Leonard Meredith
Encyclopedia
Leonard "Leon" Lewis Meredith (2 February 1882 – 27 January 1930) was a British track
and road racing cyclist
who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics
, in the 1912 Summer Olympics
, and in the 1920 Summer Olympics
. He won seven world championships and set up one of Britain's largest cycle-parts companies and ran a roller-skating rink and ballroom.
. Sources give his name at birth as Lewis Leon Meredith. However, reports in the cycling press refer to him as Leon Lewis Meredith, and friends called him Jack.
He was a mild-looking, bespectacled man who parted his hair in the centre. Cycling said:
He was born in central London. He became interested in cycling in 1901 and made his first long ride, from London to Brighton
, 80 km on badly surfaced roads. On the way he met riders from Paddington Cycling Club, neighbours in the region of London where he lived, and agreed to ride with them provided they didn't go too fast. It was Meredith, however, who set the pace and the other riders asked him to join their club. He rode his first race in the Finchley Harriers meeting on the track at Kensal Green, in north London, winning the one-mile handicap. By the end of the season he was the national tandem-paced champion over 50 miles (80 km). He finished 17 seconds outside the record and was cheered off the track.
Meredith worked for his uncle, William Boyer, a builder with a wharf on the canal in Praed Street, Paddington. Meredith cycled all over London visiting his uncle's building sites. When Meredith showed talent at racing, his uncle subsidised him. That meant he could have a full-time trainer, a masseur and that he could travel across Europe to meet the best opposition.
in London in 1904, beating the nine starters - four of them British - in the 100 km motor-paced event. He set off straight into the lead, passing five kilometres in 4m 49, 10 km in 9m 20s, 20 km in 18m 31s, and 30 km in 27m 30s. By then he was leading by five laps. He completed 50 km in 45m 15s and 80 km in 1h 15m 5s. Then his pacing motorcycle broke down and Meredith hit the track's banking and fell. He rolled across the track, turning somersaults. He got back to his feet, blood running, shouted for another bike and another pacer and finished the race 7m 19s faster than the world amateur record.
He became an Olympic gold medallist in the 1908 Games, also held in London, on the 660-yard track at White City
. He rode in the team pursuit with Ernie Payne, Ben Jones and Clarence Kingsbury. It was the first time the event had been held in the Olympic Games. In the tandem race he was eliminated in the semi-final. He reached the final of the 20 km race but did not finish.
He was part of the team which won the silver medal in the Team road race. In the individual road race
he finished fourth.
Eight years later he participated in the individual road race
, finishing 18th.
He won seven motor world motor-paced
championships, in London in 1904, Antwerp in 1905, Paris in 1907, Leipzig
in 1908, Copenhagen
in 1909, Rome in 1911 and Berlin in 1913.
The world track champion, Bill Bailey, said of him:
And of the world championship in Copenhagen, he said:
and turning between Newbury
and Hungerford
. He finished in 4h 52m 52s and won a gold medal put up by the magazine Cycling. The Rover bicycle on which he rode was put on display in the Gamages
department store in central London. The cycling administrator and journalist Frederick Bidlake called Meredith's ride "rather fortunate when he went for the Cycling medal to get the out-and-home '100' inside five hours at his first essay, when all the other triers were finding trouble. His record was beaten by Frederick Grubb
later that year with 4h 50m 49s.
In 1916, he had built enough of a fortune from the cycle industry (see below) that the British Olympic Association
ruled that he should get no expenses should he be picked for the Olympic Games. The formal reason given was that he was too old and not worthy of public support. The war ended both his career and the 1916 Olympic Games.
Meredith's last races were in 1924, 22 years after he had started, when he tried to break long-distance records.
Among the trophies he won was the Penrose Cup, large enough to hold eight UK gallons. Friends joked he should fill it with beer and drain it. But Meredith was teetotal and a non-smoker.
Meredith enjoyed skating and found that one of his teachers, a man called Bain, was brother of Joseph Bain who ran the Constrictor Tyre Company, in Nursery Lane, Forest Gate
, a suburb of London. Meredith was asked for financial advice and invested £100. He soon replaced the managing director, who had invented the Constrictor tyre. He began importing more cycling parts and buying Bastide bicycles from France and hubs from BSA
. He branded them all Constrictor. By then he owned a roller-skating rink in the Porchester Hall, off Queensway, London, and advertised it by breaking the national one-mile record at Holland Park rink and the five-mile record on the Maida Vale rink.
He then opened another in the Broadway, Cricklewood
, north London, He ran it with Bill Skuse, one of his pacers on the track. Encouraged by that, he bought a dance hall. He later planned a sporting club beside the Thames at Twickenham
.
Constrictor was a pioneer in alloy cycle equipment and made a novel alloy rim called the Conloy. The firm outlasted Meredith's death but foundered at the end of the 1960s in a national decline of the cycle trade and in face of rising imports.
, an alderman
of Middlesex County Council
and a magistrate. He was later knighted. Their daughter, Leonie, was named after Leon.
