Z50/142/384

Alfred Huckle, chimney sweep of Sun Street, B'wade, on his Ivel 'Minerva' motor cycle [reg.10 Oct 1904], pulling his basket work type trailer. His father / Jn Thos Huckle stands at the door of their house.

1904?

From: 1904 To: 1904

Extract from N. Beds Courier 23/8/1966 Is there anyone still living who held a Bedfordshire motor vehicle licence before October 1904? This was the question asked by 82-year-old Mr. Alfred Huckle of Shortmead Street, Biggleswade when he brought to our office the photograph reproduced here. The picture, which is about 65 years old, shows Mr. Huckle seated on the motor cycle. with his father next to him and was used on his business cards when he was chimney sweeping. The motor cycle was the first to be used in Biggleswade for business said Mr. Huckle as the motor cycles made at Dan Albone's Ivel works were for pleasure only. It was a Minerva fixed-gear motor cycle and Mr. Huckle travelled 48,000 milles on it spending only 14s on repairs. He and his wife went for their honeymoon to Gloucester on the machine, his wife being seated in the small trailer which he normally used for carrying tools and brushes. The premises in the picture are in Sun Street, at the junction with Fairfield Road. They are still there and at one time were used as the Biggleswade Salvation Army quarters, General Booth having visited them. Mr. Huckle and his father, the only licensed chimney sweeps in the Biggleswade district at the time, used to sweep the chimneys in 17 villages and three towns and six mansions including Old Warden and Southill Park. The Registration of the cycle is BM 328 which means that only 321 other licences had been issued in the whole of Bedfordshire previously.

photograph

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Huckle, Alfred,
Huckle, John Thomas

photographs, named portraits, chimney sweep, motorcycles, Biggleswade Sun Street