cycling

I'd guess this was during an event -e.g. ride a certain distance, drink a cup of tea using only a spoon, complete the ride.

The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Saturday, June 13, 1896 gives an idea of the events in a bicycle gymkhana

Persil washes whiter, and it SHOWS! OMO and Persil are still produced, apparently.

The way they are tucking in I would say it was during the race. It looks like soup, Scotch Broth or Mulligitawny !

If the print in the PIP article is too small, this is what the 5000 spectators, including royalty, saw at Barnes

In the amusing "needle" race, ladies had to ride 100 yards, dismount, amd thread a needle at a table, remount, and return to the winning-post round a marked course with the threaded needle. Miss Florence Grenfell was the charming winner. In the bill-posting race competitors had to ride 50 yards, dismount, post abill on a hoarding, mount, and ride 150 yards to the winning-post. The hoop race, the egg-and-spoon race, the linked-hands-race, and the parasol race and also attracted much amused attention. Between two of the races ten young ladies performed a pretty musical ride, arranged and directed by Miss Stuart Snell and the Misses Moss, and were warmly applauded by the royal party.

In April 1896 Freeman's Journal mentions the upcoming Barnes gymkhana in its 'London Correspondence' column, and lists the events as in the report above but also including a 200 yard side saddle race. Presumably this was dropped from the programme of events on the grounds of it being somewhere between impractical and impossible.

So that's what it said on that sign!

Edison's "New Living Pictures" are also featured in this shot of the Cork Coliseum:

The inscription on the monument reads: To Charles Stewart Parnell No Man has a right to fix the Boundary to the march of a nation No man has a right To say to his country Thus far shat thou Go and no further We have never Attempted to fix The ne-plus-ultra To the progress of Ireland’s nationhood And we never shall At the base of the statue the Irish inscription reads: Go roimhigid Dia Éire da Clainn

The site on the corner where the bookseller is was redeveloped in 1921 - so before then. Name: BATCHELOR & HICKS Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET UPPER, NO. 037 (PROVINCIAL BANK) Date: 1921-1922 Nature: New bank on corner site. Classical. Contractor: G. & T. Crampton.

There's a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police "C" District from Fitzgibbon Street Station (closed in the recent round of closures) wearing full rain gear. I wouldn't like to have been controlling that junction for eight hours in the rain.

I got a book about bicycling in victorian Ireland for Christmas. I may be the fount of all knowledge on this photo in a week or two when I get time to read it.

derangedlemur We'll await developments then! :D

Interesting gearing ratio on the Tridem (or whatever it's called). If the first two guys don't pedal the third guy's going to have a hard time of it.

Usually known nowadays as a triplet. They were often used for pacing riding on solos. Three can go faster than 1 (3 times the power, but much less than 3 times the wind resistance). The rider being paced would stay as close behind the triplet as possible to maximise the aerodynamic advantage. They disappeared when motorcycles appeared on the scene. Nowadays 75cc 'Dernys' are used, although I've seen big 750cc brutes used on outdoor tracks. Triplet being used for pacing

I was given the chance to ride 1200 km on this triplet , but turned down the offer. The three of them made their own way to the start, and had never ridden the machine together before. It has a lot of extra ironmongery* to make the frame stiffer, but was still very 'bendy', according to Steve, who took 'my' place at the back. *The one in the picture has a double top-tube (crossbar).