NEW VICTORIAN WOMAN AND THE BICYCLE
By: Liese Sherwood-Fabre, PhD
At the end of the
nineteenth century, a
new type of single, work-
ing woman emerged.
Sarah Grand coined the
term “the new woman”
in 1894 to describe the
increasing number of
well-educated and self-supporting women
who appeared as the social climate and
demographics shifted. (1) At the end of the
1800s, approximately half of the women
aged twenty to forty were unmarried and
outnumbered eligible men. Given their
scant prospects of ever becoming wives,
William Rathbone Greg predicted about
three hundred thousand (300,000) of them
were doomed to a life of “celibacy, strug-
gle, and privation.” (2) Despite Greg’s dire
forecast, many of those in this age group
found new prospects open to them, and
the bicycle was both a symbol and a major
contributor to their newfound freedom.
Toward the end of the century, two
major improvements to the bicycle made
them safer, more comfortable, and, over
time, more affordable: the “safety bicycle”
with two equal-sized wheels with a chain-
driven rear wheel, and the pneumatic tire.
(3) While both women and men found
these innovations to their liking, this new
form of mobility had a much greater im-
pact on women. Victorian etiquette pro-
scribed women, particularly those of the
middle class, to a very limited set of
“respectable” activities: visiting, attending
certain cultural events, supporting certain
charitable activities, and some recreational
outings. Bicycling extended women’s geo-
graphic and social boundaries. They were
able to travel farther and into areas not
previously visited, and possibly unaccom-
panied. (4)
This increase in geographic mobility
also increased women’s pool of possible
marital prospects. Couples no longer had
to live in the same village or neighborhood.
They were able to travel outside such areas
to meet and engage in longer-distance ro-
mances, often unchaperoned. Such an ar-
rangement was common enough to be im-
mortalized in the Harry Darce song “Daisy
Bell” and her bicycle “built for two.” (5)
Just as these woman experienced new
avenues of physical fitness, freedom of
movement, and self-supporting income, so
they could see the need to support the early
feminist movements and the right to
vote—thanks, in part, to the bicycle.
_________________
(1) Sarah Grand, “The New Aspect of the
Woman Question,” The North American
Review, 1894.
(2) William Rathbone Greg, Why Are
Women Redundant? London: N. Trubner and
Co., 1869, page 17.
(3) https://victorianist.wordpress.com/
2015/04/13/chains -of-freedom-the-
bicycles-impact-on-1890s-britain/
(4) Clare S. Simpson, “A Social History of
Women and Cycling in Late-Nineteenth
Century New Zealand.”
(5) https://victorianist.wordpress.com/
2015/04/13/chains -of-freedom-the-
bicycles-impact-on-1890s-britain/
Liese Sherwood-Fabre will be presenting on “Law
and Order: Victorian Style” at The Agra
Treasurers’ Holmes, Doyle, and Friends
March 9-10 gathering in Dayton, OH.
Biography:
Liese Sherwood-Fabre knew she was destined to write when she got an A+ in the second grade for her
story about Dick, Jane, and Sally’s ruined picnic. She has recently turned a childhood interest in Sherlock
Holmes into an as-yet unpublished series on Sherlock growing up in a rather unusually gifted family. Her re-
search into Victorian England has led her to share essays with other Sherlockians across the world and to be-
come active in the local Dallas society, the Crew of the Barque Lone Star. Each month, her articles appear in
more than fifteen Sherlockian newsletters worldwide. The first twenty-four of these essays are now available in
The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes, available both as an E-Book and in paperback.
You can read more about her books and find links to purchase them at her website:
www.liesesherwoodfabre.com. Sign up for her newsletter and get a FREE short story.
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