The first BICYCLE was invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith of Courthill, Dumfries, in 1839. The 57 lb vehicle was constructed with a curved wooden frame, the front of which was carved with a horse’s head, and had iron-tyred wheels of 32 in diameter in the front and 42 in the rear. The pedals were connected by cranks to the rear wheel, and driven by a forward and backward motion of the feet. There is no evidence that Macmillan foresaw his machine as the precursor of a great industry, and it seems that he built it solely as an efficient means of getting himself about, often riding the 14 miles from Courthill to Dumfries. In 1842 he rode to Glasgow, unwittingly establishing another first by committing the earliest recorded cycling offence. The Glasgow Herald for 10 June reported that Macmillan ‘on entering Glasgow at the finish of a 40 mile ride, knocked over a child owing to the crowd of people to see his novel iron horse. He was fined five shillings at Gorbals Police Court.’
About this time Macmillan’s niece, Mary Marchbank, took to riding his machine and so became the first LADY CYCLIST.
