“Scorchers”, “wheelmen”, and “road lice”: visitors’ books and cycling culture in late-Victorian Britain

ABSTRACT The last two decades of the nineteenth century were a boom period for cycling, not only in Britain but also on Continental Europe and in the United States. Cycling was cheap, accessible and democratic, and the proliferation of cycling clubs made it a sociable sport for all classes and genders. Part of this social aspect of cycling involved weekend stops at popular country pubs and inns, some of which became semi-official headquarters for various clubs. This article examines the visitors’ books of three such pubs in the south of England and suggests that inscriptions in them provide an insight into the values and attitudes of recreational cyclists. It uses Benedict Anderson’s notion of the “imagined community” as a template for understanding how a diverse group of individuals visiting the same location at different times could forge a thriving virtual subculture via visitors’ books and guest books.