On this page I am putting up a few notable moments in Olley history that left some trace in newspapers, books, web pages etc. and where appropriate in the memories of my relatives or from the family bible. This crest is found in our family bible, but I am not certain of its provinance or what conditions under which it was attached to the name (I have seen the identical crest used by other Olleys on the internet).
In all cases I mostly am limiting what I post here to what comes up through internet searches and other such public channels. It is quite possible more was written about various Olleys in contemporary publications that have not been scanned into archives, that are not in the public domain, or both. More may appear and I may be alerted to more.
Bruce Antony Olley (1919-1981) was my longest lived great uncle. Born May 6th, 1919, he served in the East Lancashire Regiment during World War II (as attested here). He worked for the Daily Mail and if I understand correctly his last position there was Advertisement Director, he died September 16th, 1981 (notice here).
Michael G. Olley (1917-1943) was another great uncle and the source of my brother's first name. Born August 26th, 1917. He died serving as an RAF pilot in World War II, flying a mosquito over France which crashed on or around March 10th, 1943 exact manner unknown. He was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross. His grave is in Le Mans Cemetery, France. A picture of the grave is found here. The awarding of his Air Force Cross was approved on June 2nd, 1943 as announced in the supplement to the London Gazette available here.
Donald Olley (1910-1935) was my great uncle and the partial source of one of my middle names (another great uncle was Donald Arnold). Born August 29th, 1910 (or possibly 1908, the family bible gives two years for his birth) was a British journalist who worked overseas for the Times of Ceylon and was a subeditor at the Daily Mail at the time of his death. He died tragically on April 21st 1935. He died in an unsuccessful attempt to save a small girl who was drowning in the Thames. His heroism was recongized by the Carnegie Trust (of the British Isles as opposed to that of North America). As of 2014 I was only able to find one document on the internet relating to him this article from the Strait Times (28 May, 1935, page 19), which has been archived and curated by the Singapore government.
G. A. Olley (1881-1947) was my great grandfather and I partially derive my other middle name, George, from him along with being born on Saint George's Day. Born April 21st, 1881, G. A. Olley earned the titles "Vegetarian Crack" and "Fruitarian Cyclist" because of his vegetarianism and the fact that he held several long distance cycling records and titles between 1899 and 1910, when he was in his 20s. Accounts of his exploits appear in various vegetarian publications and as well as cycling news and advertisements.
G. A. Olley was a member of several cycling clubs including Anerley Bicycling Club, The Polytechnic Cyclkng Club and the Vegetarian Cycling Club. The Vegetarian Cycling Club continues to this day and their history page includes a very brief mention of his membership. From the accounts that survive we can surmise that G. A. Olley freely ate dairy products and eggs and so was not a vegan in modern parlance (or to put it another way he was a lacto-ovo-vegetarian). Note that my family did not remember his vegetarianism and were simply cognizant of his cycling record. His feats included the record for the Land's End to John O'Groat run (from the Southern to Northern tip of the Isle of Great Britain), which he managed to hold twice, in 1903 and 1905. I have only ever found the time for the second ride as 3 days, 5 hours (77 hours) and 20 minutes, the first ride apparently took 15 hours longer (so around 92 hours and 20 minutes). He made use of several fixed gear bicycles of different gearing through the course of the trip. Some other record times are 8 hours 31 minutes for the round trip London to Portsmouth (143 miles), 12 hours over 193 miles along Southern roads, 151 miles in 6 hours and 277 miles in 12 hours (these records were recorded at or before 1903), the 50 mile record at 2 hours, 15 minutes and ones second (in 1905) London to Edinburgh (382 miles) in 27 hours and 11 minutes (the record circa 1905), and the 1000 mile unpaced road record at 4 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes (circa 1907).
I have done a quick skim of the vegetarian publications that mention G. A. Olley and it make for suggestive reading. Although ethical considerations in favour of vegetarianism (and against animal cruelty) are prominent, the celebration of sports figures like G. A. Olley suggests some other considerations. One question that such atheletic success answered was whether such a diet was compatible with healthy living. If it were enimical to human health then this could counter vegetarianism's appeal to ethical considerations. The success of atheles like Olley affirms that a vegetarian diet is consistent with health. But another current is also suggested that a diet of meat is unnatural, impure and therefore unhealthy. The success of vegetarian atheletes can be used in this line to suggest their diet gives them an edge over their opponents. For example the 1905 book Strength and Diet: a Practical Treatise with Special Regard to the Life of Nations by R. Russel contained accounts of various exceptional vegetarian athletes and of G.A. Olley (on pages 537-538) it is suggested that he was only of ordinary speed until he gave up meat at which point he became exceptional. However the argument appears somewhat beside the point as an argument for vegetarianism since presumambly few vegetarianism would be converted to eating meat by the promise of an athletic edge.