Meredith died six days before his 48th birthday while on a skiing holiday in Davos
, Switzerland, of a heart attack. His ashes were interred at Willesden cemetery. Wreaths came from around Britain and from France and Belgium, some in the shape of bicycles.
Cissie died in a nursing home five years later.
Track cycling
Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using track bicycles....
and road racing cyclist
Road bicycle racing
Road bicycle racing is a bicycle racing sport held on roads, using racing bicycles. The term "road racing" is usually applied to events where competing riders start simultaneously with the winner being the first to the line at the end of the course .Historically, the most...
who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics
1908 Summer Olympics
The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games...
, in the 1912 Summer Olympics
1912 Summer Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...
, and in the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
. He won seven world championships and set up one of Britain's largest cycle-parts companies and ran a roller-skating rink and ballroom.
Background
Meredith was born in St Pancras, LondonSt Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...
. Sources give his name at birth as Lewis Leon Meredith. However, reports in the cycling press refer to him as Leon Lewis Meredith, and friends called him Jack.
He was a mild-looking, bespectacled man who parted his hair in the centre. Cycling said:
There was something Clark KentClark KentClark Kent is a fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, he debuted in Action Comics #1 and serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
, the children's comic-book hero, in the make-up of Edwardian cyclist Meredith. Like Clark Kent he presented a mild, shy, bespectacled image off the bike, but once on the bike he became SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, beating all and sundry in a devastating manner.
He was born in central London. He became interested in cycling in 1901 and made his first long ride, from London to Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, 80 km on badly surfaced roads. On the way he met riders from Paddington Cycling Club, neighbours in the region of London where he lived, and agreed to ride with them provided they didn't go too fast. It was Meredith, however, who set the pace and the other riders asked him to join their club. He rode his first race in the Finchley Harriers meeting on the track at Kensal Green, in north London, winning the one-mile handicap. By the end of the season he was the national tandem-paced champion over 50 miles (80 km). He finished 17 seconds outside the record and was cheered off the track.
Meredith worked for his uncle, William Boyer, a builder with a wharf on the canal in Praed Street, Paddington. Meredith cycled all over London visiting his uncle's building sites. When Meredith showed talent at racing, his uncle subsidised him. That meant he could have a full-time trainer, a masseur and that he could travel across Europe to meet the best opposition.
International career
Meredith won his first world championship at Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace National Sports Centre
The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace, in the former parkland and also usurping part of the former grand prix circuit.It was...
in London in 1904, beating the nine starters - four of them British - in the 100 km motor-paced event. He set off straight into the lead, passing five kilometres in 4m 49, 10 km in 9m 20s, 20 km in 18m 31s, and 30 km in 27m 30s. By then he was leading by five laps. He completed 50 km in 45m 15s and 80 km in 1h 15m 5s. Then his pacing motorcycle broke down and Meredith hit the track's banking and fell. He rolled across the track, turning somersaults. He got back to his feet, blood running, shouted for another bike and another pacer and finished the race 7m 19s faster than the world amateur record.
He became an Olympic gold medallist in the 1908 Games, also held in London, on the 660-yard track at White City
White City Stadium
White City Stadium was built in White City, London, for the 1908 Summer Olympics, often seen as the precursor to the modern seater stadium and noted for hosting the finish of the first modern distance marathon. It also hosted speedway and a match at the 1966 World Cup, before the stadium was...
. He rode in the team pursuit with Ernie Payne, Ben Jones and Clarence Kingsbury. It was the first time the event had been held in the Olympic Games. In the tandem race he was eliminated in the semi-final. He reached the final of the 20 km race but did not finish.
He was part of the team which won the silver medal in the Team road race. In the individual road race
Cycling at the 1912 Summer Olympics - Men's individual time trial
The men's individual time trial was a road bicycle racing event held as part of the cycling at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the first appearance of the event. The competition was held on Sunday July 7, 1912...
he finished fourth.
Eight years later he participated in the individual road race
Cycling at the 1920 Summer Olympics
The cycling competitions at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp consisted of two road racing events and four track racing events, all for men only. The 50 km track event was held for the first time at these Games.-Road cycling:-Track cycling:...
, finishing 18th.
He won seven motor world motor-paced
Motor-paced racing
Motor-paced racing and motor-paced cycling refer to cycling behind a pacer in a car or more usually on a motorcycle. The cyclist follows as close as he can to profit from the slipstream of his pacer. The first paced races were behind other cyclists, sometimes as many as five riders on the same...
championships, in London in 1904, Antwerp in 1905, Paris in 1907, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in 1908, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1909, Rome in 1911 and Berlin in 1913.
The world track champion, Bill Bailey, said of him:
He was one of the most versatile riders I ever saw, winning races from a quarter-mile to six hours. Usually when thinking of motor-paced riders, we regard them as specialists who, once they have adopted the little front wheel, reversed forks and big gears are somehow never able to show good form in normal competition. Meredith was an exception. He mixed his racing most successfully and, in 1910, when he had already been world champion five times, astounded the cycling world by becoming the first rider ever to beat five hours for an unpaced out-and-home 100 [miles] on the road.
