Vintage Motorbikes

VINTAGE

MOTORBIKES

My grandad, Brook Donkersley (1906 - 1976), was involved with both Stocksbridge and Hillsborough Motor Clubs, and loved his cars and motorbikes, as well as the horses that preceded them, which were used to make deliveries from the family's butchers shop.

Here are a few extra photographs of old motorbikes in addition to those on the Stocksbridge Motor Club page.

Jack Hughes' OEC

Nicknamed "Oh 'Eck"
Photo source: Ellis Hughes

OEC

Jack Hughes at the Trunce Scrambles, Green Moor, on his OEC.

Scott Motorcycle cert. of engine test

Richard at Red Devil motors tells me that, like many manufacturers of the time, Scott would bench and road test their performance models and provide a certificate with the bike for the satisfaction of the purchaser. This 1930 TT Replica was tested at 26 and a half brake horse, a very respectable figure for the vintage era.
From my grandad Brook Donkersley's papers

Scott Motorcycle cert. of road trials

From my grandad Brook Donkersley's papers

Rudge

My great-uncle Joseph Ernest Ira Hinchcliffe (Ernest), born 1884. Brother of my great-grandma Clara Eliza Pearson.
From my family photos

Francis Shales

Photo: Fox Magazine

Francis Shales

Photo source: Fox Magazine

Frank Fox on his bike

His T.T. mechanic John Mason, standing.
Photo credit: Sylvia Prince. John Mason was Sylvia's husband's uncle.

Me with my B.S.A.

B.S.A. 1968 Bantam D10 Sportsman 175cc

Me with my B.S.A.

BSA Bantam same as mine

Triumph Triton built 1979

The website Red Devil Motors has similar photographs to the ones above featuring the 1927 Coventry Eagle and the motorbike and sidecar with Tom Farrow on the bike.

The article wonders if the Coventry Eagle in the photograph was the "most photographed vintage bike ever."

The author writes, "Every weekend the seaside towns of England would be full of people bused in on Charabancs for day trips. Once you got there you promenaded, quite probably sank a brown ale or two and many folks popped in to a photo studio to have a picture taken for memories of the day. Motorcycles were popular props and in Blackpool one particular studio seemed to favour Coventry Eagles. I've come across literally countless snaps of this solo CE as well as a few of another CE with sidecar at the same studio. It seems pretty sure that with several photos taken every day for a period of a few years this Coventry Eagle would have been the most photographed bike, maybe ever or perhaps just up until the digital age." There are a great many studio photographs which feature this bike and the author wonders whether there was some kind of sponsorship deal going on.

Below are some photographs taken from the Red Devil website featuring the Coventry Eagle. They are reproduced by kind permission of Richard Miller at Red Devil Motors.

Additional research by Ian Sutton

Coventry Eagle motorbike and sidecar stu

Coventry Eagle girl posing from redevilm

Coventry Eagle Blackpool Belles from red

More photographs...

Harry Bull and Dorothy Dransfield

Harry Bull was Jonathan Barnaby's grandfather.
Dorothy's maiden name was Shaw, and she was a biology teacher at Stocksbridge School in the 1930s.
Photo credit: Jonathan Barnaby