Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Christchurch Cycling Craze #8 - Woman With A (Cycling) Cause


Unidentified "Lady" Cyclist, Lancaster Park, Christchurch, circa 1896
Lantern slide, probably by A E Preece, Pioneer Amateur Sports Club, Canterbury Public Libraries

Resplendent in her "rational dress" this unidentified woman cyclist looks the photographer dead in the eye with a determination to meet whatever lies up ahead on the Lancaster Park cycling track and in wider society.

By 1896, in the short few years since their formation, the Atalantan Ladies' Cycling Club and the wider suffragist movement had made it possible for this young woman to compete in race events and increasingly ride in safety on city streets.

Indeed, she had probably contributed her own considerable share to the cause.

The rest, as they say, is history...

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