The Edworthy family cycling archive is a fascinating collection of photographs, newspaper articles, company letterheads and business cards relating to a small, but well known family firm, the Edworthy Cycle & Motor Works, involved for about 80 years in bicycle building, selling, racing and racing promotion in Sydney. Most significant of all was the development of the Edworthy spring frame bicycle by Silas Edworthy in 1934, of which only eight were made and one purchased by the Museum in 2004. Two curious 'springs' added to the bicycle were intended to mitigate vibration that could lead to stress failure of the frame. It is a rare and interesting attempt at improving bicycle design at the height of its popularity in the 1930s when all families owned at least one bicycle, thousands cycled to work and cycling clubs thrived. Three generations of the Edworthy family were involved in bicycle manufacture, sales and repairs until the 1980s at Rozelle, Leichhardt, Lidcombe and Guildford. The archival material was collected and researched by a grandson of Silas Edworthy, Kenneth Mervyn Edworthy, and is a rare surviving record of a local family-owned bicycle manufacturer during a large part of the 20th century.
Margaret Simpson, 2006
Edward Edworthy (c.1858-1940)
The Edworthy archive begins with Edward Edworthy, born c. 1858 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of James Edworthy, a mechanic, and Sarah Vickery. Edward worked his passage to Australia as a marine engineer arriving in Sydney in 1882. Edward initially lived at Pyrmont and worked in an engineering factory. On 11 February 1885 at St Bartholomew's Church of England, Sydney, he married Mary Louisa Jane (Polly) Higgans the Ballarat-born daughter of John Tremayne Higgans, a smelter, and Jane Delbridge.
Edward and Polly had nine children, Edward John (Jack) Tremayne Edworthy born 1885, registered in Sydney; Mary Levania Edworthy, born 1887, registered in Sydney; Silas Edworthy, born 1889, registered in Lithgow; Charlotte (Lotte) Edworthy born 1892, registered in Ashfield; Bertha Edworthy born and died 1894, registered in Ashfield; Clara Grace Edworthy, born 1896 and registered in Ashfield; Ruby May Edworthy born 1900 and registered in Newtown; Nellie Pearl Edworthy born 1902 , registered Newtown; and William James Vickery Edworthy born 1905, registered in Balmain South.
In 1888 Edward Edworthy joined the NSW Railways (Engineers' Branch) and worked as a fitter at the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. He was later posted to Lithgow in 1889 overseeing railway bridge construction. In Lithgow Edward was a foundation member of the Workmen's Club, as well as the first Masonic Lodge formed in Lithgow. He remained a member for over 50 years and was also in the Druids order. Edward stayed with the Railways until 1895 and the following year opened his first bicycle shop at 97 Western Road, Rozelle, thereby commencing the long history of the Edworthy Cycle & Motor Works in Sydney. This store was used until 1917.
Edward and his two eldest sons, Jack and Silas Edworthy, were also interested in motorcycles and early on realized their potential. They added a single cylinder Minerva engine to a modified bicycle in 1896 which was said to have been only the third motor cycle in Sydney. However, only three motorcycles were built between 1896 and 1906 and the Edworthys concentrated on and continued with the manufacture of racing and road bicycles which were very popular at the time.
In 1900 Edward gained his Certificate of Competency as a Second Class Engineer in the Merchant Marine Service. However the following year he had another career change and registered with the newly-formed Dental Board on 12 March 1901, (Registration number 361). Information on the Dental Board Register indicated that Edward was in fact a practicing dentist before the Dentists Act, No. 45 of 1900 had been passed. Perhaps he developed an expertise for pulling teeth while at sea. At about this time the family was living at "Bronte", Terry Street, Rozelle, between Claremont and Elliott Streets.
Edward left his two sons Jack and Silas to look after the bicycle shop in Rozelle and opened a dental surgery at 111 King Street Newtown. (Edward's youngest son, William, also built his own Edworthy cycles later from a shop on Parramatta Road, Granville during the 1940s and 1950s.) Edward Edworthy was in business as a dentist until 1928 when he sold his practice and bought a motor garage. This became 'Grassmere' Garage, at Woodville Road, Guildford, to which a large portion of land was attached and a residence built. Edward Edworthy died in 1940 at the age of 84.