The rhetoric of pure and natural food and better food for all suggests how health focused vegetarianism shades into broader programs of food and health reform including eugenic movements of the period. This is exemplified by the magazine Good Health. This edition incudes a profile of George A. Olley providing a great deal of information about him. The magazine is not a vegetarian publication, but does favourably mention some vegetarian restaurants and this suggests to me along with their profile of the Vegetarian Crack a certain connection between the movements.
Tellingly Good Health also includes a quick editorial comment endorsing laws requiring certification of health in order to enter into marriage. While not in-line with the simple genetic determinism usually associated with eugenics, it is a eugenical idea that healthy parents would have healthy and unhealthy parents unhealthy children no matter what the determinant of health. While I have never studied the history of eugenics, osmosis from those who have and the occassional cursiory reading suggests it is a far broader movement then usually conceived in the popular mind and while xenophobia and racism played their part or were thinly concealed by some aspects of the movements, other aspects admitted far more complex and well founded concerns and aspirations such as concerns for promoting public health and that is suggested here.
According to my grandmother G. A. was an arrogant sort, who in their only encountered ordered her to cook some meat while the men (GA and my grandfather) talked. One public story survives that is suggestive of this character in this little ancedote from the The Century of the Wheel: 1889-1989 history of the De Laune Cycling Club by one Mike Rabbetts.
George Le Grys claimed to have followed him [Olley] through the gates of the Catford track one afternoon, when the champion had "his bike in one hand and a nice young lady on the other."
The Cockney ticket collector barred Olley's way and said: "Where's your ticket?"
The champ. replied, in his lordly manner: "I'm Olley!" - to which the ticket man responded: "I don't care if you're Mistletoe - I want your ticket!
This exchange confused me and my family for awhile until someone realized that in the cockney dialect the "h" in holly would be dropped rendering "olly" and so the ticket conducters response. My great-grandfather apparenlty never shed his lordly manner, although he did give up vegetarianism.
He died January 29th, 1947.
Sources:
An extensive write up on the Carwardine cup by a member oof the Anerley Bicycle Club that G. A. won and took possession of for many years until after his death his son (my Great Uncle Bruce) returned the item to him. The author consulted me although I think he knew more than I did.
Good Health vol. 1 no. 12.
The Herald of the Golden Age, January 1905 and July 1907.
Souvenir of Mr. H. Green's Wonderful Record, an advertisement for Raleigh Fricoaster Bicycle that includes many details on Olley's and others trips from Land's End to John O'Groats but not the actual time.
A rough biography of Australian cyclist Sir Hubert Opperman, gives us a specific time for the Land's End to John O'Groats but in a different year and otherwise at odds with the Raleigh advertisement I have decided the Anerly Bicycle club has the most reliable dates as they had access to an extensive account of Olley's ride.
An article from the Queenslander, September 26, 1914, detailing some cycling records and mentioning G. A. Olley.
Another brief mention in the Queenslander, Saturday November 1, 1902, for breaking the 12 hour Southern road record
A photo of G A Olley starting.
A quick mention of G A Olley's 12 hour cycling record as a comparison to the accomplishments of a woman cyclist of the same era in The Sports Historian, No. 15, pp. 54-59.
A quick mention of G A Olley on the Anerley Bicycle club website.
A picture of GA Olley in trunks as a physical specimen is on sale from e-bay.
Alfred George Olley (1846-1919) was my great-great-grandfather and the oldest ancestor on the Olley family tree I have access to. Born July 28th, 1846, I am pretty sure he was an architect as this was the profession listed in his marriage notice, which matches the marriage recorded in the family bible so I know it is the same Alfred Olley. He married Alice Elizabeth Finch (1848-1910) May 14th, 1872 and the notice could be viewed here at one point, but is now behind a paywall (or maybe I just relied on what google excerpts when you search and find this).
I have found two other probable references to Alfred. One is a notice dissolving the partnership between George Cavin and Alfred George Olley as Auctioneers, Estate Agents, Architects and Surveyors out of Fleet street, London in Middlesex, Wimbeldon and Surrey counties on the 4th of July, 1876. This is almost certainly the same Alfred given the same middle name, the rarity of the last name Olley, the similarity of profession and the geographic location (Alfred lived around Wimbeldon for at least some of his life). The second reference is to an Alfred George Olley in charge of auctioning off four cottages pursuant to the outcome of a court case (another notice found in the London Gazette, in this instance page 1642 of the March 10th, 1896 edition, keen observers may notice the Gazette seems to be the place of public record and so referred to on this site several times).
An intriguing possible further reference to Alfred that would also connect him to a much more extensive genealogy is the reference on this website to an Alfred George Olley born the same year. The Alfred in question has a different death year, but this is prefixed with an e meaning according to the website's glossary it is an estimate.
Alfred George Olley died October 8th, 1919 and was buried at St. Mary's Church Wimbledon.