Thomas Jepson Gascoyne
(or Thomas Jefferson Gascoyne,
T. Jeb Gascoyne
or ''Mills'')
(17 August 1876 – 4 October 1917) was an English professional cycling champion and world record holder who competed internationally on both bicycles and tandems.
[New York Times, 8 July 1901, Profile sketch of Thomas Jefferson Gascoyne](_blank)
/ref>[New-York Tribune. Library of Congress - (New York N.Y.) 1866–1924, 22 July 1901, Cycle Racing report](_blank)
/ref>[Red 1st - Thomas Jepson Gascoigne](_blank)
/ref>[Library of the New Zealand, Papers Past > Otago Witness, 27 Poutūterangi 1907, Page 55, A Strange Story by ''One Who Knows''](_blank)
/ref>
He held world records for both 25 miles and the flying start quarter-mile. He held the English record for two miles on a tandem, and recorded an unpaced mile in 2 minutes 5 seconds.
According to the ''Otago Witness
The ''Otago Witness'' was a prominent illustrated weekly newspaper in the early years of the European settlement of New Zealand, produced in Dunedin, the provincial capital of Otago. Published weekly it existed from 1851 to 1932. The introduction ...
'' of 1907:
... it is questionable whether any rider, Fenn or MacFarland included, ever came up to the wonderful powers shown by Gascoyne.
... He is a living exception of the proved rule in cycle racing that ''he who paces must be left at the finish.''
... From 1896 to 1901 he raced in various parts of the world, and his marvellous unpaced efforts never failed to send the crowds wild with excitement.
In the early 1900s he emigrated to Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and did manual work before returning to cycle racing. He eventually settled in Preston, Victoria
Preston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Darebin local government area. Preston recorded a population of 33,790 at the 2021 census.
History Settleme ...
. He served in the Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
and died at the Battle of Passchendaele
The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...
in World War I.
Personal life
Thomas Jepson Gascoyne was born in Whittington
Whittington may refer to:
Places
* Whittington, Victoria, Australia
* Whittington, Illinois, United States
England
* Old Whittington, Derbyshire
* New Whittington, Derbyshire
* Whittington Moor, Derbyshire
* Whittington, Gloucestershire
* Whit ...
, Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
to Richard and Susan Gascoyne. He was married to Linda. In the early 1900s he emigrated to Australia and by 1907 was living in Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...
, by which time reports indicate that 'he had been working in various jobs and locations for several years'. At the outbreak of World War I he was resident at 3 Adeline Street, Preston, a suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Victoria, when he enlisted in the Australian 21st Battalion.
Cycling career
England and Europe
Gascoyne began his cycling career in 1893. In 1896 he set the world record for 25 miles in 57 minutes 18.4 seconds. This was his first attempt at a distance greater than 10 miles on a cinder track and he easily broke the 59 mins 1.6 secs record set by Schaeffer. The riders had been paced by a triplet
A triplet is a set of three items, which may be in a specific order, or unordered. It may refer to:
Science
* A series of three nucleotide bases forming an element of the Genetic code
* J-coupling as part of Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrosc ...
but he reportedly overtook it because it was not fast enough.[Chesterfield Spire Cycling Club, History, Thomas Jepson Gascoyne](_blank)
/ref>
In 1901, in partnership with Sidney Jenkins, he set the English record time for two miles on a tandem[New York Times, Published: 30 June 1901, English cyclist lost.](_blank)
/ref> and in the same year at the Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building
* ...
track he completed an unpaced mile in 2 minutes 5 seconds.
Gascoyne held the world record for an unpaced flying start quarter-mile with a time of 25 seconds.
America
Gascoyne's international reputation was such that his prospective arrival in New York on the , accompanied by tandem partner Sydney Jenkins, was considered newsworthy by the New York Times of 5 June 1901.[New York Times, 5 June 1901, Two More Foreign Cyclists Coming](_blank)
/ref> It went on to describe him as 'Thomas Jefferson Gascoyne' when it was promoting cycling events. Three days later he competed in the tandem races at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
with his partner Sydney Jenkins. The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
reported in June 1901 that:
... ehas followed the racing path since 1893. At unpaced work Gascoyne possesses more than normal speed, and has the exceptional honour of never having been beaten in a pursuit race.
At the Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
cycle-track on Saturday 20 July 1901 he beat Major Taylor
Marshall Walter "Major" Taylor (November 26, 1878 – June 21, 1932) was an African-American professional cyclist. Even by modern cycling standards, Taylor could be considered the greatest American sprinter of all time.
He was born and raised ...
twice. The following day at the Vailsburg, Newark
Vailsburg is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. Part of the West Ward, its elevation is . , Vailsburg had a population of 34,348. The Vailsburg section of Newark is on a hill which closely aligns with ...