And of the world championship in Copenhagen, he said:
The championships were at Ordrup track, and we were staying at CharlottenlundCharlottenlundCharlottenlund is a minor palace near Copenhagen in Denmark. In its original baroque form it was built between 1731 and 1733 on the foundations of a palace named Gyldenlund. The palace was named after Charlotte Amalie, the daughter of Frederick IV of Denmark and the sister of Christian VI of...
by the sea, and had to walk a mile or so through the forest to get to the track. We could speak no Danish and the staff at the small pension where we were staying spoke no English. But on the day of the championships, just as we were leaving for the track, they lined up and made it known that they wanted 'tips'. We were annoyed at this, since we were not leaving for several days. Not until later did we realise the tips they wanted concerned the bike races, for the Totalisator was already a feature of Danish racing.
Domestic career
Meredith was the first rider to beat five hours for a 100-mile time trial, held out-and-home. He did it on the Bath road out of London, starting in HounslowHounslow
Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...
and turning between Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...
and Hungerford
Hungerford
Hungerford is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 9 miles west of Newbury. It covers an area of and, according to the 2001 census, has a population of 5,559 .- Geography :...
. He finished in 4h 52m 52s and won a gold medal put up by the magazine Cycling. The Rover bicycle on which he rode was put on display in the Gamages
Gamages
Gamages was a department store in Central London. It began in 1878 in a rented watch repair shop and, after quickly becoming a success amongst its customers, was established as a London institution. In time it was to grow large enough to take up most of the block on which it was situated...
department store in central London. The cycling administrator and journalist Frederick Bidlake called Meredith's ride "rather fortunate when he went for the Cycling medal to get the out-and-home '100' inside five hours at his first essay, when all the other triers were finding trouble. His record was beaten by Frederick Grubb
Frederick Grubb
Frederick "Freddie" Henry Grubb was a British road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He won silver medals in the individual road race and the team road race. In 1914, after he retired from racing, he established a bicycle manufacturing business in Brixton, London...
later that year with 4h 50m 49s.
In 1916, he had built enough of a fortune from the cycle industry (see below) that the British Olympic Association
British Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association is the national Olympic committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1905 in the House of Commons, and at that time consisted of seven national governing body members from the following sports: fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing,...
ruled that he should get no expenses should he be picked for the Olympic Games. The formal reason given was that he was too old and not worthy of public support. The war ended both his career and the 1916 Olympic Games.
Meredith's last races were in 1924, 22 years after he had started, when he tried to break long-distance records.
Among the trophies he won was the Penrose Cup, large enough to hold eight UK gallons. Friends joked he should fill it with beer and drain it. But Meredith was teetotal and a non-smoker.
Business career
In 1912 Meredith acquired the rights to a patent for a racing tyre. It was unusual that whereas other racing tyres were tubular and sewn together at the base, Meredith's tyre was sewn with diagonal threads that made the inner tube accessible at the base of the tyre.Meredith enjoyed skating and found that one of his teachers, a man called Bain, was brother of Joseph Bain who ran the Constrictor Tyre Company, in Nursery Lane, Forest Gate
Forest Gate
Forest Gate is a residential area in the London Borough of Newham, 7 miles northeast of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Manor Park to the east and and to the west lies Stratford town centre. The northern half of the busy Green Street runs through it.-History:...
, a suburb of London. Meredith was asked for financial advice and invested £100. He soon replaced the managing director, who had invented the Constrictor tyre. He began importing more cycling parts and buying Bastide bicycles from France and hubs from BSA
BSA
-Organizations:* Baltimore School for the Arts* Bank Secrecy Act* Bearing Specialists Association* Belarusian Socialist Assembly* Bhutan Scouts Association* Bibliographical Society of America* Birmingham School of Acting...
. He branded them all Constrictor. By then he owned a roller-skating rink in the Porchester Hall, off Queensway, London, and advertised it by breaking the national one-mile record at Holland Park rink and the five-mile record on the Maida Vale rink.
He then opened another in the Broadway, Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, north London, He ran it with Bill Skuse, one of his pacers on the track. Encouraged by that, he bought a dance hall. He later planned a sporting club beside the Thames at Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
.
Constrictor was a pioneer in alloy cycle equipment and made a novel alloy rim called the Conloy. The firm outlasted Meredith's death but foundered at the end of the 1960s in a national decline of the cycle trade and in face of rising imports.
Marriage and death
Meredith married Cissie Parkham in 1914. Her father Charles was Member of Parliament for WillesdenWillesden
Willesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
, an alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
of Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London...
and a magistrate. He was later knighted. Their daughter, Leonie, was named after Leon.
Meredith died six days before his 48th birthday while on a skiing holiday in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
, Switzerland, of a heart attack. His ashes were interred at Willesden cemetery. Wreaths came from around Britain and from France and Belgium, some in the shape of bicycles.
Cissie died in a nursing home five years later.