James Moore (cyclist) - Background

Background

Moore was born in Long Brackland, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England on 14 January 1849. Moore's father, also James, was a blacksmith and farrier. His mother was Elizabeth Ann Moore. The couple had two sons and five daughters. The sons, Alfred and James, were born in Britain, the daughters in France.

The family moved to Paris when James was four years old. The reason for the move is not known. One account says that Moore's father was French, the rest of the family of Irish and Scottish background, but there is no confirmation. The family eventually lived at 2 cité Godot-de-Mauroy. James made friends with the Michaux family of blacksmiths who lived opposite them at numbers 5 and 7. The Michaux family, either Pierre or his son Ernest is credited with being first to add cranks and pedals to a vélocipède. Moore owned a Michaux vélocipède around 1865.

One report said:

It was in 1865 that Moore became the owner of his first bicycle, having purchased in that year a heavy wooden velocipede or boneshaker from the famous pioneer cycle-manufacturing firm which had then been founded by Ernest Michaux. He rode the vehicle with the greatest enthusiasm.

Moore used the vélocipède to run errands for his father, travelling from the city centre to the suburbs.

James Moore's son, also James, said:

Six months while most of the younger members of the family were still struggling with French, it was young Jimmy who acted as their interpreter. Obviously he was quite at home in Paris and like any other boy he was fascinated by the Cirque d'Été, the Summer Circus, which used to be pitched halfway down the Champs Elysees, a stone's throw from his home on the avenue Montaigne. It was here that he developed a love for horses which was to remain with him for the rest of his life. He got on well with the circus people, who let him ride the horses at rehearsals. The acrobats and trapeze artists, too, were his friends and he learned many of their tricks. At 18 he could do a double somersault between two trapezes - quite a feat.

This account clashes with the claim that only the two sons were born when the family moved to France.

Moore joined the Véloce cycling club of Paris after 1868. He began racing at the meeting held in the park at St-Cloud, west of Paris, on 31 May 1868. Moore's race is widely cited as the first formal cycle race in history and a plaque was added to the park railings to mark the event. But the validity of the claim is contested in Keizo Kobayashi's history of the Draisienne and the Michaux vélocipede, which claims Moore's race was the third that day and not even the most important.