Stanley Cotterell

Who is Stanley Cotterell?

Stanley John Ambrose Cotterell founded the Bicycle Touring Club at Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 5 August 1878, while he was a medical student. Its headquarters were wherever he happened to be living. By 1883, the Bicycle Touring Club was renamed the Cyclists' Touring Club to open membership to tricyclists.

Cotterell was born in 1857 in Ilfracombe, Devon, and studied medicine in Edinburgh. One of Cotterell's earliest tasks at the Cyclists Touring Club was to set up the first network of hotels. He enlisted members' help and appointed regional officials such that by 1881 he had 785 establishments under contract with the CTC, offering fixed tariffs, reserved rooms and exclusive lounges for cyclists to use.