(New Jersey) cycle track he beat John Bedell in the half-mile handicap for professionals but was then scheduled, without recovery time, to immediately contest an 'Australian Pursuit' race against W.S. Fenn from Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
. He was defeated after 3 miles, his first ever defeat in a pursuit.[New York Times, 22 July 1901 Fenn defeats Gascoyne](_blank)
Australia
The ''Otago Witness
The ''Otago Witness'' was a prominent illustrated weekly newspaper in the early years of the European settlement of New Zealand, produced in Dunedin, the provincial capital of Otago. Published weekly it existed from 1851 to 1932. The introduction ...
'' of 1907 reported:
"Jeb" Gascoyne, as he was known on English, European and American tracks less than a decade ago, made a worldwide reputation as an unpaced handicap performer, and it is questionable whether any rider, Fenn or MacFarland included, ever came up to the wonderful powers shown by Gascoyne.
He is a living exception of the proved rule in cycle racing that ''he who paces must be left at the finish.'' He possesses a unique characteristic which will not allow him to follow another competitor's wheel in a handicap. He must be in front.
Setting his head in his own peculiar style on one side, partly over the front wheel, with grim determination and speedy pedalling he never fails to bring the field back to him.
From 1896 to 1901 he raced in various parts of the world, and his marvellous unpaced efforts never failed to send the crowds wild with excitement.
In the early 1900s Gascoyne quietly dropped out of European racing and emigrated to Australia with his racing colleague H. Brown, a handicap specialist. They did manual work for several years but when they arrived in Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
they started entering cycle races using the pseudonyms of ''Mills'' and ''Atkinson''. Despite an initial lack of fitness, Gascoyne's natural speed meant that he was soon relegated to 'scratch' in the handicap races at night carnivals. Eventually rumours spread and the two riders had to reveal their true identities but their integrity remained intact, they had simply retired from racing to concentrate on manual labour careers. As a stoker Gascoyne's breathing had suffered sufficiently for him to lose several early races, but the unmasked 'scratch' Gascoyne gave up stoking and started training for cycling again. He became particularly popular in Sydney, where he won the 1907 Five Mile Scratch Race on Anniversary night, and was a headline name at races.[Australia Trove - The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848–1954) Thursday 11 March 1909. Cycling - Saucer track](_blank)
/ref>
In 1909 Gascoyne starts with a 3-minute handicap in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropoli ...
, Australia's oldest road race. He achieves the 3rd fastest time behind Iddo Munro
Iddo "Snowy" Munro (26 March 1888 – 27 October 1980) was an Australian racing cyclist. The highlights of his career were winning the Australasian long distance road championship in 1909 and competing in the 1914 Tour de France. Munro won ...
and Albert Pianta. In 1911 he also participated in the Melbourne to Warrnambool, this time from scratch, but he only achieved a very modest 71st fastest time.
In December 1911 he finished 11th with his partner Alan Lloyd (E. Lloyd) in the 6 Day Race
The 6-Day Race became a standard footrace distance in the 1870s and was a popular form of entertainment with up to 70,000 paying visitors during such a Pedestrians event. However the widespread use of the bicycle from 1890 caused it to be replaced ...
at Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia.[Cycling Archives, Sydney, Six Days 1911](_blank)
/ref> The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' reported on 10 January 1912 that Gascoyne had been very unlucky to 'lose his mate'.
In December 1912 he declined an invitation to enter the Sydney 6 Day Race with his old partner Sidney Jenkins, because he ''...cannot leave Melbourne without forfeiting a good position, which e was
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...
not disposed to do.''Australia Trove, The Sydney Morning Herald 11 December 1912
/ref>
Death
Corporal Thomas Jepson Gascoyne is listed at the Menin Gate
The Menin Gate ( nl, Menenpoort), officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves a ...
Ypres
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...
as having died on 4 October 1917 in the Battle of Broodseinde
The Battle of Broodseinde was fought on 4 October 1917 near Ypres in Belgium, at the east end of the Gheluvelt plateau, by the British Second and Fifth armies against the German 4th Army. The battle was the most successful Allied attack of th ...
in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The Australian War Memorial - Roll of Honour describes him thus :
* Service number: 4715
* Rank: Corporal
* Unit: 21st Battalion (Infantry)
* Service: Australian Army
* Conflict: 1914–1918
* Date of death: 4 October 1917
* Cemetery or memorial details: Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium
* War Grave Register notes: GASCOYNE, Cpl. Thomas Jepson, 4715. 21st Bn. 4 October 1917. Age 40. Son of Richard and Susan Gascoyne; husband of Linda Gascoyne, of 5, Adeline St., South Preston, Victoria (Although he never lived there). Native of Derbyshire, England.
* Source: AWM145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914–1918 War, Army[Australian War Memorial - Roll of Honour - Thomas Jepson Gascoyne](_blank)
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gascoyne, Thomas
1876 births
1917 deaths
People from Old Whittington
Sportspeople from Derbyshire
Australian track cyclists
English male cyclists
Australian male cyclists
Australian military personnel killed in World War I