Silas Edworthy (1889-1963)
Silas Edworthy was Edward and Polly Edworthy's second eldest son, born while the family lived in Lithgow in 1889. He initially worked in the laboratory section of Elliott Brothers Limited, wholesale druggists, at Rozelle, from about 1903 until June 1905. He was keenly interested in cycling and from about 1906 built bicycles and repaired motorcycles. He also competed in numerous cycling races and won a number of medals between 1909 and 1910. At the age of 21 Silas was the 1911 NSW State Road Racing champion and in that year married Gladys Adams, daughter of George Thomas Adams the well-known cake manufacturer, and Emily Cartwright. They were married on 3 May, 1911, at Christ Church, Enmore, and produced ten children all born at Petersham, including seven boys most of whom took up riding their father's bicycles. The children were Sidney Silas Edworthy was born in 1911; Iver Edward Edworthy born in 1913; Athol William George Edworthy born in 1914; Daphne Ruth May Edworthy b. 1916; Lionel Keith Edworthy b. 1918; Mervyn Llewellyn Edworthy born 6 May 1921; Joyce Vallencia Edworthy b. 1926; Lawrence Albert Edworthy b. 1928; Kenneth Bruce Edworthy b. 1930 and June Dawn Edworthy b. 1935. Tragically, Silas' wife, Gladys, died on 2 June 1939, only four years after the birth of their youngest child.
The Edworthy boys were keen on cycling and several won numerous road and track racing events and competed in the Goulburn to Sydney race in the 1920s and 1930s. Mervyn won a championship Melbourne track race in the late 1930s and raced for the Petersham club prior to joining the Army. Ivor and Athol rode in and won may track and road racing events for the Marrickville and Lidcome clubs under the NSW Cyclists' Union. Athol is featured in Jack Hepher and John Drummond's book Goulburn to Sydney 1902-1992, 90 years of a cycling Classic. One of Silas' sisters, Mary Levania Edworthy, had a daughter, Joyce Beryl Barry, who went on to become a famous Australian cyclist. She held numerous long distance road records including Sydney to Melbourne, Newcastle to Sydney, Brisbane to Rockhampton and Orange to Sydney during the 1930s as well as the national quarter-mile flying start track record. She was sponsored by the famous bicycle manufacturer, MalvernStar, and was referred to in the press as 'Miss Oppy'.
By 1917 Silas Edworthy had moved into another shop at 576 Parramatta Road, Petersham. The building remains today at the top of Taverns Hill. A large two storey corner block building at 625-631 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt, was another store probably with an upstairs residence. This building features "1918 EE" in a shield standing for Edward Edworthy. Business was booming so in the early 1920s Silas opened another shop at 60-60a Joseph Street, Lidcombe, which was later managed by his son, Lionel. This was advantageously located opposite the finish of the famous Goulburn to Sydney bicycle endurance race which was undertaken by many famous riders including Sir Hubert Opperman (Oppy). The single-storey brick shop features the letter 'E" in the parapet.
Many well-known riders of the 20s and 30s, such as Frank Andrews, Bob Porter, Fred McMartin, Joe Phillips and Jack Hagney, rode to victory on Edworthy racing bicycles. The Edworthy firm were also agents for numerous motorcycle firms including Harley Davidson, Indian, AJS, Sunbeam and BSA. They diversified further by hiring cars, motorcycles, bicycles and even building and repairing trotting sulkies and invalid's chairs to order. They sold various cycling spares and accessories including bells, pumps, coaster hubs, transfers, axles, mudguards, chain adjusters, "bags" for lunch, cycle covers, carbide gas lamps, trouser bands, and goggles. Children's bicycles and tricycles were made with cushion tyres, rubber grips and spring saddles. Another line was delivery bicycles and one built with a steel box carrier at the front was called the 'Edworthy slick delivery wagon' while a tricycle with a large carrier box between the two front wheels was marketed as the 'Edworthy Express Wagon'. The company also fitted pram and scooter tyres and restored and repaired bicycles with brazing, nickel plating, enameling, bar bending and wheel building. For the motorist magnetos and car batteries were rectified.
