Willard Sawyer ³⁷

  General Notes:

Willard Sawyer Velocipede Factory Picture--
The building itself has a chequered past. In the 19th
century it belonged to Dover based Willard Sawyer,
the internationally famous velocipede inventor and
builder. He used it as a second factory to manufacture
his machines until they were superseded by "penny
farthings" and bicycles.

During the Great War it became a stable for two
horses in the Armoury, and twenty-four mules, twelve
on each side of the courtyard. Tackle and food were
kept at the front part of the building. The animals
were used to move stores and ammunition around the
great military training camps that were adjacent to
this area. Some remnants of the stables and mule
sheds can still be seen.

It later became a builders' workshop and yard. The cottage next door was
once part of the whole property.


Quadricycle Picture --
Dover, U.K., ca 1850. Loaned by the National Museum
of Science and Technology, Canada.
One of Willard Sawyer's superbly crafted four-wheelers.
Sawyer was probably the leading velocipede maker of his generation.
He and his workmen assembled them in small lots from stock parts.

Willard married.