A Penny-Farthing for Your Thoughts
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T’S like riding a horse—but one with- out a temperament,’ says keen horse- woman Melissa Eisdell, as she hurtles along in a howling gale aboard a penny- Ifarthing. It’s early on a Sunday morning and half a dozen members of the Penny Farthing Club—a cleaner, a lawyer and an engineer among them—are on a strip of AstroTurfin West Sussex for a practice chukka of penny- farthing polo. ‘We try to make it a non- contact sport, but that doesn’t always happen,’ smiles the club’s founder Neil Laughton, a former Special Forces Officer- turned-entrepreneur. ‘When the whistle blows, the adrenaline starts and there’s certainly a bit of jeopardy cycling around trying to avoid each other.’ Something of an understatement, perhaps, when you con- sider that the towering contraptions have no brakes, gears or suspension and their wheels are made from solid rubber. We try to make it a non-contact sport, but that doesn’t always happen It was 2013 when Mr Laughton spotted a letter in the pages of COUNTRY LIFE proclaiming a resurgence of interest in the penny-farthing, a device that had begun to slide into insignificance with the advent of the ‘safety bicycle’ in the 1880s. ‘Penny- farthing racing had been a big thing, almost like football is today,’ he says. ‘Thousands of spectators would come to places such as Herne Hill to watch the cyclists of the day. It was extremely popular—and dangerous. Penny-farthings were not manufactured Racers would go hell for leather around the after 1893, but enthusiasts could still be track, but without helmets, which was seen as late as 1916 (left) and 1932 (top). crazy. It was a time when expressions such Above: A postage stamp depicts a high- as “breakneck speed” were born…’ wheeler and a later safety bike of 1884 The letter sparked an idea for Mr Laughton, who had played bicycle polo the Scotland team. ‘But they’re pretty Day-to-day, Mr Fox-Pitt’s foray into and has a penchant for the eccentric (last straightforward. It’s like riding a bicycle— penny-farthings is a little more sedate. year, he hosted the world’s highest black-tie just a bit less safe.’ By Mr Fox-Pitt’s own ‘When I go to London, I take my penny- dinner party near the summit of Mount admission, their appearance on England’s farthing on the sleeper train from Dunkeld,’ Everest). Thus, the Penny Farthing Club hallowed polo grounds is akin to the he explains. ‘There are a few eyebrows raised was born, open to anyone over 5ft 4in, ‘clowns coming on’. ‘People love it because when you come onto the platform, but it’s weighing less than about 15 stone and it’s unusual and there’s lots of shouting and a really graceful way of getting around London. in ‘good physical shape’. crashes. We write off one or two penny- You go at about half the speed of a normal ‘What I’ve found riding these things farthings each match—it’s a bone-breaker bike and so have plenty of time to react is that they really put a smile on people’s if you fall and we’ve had people hauled off to people. At red lights, you find yourself A penny-farthing faces,’ says 56-year-old Mr Laughton, who on stretchers,’ he says. In 2017, the battle holding onto a lamp post or putting your has a CV littered with Everest climbs and for the penny-farthing Calcutta Cup played hand on someone’s head to avoid getting off.’ polar expeditions. First on his agenda out in front of The Queen and Prince Philip For prospective members brave enough was challenging fellow adventurer David during Queen’s Cup finals day at Guards to scale the 48in-wheels, London can be seen for your thoughts Fox-Pitt to an annual England-vs-Scotland Polo Club. ‘The next day, a big article came from the same vantage point during the club’s polo match aboard the ‘pennies’. out in a newspaper all about the penny- three-hour training course. ‘The first time The dinosaur of the bicycle world is back in the spotlight with the help of the ‘I said yes before I bought the penny- farthing polo—and there was no mention I got on [at the new members’ course] this farthing and then I had to learn how to ride of the Queen’s Cup at all, so we’ll probably summer, I was terrified,’ remembers Miss Penny Farthing Club and its intrepid members, finds Madeleine Silver Getty the thing,’ says Mr Fox-Pitt, who captains never get invited back,’ he laughs. Eisdell. ‘Your arms completely seize up. www.countrylife.co.uk Country Life, November 20, 2019 55 But, within three hours, having ridden in Raising nearly £30,000 for Mary’s Meals, a circle around Smith Square, I was riding a charity that feeds disadvantaged children a penny-farthing down The Mall and I thought around the world, rewarded the pair for “how did I do that?”’ their 12-hour stints in the saddle—and any Once initiated, a calendar of Victorian suffering hasn’t curbed ambitions. ‘I’m a bit costume rides, polo and track and road races too old and grey for the penny-farthing awaits. ‘There’s a growing community of sprint races, but I have my eye on a new penny-farthing enthusiasts and the club record—the fastest flying mile on a penny- gets a request every week to join a festival farthing, with no hands,’ beams Mr or cycling event,’ reveals Mr Laughton. In Laughton. ‘We just want to have a bit of fun July this year, he entered The Penny Farthing and encourage people to try something Open Championships at the Eastbourne new. In London, even taxi drivers stop to Cycling Festival (where he took a tumble take photographs and, when that happens, in a 25mph collision) and, at the end of the you know you’re onto something a bit dif- summer, he and Mr Fox-Pitt embarked on ferent. The police love it, too—I make sure a trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats I doff my top hat to them—and I don’t aboard their pennies. ‘It was complete agony,’ think I’ve ever paid for a drink in a pub with confesses Mr Fox-Pitt. ‘Penny-farthings my penny-farthing [in tow].’ aren’t designed for hills and going from The Penny Farthing Club (07973 289552; Bude to Taunton almost finished us off.’ www.pennyfarthingclub.com) From the history books • Penny-farthings garnered their name from the largest and smallest It’s like riding coins of the day; the British penny (1d) and farthing (¼d) a horse–but one without • It was the first type of velocipede to be called a bicycle and was largely a temperament a luxury item for wealthy young men in urban areas • Although Frenchman Eugène Meyer is credited with being the first maker of the high bicycle in 1869, it was James Starley (right) who popularised the penny-farthing in England when he created the Ariel model, com- plete with the mounting step • Cyclists of the day—such as Yorkshireman Herbert Liddell Cortis, who became the first person to ride at 20mph on a penny-farthing in 1882—were considered dare- devils. The bike’s precarious centre of gravity meant that there was a high risk of going over the handlebars head first and breaking your neck • In 1885, James Starley’s nephew John Kemp Starley invented the Rover Safety Bicycle, which was faster and less dangerous. It meant that the penny-farthing trend was short-lived, but the device became a symbol of the Victorian era and was known as the ‘ordinary’ bicycle Alamy; Getty 56 Country Life, November 20, 2019 www.countrylife.co.uk.