Edworthy bicycles were all hand made with bronze welded frames brazed together using town coal gas mixed with air produced from an old blacksmith's bellows. The frames were hand sprayed with enamel paint, and the fancy scrollwork was done by hand. After the artwork was completed it was 'baked on'. An advertisement dated 22 March 1934 stated that Edworthy cycles were "all hand finished, not built by machinery for quickness and cheapness. They are also hand filed, not dry blasted by machine, which will eat the tubing and lugs away. There is a difference between cycles built to order, like a machine made suit and one hand finished. So order your next cycle at Edworthy's and see it being built. We have been specializing in cycles for over thirty years. We do not get an old traded-in crock and put 'built by us' on the bar, as done by others close by. 60 Joseph Lidcombe, 599 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt, Guildford and Newcastle".
In the 1930s Silas left one of his sons, Iver, to manage the Lidcombe shop and moved back to Leichhardt where he had a pair of two-storey shops built complete with residences behind at 599-597 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt.
The Edworthy family was keenly involved in cycle racing and sponsorship. In 1932 The Edworthy (bicycle) Road Race from Camden to Enfield was held under the auspices of the NSW Cyclists' Union and promoted by the Lidcombe Amateur Cycle Club. The first prize was an Edworthy Racer, presented by Silas Edworthy and valued at £12/10/-.The following year they sponsored the Edworthy Open Road Race, at Enfield, promoted by the Berala Amateur Cycle Club with another Edworthy racer as first prize, a pair of Endrick racing wheels for second, a cycle gas lamp for 5th prize and the fastest time received the 'Edworthy Cup'. There was also an Edworthy Cycling Touring Club which held mixed outings to locations such as Ku-ring-gai Chase and Galstone Gorge, led by their club captain, Lionel Edworthy, another of Silas' sons. In 1935 Silas was unanimously elected Vice President of the Marrickville Bicycle Club, club road premiers in 1910, 1923-24, 1928-29, and in 1933.
In 1934 Silas built and patented a special bicycle frame which had two round loops, one in the cross bar and one in the down tube. He called his design, the 'Spring Frame', the idea being that the loops took the shock out of the rough dirt roads which the rider had to endure during long road races such as the Goulburn to Sydney. The problem was that the resulting vibration could lead to stress failure of the frame. Only eight of the spring frame bicycles were built and they never became popular. The idea was not considered successful and the patent lapsed. Nevertheless, it was rare and interesting attempt at improving bicycle design at the height of its popularity in the 1930s.
Silas also built miniature bicycles, both single and tandem, for the monkey circus at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney. The Zoo had opened its Animal Kindergarten in 1932 and a new monkey circus arena, with a 25 ft circumference concrete track capable of accommodating 1000 spectators, was officially opened in November 1936. The circus, which included monkeys racing on tiny bicycles and doing tricks, closed in October 1967. Several local bicycle firms supplied bicycles to the monkey circus, including Speedwell, as it was a good form of advertising.
Some of the Edworthy advertising lines include "Edworthy cycles runs rings round rivals rarely requires repairs.", "EDWORTHY CYCLES LEAD others follow"; "The cycle that makes slow men fast and fast men faster", "Miles of Smiles on an Edworthy Cycle" and "Edworthy Cycles Leader of the Pack".
Silas Edworthy died at Leichhardt on 21 February 1963 and was buried with his wife in the Church of England Cemetery at Rookwood. The Edworthy Cycle & Motor Works no longer traded after Silas' death. By this time road cycling and racing had become unpopular among adults as cars and motor cycles became cheaper, wages increased and motor sport more thrilling. Silas' son, Iver, carried on a shop at Granville repairing bicycles and selling second hand and imported bicycles until the 1980s.
Apart from the Edworthy spring frame bicycle in the Museum's collection (formerly in the collection of Jack Hepher) only one other Edworthy bicycle is known to survive in a museum, a 1934 racing bicycle, in the collection of the Illawarra Motoring Museum at Kembla Grange.
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