Early Cycling Club Cap Badges – Part 1

Cycling clubs have been around since the earliest days of cycling. In the days of the Ordinary, or penny-farthing bicycle, it was common for clubs to wear a uniform. For instance, the Anfield Bicycle Club rules of 1882 stated that ‘the uniform be Black Patrol Jacket, Breeches, and Hose, Black Huntsman’s Cap, with Silver Monogram…’ The silver monogram was usually attached to the front of the cap. Each of the clubs had their own cap or lapel badge to identify their members, and the Captain, Sub-Captain, Secretary and other officials commonly had their attachments to distinguish them.

By the peak of the cycling boom in 1896/7 there were many hundreds of clubs, ranging from City, town and village clubs, to those of companies, schools and universities. Religious and other specialist groups such as the Vegetarian Cycling and Athletic Club, and political leaning groups such as the Clarion C.C. are other examples. To give an idea of the numbers, there were 30 cycling clubs in Newcastle alone, and 38 in Birmingham, whilst several hundred were listed for the London metropolitan area, in ‘The Cyclist’ 1890 Xmas number.

After it’s peak, cycling lost a huge proportion of these clubs. Some amalgamated to survive the decline in interest in the past time, whilst many others were lost entirely to history. In many cases little remains of that history except for the cap badges they used to wear, and these are by no means common. With their significance obscure, I am sure that the majority were melted down to recycle the silver.

Most of the badges above date from the 1890’s and early 1900’s, and the majority are of solid silver, often with coloured enamel inlay. Judging from the markings on them, it seems that the insignia makers Vaughton and Sons of Birmingham almost had a monopoly on the production of these items. Pleasingly, the company, formed in 1819, is still in existence, and continues to make badges, Regrettably though, they have no archive of the designs from that period.

Identifying cap badges is a bit of a minefield. Whilst the winged wheel is a common motif, and easily identifies the ‘CC’ as a Cycling Club, others are more difficult to prove. Of course ‘CC’ can also mean ‘Cricket Club’! In the early days, cap badges were often a simple intertwined monogram which today is difficult to decipher, and could mean all manner of things. In the 1880’s many clubs were ‘BC’, standing for Bicycle Club. Sometimes they are ‘RC’ for Road Club, or ‘AC’ for Athletic and Cycling (also can be just Athletic Club!)

This post is the first in a series of articles about cycling club cap badges. In the next post I will discuss some of my favourite badges.