{"id":165128,"date":"2018-06-01T11:31:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T11:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=165128"},"modified":"2018-06-07T20:22:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T20:22:42","slug":"in-memory-of-lillias-campbell-davidson-founder-of-the-first-womens-cycling-organisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/06\/01\/in-memory-of-lillias-campbell-davidson-founder-of-the-first-womens-cycling-organisation\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memory of Lillias Campbell Davidson \u2013 Founder of the First Women\u2019s Cycling Organisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2018 the New York Times published a belated obituary for Lillias Campbell Davidson, heralding that she would be \u201cno more overlooked\u201d by history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a year that also marks 100 years of women\u2019s suffrage, Campbell Davidson has been heralded for encouraging women to cycle, at a moment in time when they were told they were \u201cby nature physically unfit\u201d to do so. In the 1800s, women were limited in their ability to travel alone, but the bicycle was a route to independence and freedom like never before. It is much the reason it became a tool for the suffragettes themselves.<\/p>\n

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Lillias Campbell Davidson was one woman who took cycling beyond her own enjoyment and purpose, and yet exists as a mere footnote in history. A writer by trade, and living in New York, she began to cycle in her late twenties and quickly became an expert as well as an advocate despite local disapproval.<\/p>\n

It was not long before she was advocating women\u2019s cycling in columns for the Scottish Cyclist and the Cyclists\u2019 Touring Club Gazette. It was in 1892, now living in the UK, that she founded the Lady Cyclists\u2019 Association, the first cycling organisation for women, 12 years after the admission of the first woman into the Bicycle Touring Club. It was expressly for women, and was set up to provide rides, tours and social gatherings for women cyclists.<\/p>\n

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\"41-things-women-riders-forbidden-1895\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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41 Things That Women Riders Were Forbidden to Do in 1895<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

Serving as its president for the next five years, she saw it as \u201ca new world of enjoyment, unlocked to the woman who finds herself a-wheel.\u201d Campbell Davidson\u2019s reasons for advocating cycling were not merely political gain, independence and the emancipation of women, however, although these were significant, citing the cramped indoor lives of women to date.<\/p>\n

She very much approved of it for its feel-good factor as well, acknowledging the wellbeing benefits of the exercise it promoted. She is quoted as heralding \u201cthe feeling of active movement, of the power of free locomotion, the thrill of healthful exertion, and the bounding of the pulses.\u201d<\/p>\n