Betty and Nancy Debenham
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
File:Betty and Nancy Debenham's 2,000 mile tour (1929).jpg
Betty (born 30 November 1895) and Nancy Warner Debenham (born 1897) were English sisters, motorcyclists, and sports journalists. The sisters were heirs to the Debenhams department store fortune, and were both attached to the BSA works team.{{cite news |title=Wheels of Glory |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/914137032 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Western Daily Press |date=26 February 1994 |page=37}}
Motorcyclists
By 1923, the two were already well-known colourful figures,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/544847972 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=The Brooklyn Standard Union |date=2 December 1923 |page=34 |quote=Schoolchildren are always on the lookout for Miss Nancy Debenham, who gives the youngsters of her district a treat by carrying a whole load of them to school in the morning. |title=The Standard Union 02 Dec 1923, page 34 }} sometimes working as stunt riders to promote motorcycle sales at events such as the Olympia Motor Show.{{cite news |title=Exhibiting new cycles: Model home on wheels |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/783552177 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Birmingham Gazette |date=16 Oct 1923 |page=10}} In 1924 Betty Debenham completed a 500-mile trial on a 1.25 horsepower motorcycle from London to York and back, and then to Brighton and back.{{cite news |title=Girl's splendid motor cycle runs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/794501919 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Daily Mail |date=14 March 1924 |page=9}}
By 1926, they had both become formidable racers, and were competing in events across the country. They competed in their first trials in February, winning gold (Betty) and silver (Nancy) cups.{{cite news |title=Motor-cycling twins |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/807607195 |access-date=13 July 2023 |work=Sunday Pictorial |date=21 February 1926 |location=London |page=2}} Each earned a silver cup in August's London-to-Barnstaple trial, riding 2.25 horsepower BSA motorcycles.{{cite news |title=Twin Sisters' Fine Ride |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/807604008 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Sunday Pictorial |date=1 August 1926 |page=23}}{{cite news |title=Brilliant Girl Riders |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/790023046 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Daily Mirror |date=2 August 1926 |page=15}} A few weeks later, Nancy Debenham came out on top in a 200-mile reliability trial organized by the London Motor Cycling Club involving about 40 riders, mostly men.{{cite news |title=Champion Test Rider |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/315313252 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=The Daily News Leader |agency=Associated Press |date=9 September 1926 |page=4}}
In 1929, the pair made a wager with racing driver Kaye Don that they could complete a 2,000 mile tour without spending any of their own money.{{cite news |title=Girls' 2000-mile motor cycle tour |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/783570366 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Birmingham Gazette |date=20 Feb 1929 |page=3}} They set off south from London in February, but were forced to turn back due to snow. Having already completed 600 miles in wintery conditions, and earned a few shillings helping stranded motorists, they headed north and encountered better weather. They made more money by posing for photographs and writing about their journey, and at one point delivered a tyre for a local garage in exchange for petrol and oil.{{cite news |title=2000 mile venture |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/793693779 |access-date=12 July 2023 |work=Citizen |date=14 February 1929 |location=Gloucester |page=6}}
Writers
In 1928, the Debenhams published a book entitled Motor-Cycling for Women. Based on their extensive experience, the slim book is part travel guide, part manual, and part shopping guide.{{cite web |last1=McEwan |first1=Jo-Ann |title=REVIEW: Motor-Cycling for Women (1928) |url=https://invenusveritas.com/the-petrolettes-blog/2020/3/29/review-motor-cycling-for-women-1928 |website=In Venus Veritas |language=en-AU |date=29 March 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Youngs |first1=Tim |title='Take out your machine': Narratives of Early Motorcycle Travel |journal=New Directions in Travel Writing Studies |date=2015 |pages=145–160 |doi=10.1057/9781137457257_10 |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137457257_10 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-56767-6 |language=en}}
{{blockquote|Motor-cycling is an ideal hobby for the tired business girl. She can seek health and pleasure during her precious week-ends by exploring the countryside and the seaside. She can gather her violets and primroses from the woods instead of buying them in jaded twopenny bunches, and her whole week-end's holiday need only cost her the price of her return fare to Brighton.}}Betty Debenham was press secretary for the London Ladies' Motor Club.{{Cite web |date=2017-11-30 |title=London Ladies Motorcycle Club (founded in 1927) |url=https://ietarchivesblog.org/2017/11/30/london-ladies-motorcycle-club-founded-in-1927/ |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=IET Archives blog |language=en}}
Later life
Betty Debenham went on to become a golf writer for the Daily Sketch{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=Ben |title=Good Bounces and Bad Lies |date=1 May 2005 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-9854-5 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_p3xgI4TGusC&pg=PA22 |language=en}} and, in 1938, was a founding member of the Association of Golf Writers.{{cite web |title=Betty Debenham – AGW Member (1938 – ?) |url=https://www.agwgolf.org/betty-debenham-agw-member-1938/ |website=Association of Golf Writers |access-date=12 July 2023}}
References
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Category:Year of death missing
Category:English motorcycle racers
Category:British motorcycle pioneers
Category:Motorcycle trials riders
Category:Female motorcycle racers
Category:English non-fiction writers
Category:English women non-fiction writers