From there they travelled to Ekibondo by 30 April, passing Mt Ruwenzori to Kampala, then Nairobi arriving in Arusha by 5 June. Leaving there on 4 March 1935, then travelled through to Katsina by 11 March then to Kano, and to Fort Archambault by 19 April. The route they had planned took them through Folkestone, Boulogne, Paris, Marseilles, Algiers to Ghardaia, In Salah to Tamanrassat then via In Guezzam to Agadez. In June 1935 the Woman Engineer journal reported "Miss Wallach and Miss Blenkiron are now heading for Nairobi on their motorcycle combination some of their more unpleasant adventures have included four nights in a tropical jungle without food or shelter, and capture by Tourags in the desert". The event was widely reported in the press, as was their progress on the journey. On 11 December 1934, Florence Blenkiron and Theresa Wallach set out from Crown House, Aldwych in London to Cape Town, South Africa, on their 600cc single-cylinder Panther motorcycle named "Venture" with sidecar and trailer, seen off by a crowd which included Lady Astor, the first woman MP, and the High Commissioner of what was then South Rhodesia. Other sponsors then emerged, including the provision of the trailer and sidecar by Watsonian Squire, and Blenkiron proceeded to stress test the equipment at various events in 1934.
#HARD WEST RESCUE FLORENCE REGISTRATION#
They chose a 600cc Panther, registration number YG 7474. became interested in the project, offering them a choice of model from their catalogue. The planning took over a year, and sponsorship was hard to come by at first, until Phelon and Moore Ltd. īlenkiron was interested in visiting family friends in Cape Town and after a joking conversation about getting there by motorcycle, the two women started to plan a trip in earnest. Only two other women have ever received this award, Beatrice Shilling in August 1934 and Theresa Wallach in 1939. She reached the speed of 102.06 mph and was awarded the British Motor Cycle Racing Club's Gold Star Award. On 14 April 1934, Blenkiron became the first woman to break the 100-mile per hour barrier on a motorcycle, riding a 500cc Grindlay-Peerless bike. They shared a house in south London and Wallach took to calling Florence "Blenk". Blenkiron and Wallach joined various motorcycle groups and competed in competitions to improve their skills. On 18 October 1933, Blenkiron won her first race, the Three-lap All-Comer's Handicap, becoming the first woman to win a race open to both men and women. Her next race at Brooklands was on 30 September 1933 which is when it is thought she first met Teresa Wallach.
She joined in the first Ladies Race at Brooklands race course in 1928 which had been organised by Lady Malcolm Campbell. In 1911 her father was listed as living on private means.īlenkiron became Secretary to Robert Hadfield, owner of Hadfield's Steel Foundry in Sheffield, one of the largest foundries in the world.īlenkiron rode her first motorcycle at the age of sixteen. Her father was grocer's assistant in 1901 census but by 1911 the family were living in Ellerton Abbey, Marrick, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where the extended Blenkiron family had lived for generations. She had one older brother, John William Amiby Blenkiron (b.1900). Early life įlorence Margaret Charlotte Blenkiron was born in Harmby, Yorkshire to John Blenkiron and Mary (née Ainsley Atkinson). With Theresa Wallach, she crossed the Sahara by 600cc Panther motorcycle, sidecar and trailer from London to Cape Town in 1934-5, making the return journey on her own in 1935-6. With Theresa Wallach, she crossed travelled by motorcycle and side car from London to Cape Town.įlorence Margaret Charlotte Blenkiron (later Kingaby, also Margaret Kingaby) (24 April 1904 – 4 March 1991) was the first woman to win a gold medal for reaching over 100 mph on a motorcycle at Brooklands race track. First woman to win a gold medal racing motorcycles at Brooklands.
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