Evelyn Hamilton - c.1946

Evelyn Hamilton had a colourful career as a record breaking endurance cyclist as well as exploits in Paris during the war working for the resistance; hence the reference to Lorraine Cycles. She opened a shop before the war in Streatham, South London with her then husband Jack Hamilton although she was always referred to as Miss Hamilton. She apparently built her own bicycles, however the maker of her frames remains a mystery. Her relationship with Claud Butler is well known. She managed a professional cycling team for the 1947 Brighton to Glasgow race apparently made up of members from the Polhill RC. She maintained that she became interested in cycling after her cousin won the Tour de France in the 1920s. Who was that we ask? Charming film footage of her can be seen on line from the British Pathe website and still photos of her and her shop can be seen on http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.bannon1/evelynhamilton/