Call for statue of bicycle inventor in Coventry

[dutchman]

A tribute has been left at the grave of JK Starley as cyclists across the world remembered the Coventry inventor on his birthday.

Flowers and a card were placed in London Road cemetery where Starley lies beside his wife, Abigail, and cyclists worldwide paid tribute to the inventor online.

The Bicycle Association of Great Britain left the note, reading: “Thanks for introducing the world to the Rover Safety bicycle. Love. Cyclists everywhere.”

Phillip Darnton, executive director of the association, said: “His Rover Safety revolutionised not just the bicycle but the world.

“The billions of bicycles made since 1885 can trace their ancestry back to that original ground-breaking machine, tested on the famous flat stretch of London Road on the outskirts of Coventry.”

Born in 1854, John Kemp Starley is widely considered the inventor of the modern bicycle - and also the originator of the brand Rover.

He came to Coventry, aged 18, to work with his uncle, James Starley, who invented the differential gear, earning him the title “father of the bicycle industry”.

A memorial to James Starley, erected in 1884, still stands in Warwick Row, Greyfriars Green.

After years of working with his uncle and following in his footsteps, JK Starley made history in 1885 when he produced the Rover Safety Bicycle, a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven bicycle with two similar-sized wheels.

It was more stable than previous designs and is credited with being the first modern bicycle, exported across the world.

Online tributes on the anniversary of Starley’s birthday, last Friday, came from cyclists around the globe, including the League of American Bicyclists, Bicycling Australia and MPs on the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.

Kevin Mayne, development director of the European Cyclists’ Federation and former director of cycling charity CTC, said: “It is entirely appropriate that 2012 is the year we revisit Starley’s legacy because this is the year that the United Nations installed a Kenyan slum dweller’s bicycle in the lobby of the United Nations building as a symbol of sustainable development.

“In the developing world Starley’s simple design is a symbol of life, hope and economic potential, just as it has always been.

“We should never forget that.”

Starley’s creation led to a cycling boom in the 1890s and became the archetype for almost all of today’s bicycles.

Starley died in 1901, at 46, and soon after the Rover company began building motorcycles and cars.

[Melisandre]

[dutchman]

Good find Melisandre but the author appears to have confused the birthplace of London-born J.K. Starley with his Sussex-born uncle, James Starley.

[dutchman]

Campaigners are calling for a statue of the inventor of the modern bicycle for City of Culture 2021



The Coventry Society has renewed its call of four years ago for a monument to John Kemp Starley.

The society’s Paul Maddocks has suggested the statue could be placed outside the revamped Coventry train station.

John Kemp Starley was the nephew of the much celebrated pioneering cycle industrialist James Starley – who is remembered with a memorial in the city.

But John is lesser known, despite inventing the modern bicycle as we know it.

The campaign call of 2014 came to nothing and has now been resurrected after Coventry landed the coveted UK City of Culture status.

The Coventry Society has updated its proposal and created a graphic novel/comic out of John’s story, calling it the ‘Forgotten Man’.

Vice-chairman Paul Maddocks said: “Coventry is looking forward to the City of Culture in 2021 and it will be an ideal opportunity to let the world know that Coventry was once known as the cycle capital of the world.

“The modern safety cycle was invented here. But not many know who invented it – as there is no monument to him.

“It would be great if a statue near to the railway station was erected in the new developments.

“So when visitors and student come to this city from all around the world they will get to know Coventry’s link with cycling history.”

John, born in 1854, is credited with creating the ‘modern safety cycle’ in his Coventry factory – a model which has been emulated and replicated all over the world.

In 1876 John opened his own cycle company with William Sutton – the Starley and Sutton Meteor Works in West Orchards, Coventry.

His uncle James Starley became known as the ‘Father of the Cycle Industry’ after he invented the penny-farthing in London.

But after criticism of the cycle as dangerous, it was John who modernised the idea and made it safe for widespread use.

He reached his final design in 1888 – one which would become the blueprint for all modern cycles, the “Rover Safety Cycle”.

After his idea gained him a small fortune, he died in 1901 at the age of 46 and was buried in London Road Cemetery, London Road, Coventry.

His company continued to grow and started making cars in 1904.

Production of Rover Cars continued until the end of the marque in 2005.