Newsletter No 29 - VMCC - Isle of Man

Bert Houlding: TT Pioneer
No doubt Canon Basil Davies, the celebrated "Ixion", is the most well known
ecclesiastical personage whose literary efforts have graced the pages of the
motorcycle journals. But not too far behind him is the Reverend John
Hodgkin, who was inducted as Curate of Whittington (just outside
Lancaster) in 1905. In the years preceding the Great War, Hodgkin indulged
himself in his twin passions: motorcycling and photography.
Hodgkin on his 1910 two-speed Scott of 450cc,
with water cooled heads and air cooled barrels
The Reverend appears to have owned a host of pioneer machines, such as
Singer, Scott and NSU models, and to have observed a number of local hill
climbs and reliability trials. He also photographed these events and
contributed both reports and illustrations to "Motor Cycling". Indeed there
are hints that he contributed articles under the guise of "Cyclops" - one of
classic motorcycling journalism's most famous pseudonyms, alongside the
likes of "Michael Kirk".
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