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Agnes Muriel Hind gained notoriety in the early 1900s when she became one of the first women in Britain to ride a motorcycle and soon after to compete in motorcycle trails and races.
In 1906 she won a gold medal at the Automobile Cycle Club run from London to Edinburgh, followed by a bronze medal for a six day run from Lands End to John -O-Groats. During her time racing she had to put up with a lot of prejudice from other motorcyclists and in an interview once stated -
‘I was regarded as a freak, and people used to gape at me.’
But the motorcycle industry saw a market opportunity in Muriel’s success and she was commissioned by the Motor Cycling Magazine to write articles describing bikes made especially for woman.
In 1912 Muriel married Richard Lord, himself a motorcycle racer and chief tester for the Rex Motorcycle Company in Coventry. After her marriage she gave up competitive racing, but later in life was often seen by locals, in a number of different sports cars, speeding around the country lanes near the village of Corley just outside Coventry, where she lived for most of her life.
Muriel died at the age of 74 in 1956.
Category:
People
Institute:
Coventry Transport Museum
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