Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond was born in 1829 in Boston. He moved to Gainsborough in 1843 with his mother and father living on a houseboat on the River Trent.
His father, James, bought land on Beaumont Street, built a home there and started a coach-building business. As Richard had been learning this trade, he joined his father in the business.
It’s believed that it was here in January 1868 that he made the first British crank and pedal bicycle called the Velocipede.
He was designing a three-wheeled bicycle in the early 1860s and then abandoned this when he heard about Pierre Michaux (another coach builder) who had designed a two-wheeled bicycle using cranks and pedals.
Richard copied the design from a publication called ‘English Mechanic’ and in a month had made the Velocipede.
The bicycle is described as:
Made of iron, with 3 feet diameter wheels with a rim of 1.25 and 0.25 inches, spokes 5/16 of an inch diameter and a weight of 42 pounds.
Richard rode his bicycle around Gainsborough, and it’s believed 100 people came to his workshop to see it.
In 1869 he rode the Velocipede to Boston, starting at 7 a.m. and arriving in the evening. He then took part in a bicycle race coming second.
He followed Velocipede in 1872 with a tandem bicycle.
This was followed by a second Velcopiede, which had wooden wheels, and a steel frame, and weighed 25 pounds.
Having lost his father and mother, both in 1878, it appears Richard was now running the business. Sometime in 1881, Richard sold the land his business was on to Marshall Sons & Co. Ltd and moved into Crow Garth premises in the same year.
By 1901 this premises is renumbered as 2, Cobden Street.
Richard died on August 24th, 1901, he was 72 years old. It appears he didn’t make much money from his bicycle business.
His wife, Mary Sarah carried on the business until the early 20th century, until it closed. She moves to Retford with their children.
Paul Kemp has written a booklet about Richard Hammond and his work. It’s available from the Gainsborough Heritage Centre.
