Janus: Records of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club

University contains:
<-- See earlier
SOC.75	Records of the Cambridge University Explorers' and Travellers' Club
SOC.76	Records of the Cambridge University Ice Hockey Club
SOC.77	Records of the Cambridge University Jazz Club
SOC.78	Records of the Marlowe Dramatic Society
SOC.79	Records of the Cambridge University Victorian Society
SOC.80	Records of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club
SOC.81	Records of the Cambridge University Chess Club
SOC.82	Records of the Cambridge University Conservative Association
SOC.83	Records of the Cambridge University Gilbert and Sullivan Society
SOC.84	Records of the Cambridge University Guild of Change Ringers
SOC.85	Records of the Cambridge University Judo Club
See later -->

More information

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Records of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club

Title	Records of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club
Reference	GBR/0265/SOC.80 (former reference: Ms.Add.7628)
Creator	Cambridge University Bicycle Club
Covering Dates	1874–1959 (predominantly mid 1870s-mid 1890s)
Extent and Medium	1.5 metres; paper
Repository	Cambridge University Archives

Content and context

The club was founded in 1874 by a group of men, predominantly from Trinity College, to ''encourage proficiency in cycling''. Membership was limited to the university and many senior members were heavily involved in both the foundation of the club and its earliest committees. The club provided tuition to novices; information about the locality to facilitate excursions; a cycling path for use by novices and for times when the roads were impassable; and both storage and maintenance for members ''machines'' at an attended club house. Club activities centred on regular ''meets'' or excursions with rides setting off from both Cambridge and regional railway stations. The club also organised races, trials and matches against outside opponents, primarily Oxford and London Universities. The expenses of these activities were, in part, defrayed by the dividends of an investment in preference stocks. Additionally the club ran a subsidiary club known as the ''Long Vacation Bicycle Club'' which operated an excursion programme for the summer months. Members of note included the biologist Francis Maitland Balfour, zoologist Adam Sedgwick, physicist George Frederick Charles Searle, and politician Gerald William Balfour.

The club was wound up in 1937 but an organisation begun 1951, the Cambridge University Cycle Racing Club, was considered by some to be a refounding. The website of the Cambridge University Cycling Club (active at 2008) is to be found at http://www.srcf.ucam.org/cycling/.

The records were transferred to the University Archives from the Manuscripts Department on 12 November 2007. They had been presented by Mrs J.C. Sampson to the Manuscripts Department in March 1963 and had been give the classmark Ms.Add.7628.

Access and Use

Please cite as Cambridge University Archives, Records of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club, SOC.80

Further information

Further printed records are in the Rare Books Department, Cambridge University Library (classmark: Cambridge Papers J 2120).

Indexed

The online catalogue entry for Janus was completed in January 2008.

Index Terms

Cambridge University Bicycle Club

University/SOC.80 contains:

SOC.80.1

Minutes of committee and general meetings,1874-1907, with memorandum of early twentieth century club history, 1951.
4 volumes; paper.

1874–1951

SOC.80.2

Administrative records.
5 files, 3 bundles; paper.

1875–1959

SOC.80.3

Financial records.
1 volume, 11 files, 16 bundles; paper.

1874–1896

SOC.80.4

Register of members. The volume includes statistics on classes of membership 1877-83; lists of members under class headings 1874-82; and lists of members resigned or gone down 1881-3.
1 volume; paper.

1874–1883

SOC.80.5

Club activities records.
4 volumes, 6 pamphlets, 1 file, 13 posters; paper.

1874–1903

SOC.80.6

Newspaper articles and periodicals.
8 volumes, 3 items; paper.

1876–1959