Marjorie Cottle

Marjorie Cottle (5 September 1900 – 17 July 1987) was an English works supported motorcycle trials rider.

Marjorie Cottle was born in Seacombe, Wallasey, Cheshire, on 5 September 1900 to Emily and William Cottle.

She had a younger sister Eileen, and her father William, a manage of a confectionary factory was a keen motorcyclist.

As soon as she could legally ride, at the age of 14, she persuaded her father to let her have a motorcycle.

He acquired a pre World War 1 Premier from a scrapyard and Marjorie had to rebuild it before she could ride it.

When she had proved her ability to ride and keep the motorcycle running her father gave her a Calthorpe which she later sold at profit in order to buy an ex WD Triumph 500 cc.

The Triumph was then used in a hill climb held by the Liverpool MCC.

As the only female entrant and one of only 2 people out of 300 entrants to succeed in reaching the top of the hill she gained a lot of publicity.

She was one of Britain's best-known motorcyclists in the 1920s and 1930s.

She competed regularly in reliability trials and was considered to be one of the best riders in the country – male or female.

She rode in her first motorcycle trial in 1920, the Blake Amateur Trial.

After winning a gold medal in the North Wales Open Trial a motorcycle manufacturer in Wrexham, Powell, gave her a works supported machine.

She later had works support from Raleigh, BSA and Triumph.

Works support ranged from a specially prepared new machine along with some financial support to a small discount on spares.

British motorcycles were exported worldwide, and many were marketed on competition success.

Therefore.

the riders as well as the makes became famous.

Marjorie first rode a Raleigh in a 24-hour trial from Birkenhead to Aberystwyth.

It is unclear whether she was works supported by Raleigh for that event but it is likely as the machine was delivered to her by Hugh Gibson who was a famous rider and Raleigh's competition manager.

She had no chance to familiarise herself with the motorcycle before starting the trial.

Hugh Gibson planned to ride round the coast of Great Britain on a 7 hp, 798 cc Raleigh and sidecar.

It was deemed an impossible task as some of the roads were of poor quality and the reliability of motorcycles was not as good as they are now.

It was to be the longest ACU observed test ever.

Marjorie announced that "What man can do, woman can do" and that she would ride the same route at the same time but in the opposite direction so as not to interfere with the official test.

She rode a 2 3/4 hp (348 cc) Raleigh.

They both completed 3,429 miles, averaging 300 miles a day in 11 days and 10 hours on 12 June 1924.

The ride started and finished in Liverpool.

From 5 to 15 July 1926 Marjorie undertook a 1,400-mile promotional ride on a 174 cc Raleigh.

The object was to show how suitable the motorcycle is for female riders.

Her route spelt out the word Raleigh in cursive script on a map of the UK.

The first leg from London to Southampton was the upright (back) of the letter R. The finish, the bottom of the second down-stroke of the h, was in Edinburgh.

It was a well publicised journey.

Raleigh's adverts featured a similar machine which was to be awarded to whoever guessed correctly (or nearest to) the number of towns and villages that she passed through.

One retailer's journal, The Garage and Motor Agent, was particularly enthusiastic about Miss Cottle's promotional activities on behalf of the motorcycle industry.

She was, it declared, "undoubtedly one of the trade's most useful propagandists."

Not only did she demonstrate that physical strength was not crucial for operating a motorcycle, but this magazine was especially impressed with "the fact that Miss Cottle always manages to look nice when engaged in her exploits, and not the least like a professional motor cyclist."

Her greatest success was the International Six Days Trial of 1927, in which the British Ladies' Team won the International Silver Vase.

That year the trial was held in the Lake District, and attracted a large number of competitors.

She was described as the "most famous girl rider in the world".

In 1984 Ken Hallworth, a Raleigh owner and friend of Marjorie recreated the trip on his own Raleigh.