George Lacy Hillier
George Lacy Hillier (born June 6, 1856 in Sydenham , † February 11, 1941 in London ) was an English cyclist and pioneer of British cycling.
In 1874, George Lacy Hillier, who was an excellent all-round athlete, made his first attempts at driving a penny farthing . Although he had a bad fall on one of his first trips, he didn't give up, but bought a better bike with which he went on longer tours. In the same year he was one of the co-founders of the Chichester and District Cycle Club , of which he was also president. He became a member of other sports clubs and was racing secretary of the London County Cycling and Athletic Club . As such he initiated the construction of the Herne Hill Velodrome in 1891 in south London .
In 1881 Hillier became national cycling champion over various distances. In 1885 he traveled to Leipzig , where he beat German champion Johannes Pundt in a scratch race over ten kilometers and set a new record over this distance. The spectators were electrified as Hillier, Pundt and other riders competed against each other, the best cyclists of the time. Hillier received a cassette with silver cutlery and a gold-plated medal.
George Lacy Hillier authored several highly regarded books, including The Art of Cycle Racing in 1888 in English, German and French, all language versions in the same edition. The foreword was written by the editor THS Walker , an Englishman living in Berlin who is considered the founding father of cycling in Germany. In 1891 Hillier and William Coutts Keppel, Viscount Bury, who later became the 7th Earl of Albemarle , presented the 500-page book Cycling .
Hillier later continued to work as a writer and journalist and on the London Stock Exchange , like his father before him. His grave is in London at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery .
Fonts
- The Art of Ease in Cycling - The Art of Training for Cycling Competitions , with THS Walker, Berlin 1888
- Cycling , The Badminton Library, London 1891, with William Coutts Keppel, Viscount Bury
- Cycles - Past and Present , Edinburgh 1892
- All about Cycling , London 1896
- Wrinkles for Cyclists , London 1898
Web links
- George Lacy Hillier on gracesguide.co.uk
- Via George Lacy Hillier on the Friends of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries website
Individual evidence
- ^ The Bicycling Times , February 7, 1878
- ^ Badminton Library Cycling , 189, p. 98
- ↑ Der Velocipedsport , 1895. The newspaper gave Hillier's name as George Lazy (!) Hillier .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hillier, George Lacy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British cyclist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 6, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sydenham |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 1941 |
| Place of death | London |