 April 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle Lisette MARTON	reports
4 May 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	??	reports
20 July 1896	Eastbourne (Lloyd’s Weekly 26-Apr-1896)	-	proposal
16 November 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle Helene DUTRIEU	reports
30 November 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlles DEVERNEUIL, Marcelle VAUTRO, Beany VAUTRO	reports
7 December 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss PATTISON	reports
28 December 1896	Westminster Aquarium, London	??	programme
4 January 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle EGLEE	reports
11 January 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Rosa BLACKBURN	reports
18 January 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Rosa BLACKBURN	reports
24 May 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Rosa BLACKBURN	reports
7 June 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	F J MEDDINGS Miss ANDERSON	reports
27 December 1897	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle L ROGER	reports
10 January 1898	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mdlle Marcelle VAUTRO	reports
17 January 1898	Westminster Aquarium, London	Mlle DEDAELE	reports
3 June 1901	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Rosa BLACKBURN	reports
10 June 1901	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Monica HARWOOD	reports
17 June 1901	Westminster Aquarium, London	??	programme
24 June 1901	Westminster Aquarium, London	Miss Monica HARWOOD	programme

The next UK Six was a little reported race for two man teams held in 1903. Then no further Six Days have been found until 1923 as the sporting side of cycling retreats into strict amateurism - to the exclusion of anything involving commerce, payments or even contact with professionals. The 1890’s saw the start of the British cycling’s dark ages - and the dawn of the European classics. How different things could have been ......

However this was very much a self-inflicted injury .. as this cyclist writing a touring report illustrates; “How much more sense there is in amusing one’s self in this way [a touring holiday in Hungary] than in competing in such a useless performance as the late French ride from Paris to Brest and back! The tourist, even the scorching tourist, would never pretend to emulate the pace of Terront or Laval; it would be against reason. ... No, road-races are but vanity and vexation of spirit, even if an entire population, as in that part of France between Paris and Brest, hails them with delight and present palm branches and makes pretty speeches of welcome to the winning competitors.” Penny Illustrated Paper (London) Saturday 18-Sep-1891

And this was another, much later and rather overblown, explanation - “1900 - The Union Cycliste Internationale [UCI] was formed without Britain so as to end the England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Dominions domination” Cycling 25-Jan-1951
.

The initial starting point for these Victorian pages came from Velo Gotha, in my case the edition published in 1984 at Brussel (Bruxelles), Belgium. But it has been the British Library’s 19th Century Newspapers archive and recently the British Newspaper Archive that have provided the bulk of the detailed information. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s Gallica web site providing access to Le Veloce-Sport sports newspaper archive. A few clippings have also been found at the Paperspast web site of the National Library of New Zealand and new archives are being added at the Trove web site of the National Library of Australia.

For US races then Six-Day Bicycle Races by Peter Nye is ideal. It is an homage to velodrome bicycle racing in the United States and includes much new material - some obtained directly from the families of the riders.

Clearly facts about these early races are hard to come by - and the published info is sometimes wrong or contradictory. I know it’s unlikely but ... does anyone have any original records, photographs or press reports?