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John Kemp Starley
John Kemp Starley
Born	(1855-12-24)24 December 1855 Walthamstow, London, England
Died	29 October 1901(1901-10-29) (aged 45) Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Occupation	Industrialist Inventor
Years active	1877–1901
Known for	Owning Starley & Sutton Co

John Kemp Starley (24 December 1855 – 29 October 1901) was an English inventor and industrialist who is widely considered the inventor of the modern safety bicycle, and also originator of the tradename Rover.

Early life

Born on 24 December 1855 Starley lived on Church Hill, Walthamstow, London, England. He was the son of a gardener, John Starley, and Mary Ann (née Coppen). In 1872 he moved to Coventry to work with his uncle James Starley, an inventor. He worked with his uncle and William Hillman for several years building Ariel cycles.

Career

In 1877, he started a new business Starley & Sutton Co with William Sutton, a local cycling enthusiast. They set about developing bicycles that were safer and easier to use than the prevailing penny farthing or "ordinary" bicycles. They started by manufacturing tricycles, and by 1883 their products were being branded as "Rover".

In 1885, Starley made history when he produced the Rover Safety Bicycle. The Rover was a rear-wheel-drive, chain-driven cycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high wheeler designs. Cycling magazine said the Rover had "set the pattern to the world" and the phrase was used in their advertising for many years.

In 1889, the company became J. K. Starley & Co. Ltd and in the late 1890s, it had become the Rover Cycle Company Ltd.

Death

Starley died suddenly on 29 October 1901, in Coventry, and was succeeded as managing director of the firm by Harry Smyth. Soon after Starley's death the Rover company began building motorcycles and then cars.

See also

• Rover (motorcycles)

References

1. ^ "Starley, John Kemp". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48208. Retrieved 24 December 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Bicycle History
3. Tony Hadland and Hans-Erhard Lessing (2014). Bicycle Design, An Illustrated History. MIT Press. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-0-262-02675-8. The most famous of the rear-drive safeties introduced in 1885 was the Rover, produced in Coventry by John Kemp Starley.
4. Herlihy, David V. (2004). Bicycle: History. Yale University Press. pp. 225. ISBN 0-300-10418-9. The Rover pattern very quickly improved, and it not only prevailed as the universal bicycle style, it also triggered an unprecedented world-wide demand that culminated in the great boom.
5. Berto, Frank J.; Ron Shepherd; et al. (2008) . The Dancing Chain: History and Development of the Derailleur Bicycle (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA, USA: Cycle Publishing/Van der Plas Publications. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-892495-59-4. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017. There is also general agreement that J.K. Starley's Rover was the first true safety bicycle.
6. Berto, Frank J.; et al. (2016) . The Dancing Chain: History and Development of the Derailleur Bicycle (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA, USA: Cycle Publishing/Van der Plas Publications. ISBN 978-1-892495-77-8. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
7. Biography at Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow
8. "Bicycle Association leads birthday celebrations for JK Starley, creator of the Safety bicycle". bicycleassociation.org. Bicycle Association. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
9. The Britannica Guide to Inventions That Changed the Modern World. Britannica Educational Publishing. 20 December 2009. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-61530-064-8.

• 1855 births
• 1901 deaths
• English inventors
• Rover Company
• British cycle designers
• British motorcycle pioneers
• British founders of automobile manufacturers
• Sustainable transport pioneers
• 19th-century English businesspeople