Image ID: 08159

Cyclist with a safety bicycle - in a garden to the rear of Harrison's premises

Carter Gate
Newark on Trent
England

The diamond frame safety bicycle was made c 1890 with 'spoon' type front brakes, paraffin oil front lamp on sprung bracket, 1 inch pitch chain, footrests on front forks for freewheeling down hill. The photographer of this picture was William Percy Lowe Harrison. Mr Harrison became one of Newark's first motor enthusiasts and having been bitten by the automobile bug began to devote much of his spare time to developing this interest. By 1903-4 he had expanded his electrical engineering business on Cartergate into one of Newark's first motor garages becoming an agent for the Glasgow-based Argyll Motor Co Ltd. He also sold bicycles, forecars and continental models of motor car. He was also a keen amateur photographer and during the early 1900s took many fascinating photographs of the vehicles which he sold through his garage. Harrison would have been at the cutting edge of the technology of his time, and his photographs of his shops and vehicles give us a rare insight into Edwardian innovations in transport and the application of science to everyday life. To see more of his pictures, use the 'further search' option on the search page, then look on the drop-down list of 'photographers' under 'Harrison, W P L'.

Date: 1890

Organisation Reference: NCCE001966

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