Discover more about the little-known Army Cyclist Corps

Bob Preston's father, Herbert Preston, enlisted on November 30, 1914 for the Manchester Regiment and was transferred to the Army Cyclist Corps in 1915.

He rose to the rank of Lance Corporal and saw active service in battlefields all over the Western Front, from the Somme to Ancre, Bethune, Vimy, Nieuport and Arras.

Training for the Cyclist Corps was done on Salisbury Plain, in Larkhill and Bob explained cyclists had many different roles throughout the War.

“The cyclists were used as messengers, or if they wanted a few more men down the line they would head off on their bikes and cycle down there. He was a marksman too and had the crossed rifles as a badge, a cloth one. I don't think he was on the front lines though. He just told me he was there when the tanks were used for the first time in the CNBRI and when they were used in the Somme.”

Herbert first got involved in the Cyclist Corps during training in Heaton Park, Manchester, when volunteers were requested and he stepped forward to offer his help.

Bob Preston said his father told him volunteers had to prove they were good cyclists by pushing off with one foot on each side and demonstrating their cycling.

He said: “Father said it was hilarious because half of them couldn't even ride a bike so they kept falling off in front of everyone.”

Mr Preston said although his father didn't fight on the front lines, the tasks he undertook during the War were nonetheless important and he risked his life on several occasions.

He said: “Father didn't come out of the war unscathed, he was hit by a piece of shrapnel. It happened when they were told to fill sandbags up and put them alongside a canal which German troops had been flooding. The German troops knew they were doing it and sent over a whizz bang and one of those bits hit his hand. It didn't seem to hamper him though.

Interestingly, Herbert sent a Cyclist Corps Christmas card home to Bob's mother Rae in 1918, calling the places he fought “the long trail to happiness”.

Herbert Preston was demobilised in 1919 and on arrival in Southampton he telegrammed Rae on her birthday to let her know he would be back in Manchester soon after.

“He must have sent it on February 7 on purpose to make her happy,” Bob said.

Herbert was transferred to the reserves in March 1919 and worked at a bleach and dye plant for many years after.

“He didn't do a lot of cycling after the war but father was a good cricketer and footballer and during the war he was sent to do BEF recreational training in Le Clipon in 1917. He received a badge after playing against the French and he said they were considering playing football in Antwerp, but it was called off.”

Mr Preston recalled riding his father's bike throughout his childhood.

“Most of the cyclists found their bikes broke or were totally unstable in the conditions so they left them at the side of the road, but father brought his back. As a child my sister sat me on the saddle with my hands stretched out as far as I could get to the handlebars. My feet were nowhere near the pedals. She took me onto the drive and I went down the hill riding the bicycle until I hit the pair of gates and fell off.

“It was a horrendously heavy thing and quite difficult to ride, the tyres were thick and flat and there were fixed gears on the pedals so if you stopped pedalling it skidded.”

When asked how he would like Herbert to be remembered, Bob said: “He lived to his nineties and was an excellent father. I had a good childhood, I was lucky to live five miles from the city of Manchester in a village called Rhodes surrounded by green fields.”