Annie Londonderry rode around world and into the record books

When Annie Kopchovsky took off on her cycle around the world she carried only her clothes and a pearl handled revolver

History: Annie Londonderry in 1895 she became the first woman to bicycle around the world. Out of copywright

When a petite, lone cyclist rode into Boston 120 years ago today, an enthusiastic crowd was on hand for a warm welcome. Dressed in men’s clothing, the cyclist was a woman who went by the name of Annie Londonderry.

By making it to Boston she had settled a wager about whether a woman could cycle around the world, on her own, fending for herself. The epic ride made her a global celebrity.

She was seen as the model of the “new woman” — strong, independent and resourceful. Her feat inspired other women to great endeavours, yet Annie Londonderry’s conquest is little known today. Born Anna Cohen in Riga, Latvia, in 1870 to Jewish parents Levi and Basha, her family migrated to the US in 1875, settling in Boston. Both parents died in 1887, leaving Annie and her older brother Bennett to look after two younger siblings.

Annie married Max Kopchovsky in 1888 and by 1892 the couple had three children. She was soliciting advertising for Boston newspapers, aspiring to be a journalist when, in 1894, came the opportunity of a lifetime.

She was selected to cycle around the globe as part of a wager between “two wealthy clubmen of Boston”, although it is a mystery why they picked a petite, young mother of three working in advertising, with no cycling experience.

Annie Londonderry had no cycling experience when she took off on her round-the-world quest.

The conditions of the wager were that she had to make her way around the world in 15 months, starting with no money and without begging or taking anything gratuitously from anyone. She also had to return with $US5000 to win the bet.

On June 25, 1894, she lined up for the start, with only her bike, some clothing and a pearl-handled pistol.

She initially refused an offer of a penny from the head of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), saying it contravened the rules, but accepted it on condition it was seen as payment for speaking to the WCTU. She then opened bidding for advertising spots on her bike wheel and accepted $100 from the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Company, on the condition she used the name Annie Londonderry.

She set off for New York, originally intending to head west, and paid her way by selling advertising space, clerking and lecturing. But it was slow going on her heavy women’s Columbia bike and her long skirt. When she had only made it as far as Chicago by September, she was reported as ready to give up. Instead, she changed her bike for a lighter men’s Sterling bike and donned men’s trousers.

Riding back east she took a boat for France, arriving in December. As she made her way through France her fame continued to grow, and by the time she rode into Marseilles, surviving a run-in with highwaymen, there were huge crowds flocking to see her.

From there she caught a steamboat across the Mediterranean, heading for Asia. Since the wager never stipulated how much bike riding she had to do she covered a lot of the distance on ships, occasionally getting off to ride around ashore. She stopped in Palestine, Egypt and Arabia, before landing in Singapore. She claimed she was wounded by a gunshot and imprisoned during the war between China and Japan. She also claimed to have cycled to Siberia. Sailing from Yokohama, in March 1895 she reached San Francisco and was injured by a runaway horse and cart. She struggled on and reached Boston on September 24, 1895.

Having only $4900 in her pocket she raffled her bike to raise the rest of the money and claimed the prize of $10,000. She moved her family to New York where, for a brief time, she wrote a newspaper column under the title “The New Woman”. The fame didn’t last and she soon faded from public attention. She died in relative obscurity in 1947.

Arthur Richardson was the first person to ride a bicycle around Australia, in 1899. Picture: State Library of Western Australia.

NOTABLE CYCLING FIRSTS

1884: Thomas Stevens becomes the first person to cycle across the US, achieved on a penny-farthing bicycle.

1887: Thomas Stevens becomes the first person to cycle around the world still on a penny-farthing

1895: Annie Londonderry Kopchovsky becomes the first woman to cycle around the world

1898: Jerome Murif becomes the first person to cross the Australian continent on bicycle from Adelaide to Darwin.

1899: Arthur Richardson becomes the first person to circumnavigate Australia on a bicycle.

Originally published as Annie Londonderry rode around world and into the record books