By Godfrey Vijay

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In 1851, George Townsend established a sewing needle making mill named “Givry Works” in Hunt End, near Redditch, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands of England.

The Wednesday, June 25, 1862, issue of Worcestershire Chronicle reported that George Townsend and Co., of Girvey Works, exhibited needles made for sewing machines.

In 1880, George Townsend and Co., the needle manufacturers advertised a “Needle Case.”

After 1880, George Townsend’s son also named George, invented a saddle for bicycles that used only one length of wire in the two springs and in the framework. This saddle was patented and marketed as the “Townsend Cyclists Saddle And Springs.”

In 1882, after George Townsend died, his son, George Townsend Jr, and his half-brother bought into Givry Works. They manufactured a crude bicycle. Then they started making components including saddles and forks for cycle manufacturers.

By 1886 complete bicycles were being sold under…