Victor John Surridge (1891-1911)
1891 Born in Ongar
1911 Motor Engineer, lived in Ongar with his parents John Surridge (age 43), motor and cycle engineer, employer, and Beatrice Surridge (age 41).[1]
1911 June 17th. 'Yet to-day it has just achieved one of the most remarkable triumphs in its career by a young man, Victor Surridge, a youth of only nineteen, travelling for 60 miles in one hour round Brooklands on a 499 cubic centimetres, otherwise 3.5 horse-power, Standard Rudge-Whitworth motor-bicycle, a triumph which was a repetition of a performance he did a week previously. This is the first time that any motor-cycle of such comparatively small engine capacity has travelled as much as 60 consecutive miles in an hour.'[2]
1911 June 30th. Died at the 1911 Isle of Man TT Races - the first rider to be killed. 'The forthcoming motor-cycle Tourist Trophy races in the Isle of Man have been preceded by sad tragedy. Victor Surridge, while practising near Glen He'en this morning, was killed. The accident occurred while Surridge, who was twenty-two years of age, was taking a difficult turning on Cregwilly’s Hill, the rider dashing into a hedge and breaking his neck. The gradient of the hill is very steep, and the road is of a winding character. This the first fatal accident that has occurred in connection with the Tourist Trophy races.'[3] 'Mr. Victor Surridge, aged 19, son of Mr. T. Surridge, of Ongar, was killed in a motor cycle accident in tho Isle of Man. He was practising for the forthcoming race. When the sad news became known in Ongar expressions of sympathy with the family wore heard on every hand. Victor Surridge was well known, and his family are held great esteem.'[4]