Men of the Cycle Trade.


MR. ANDREW G. RENNIE, GLASGOW. To say that you do not know Mr Andrew G. W. Rennie. of Glasgow, is to acknowledge that you are very ignorant, indeed, of cycling and the cycle trade of Scotland. For a longer time, perhaps, than any other man he has been before cyclists and the cycling public as a rider, a member of the trade, a clubman, and a legislator.

It is now many years ago since Mr Rennie first entered the cycle trade. That was in the warehouse of Messrs Burns, Crawford, & Co. of Glasgow, where, being well known as a cyclist, he was soon appointed to manage the cycle department, a branch which at that time was a very flourishing one with the well-known firm, but now given up. From Messrs Burns, Crawford, & Co.’s, Mr Rennie went to the Howe Company out at Bridgeton where he served under the then manager, Mr James Robertson, now head of the North British Machine Company of Glasgow. Here the subject of our sketch stayed for a considerable pine. But the desire to go further ahead was always upon him, and he opened a fine big depot of his own in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, and soon laid the foundation of  a connection which has been his ever since. After being a considerable time in Sauchiehall Street he migrated to the "mecca " of the Glasgow cycle trade, Mitchell Street, being indeed the first to follow Messrs Jennings into that now classic locality of cycle industry. Mr Rennie carried on business here till the Premier Company took over his depot, and appointed him the company's manager for Scotland, with the depot under his supervision. This arrangement held good till the Griffiths Corporation came on the scene, when it took over Mr Rennie and the depot. He remained with the Griffith Corporation till it retired from the Scottish trade, when Mr Rennie took over the former Glasgow depot of the company. This, in conjunction with Mr Prosser, who was previously Griffiths Glasgow manager, he still retains, the firm now being Rennie & Prosser (Limited).

Mr Rennie is equally well known as a clubman, and has been closely connected with the Northern C.C. of Glasgow from its earliest days, and it is not too much to say it is to him more than anybody else that its present existence is due. He has been a member of the Cyclists' Touring Club since it was the Bicycle Touring Club, and, as my readers are aware, that was not yesterday – in fact, it is eighteen years ago. For a time be was one of the representative Councillors for the Grouped Counties of Scotland, and latterly was Chief-Consul of the County of Bute. He was one of the earliest agitators for the establishment of a Scottish Cyclists' Union, and one of its original founders, holding the post of general secretary, He still continues a member of the General Council, and at the present time is chairman of the Racing Board. A secretary of the company which annually promotes the Glasgow Cycle Trade Show, he comes into contact with many members of the trade, both in Scotland and England, and the success of the show is not a little owing to the energy and ability which he displays in the execution of his duties at wielder of the secretarial pen.

These are a few of the onerous multifarious duties which Mr Rennie's offices entail upon him, and, added to them, he his lately taken up another that will take up a lot of his time and ability - the organisation of a charity meeting in aid of the War and Indian Famine Funds.