#the celebrated pedestrian

On May 8th 1854 the remarkable, Robert Barclay Allardice, known as “ the celebrated pedestrian“,died.

The Barclay family which founded Barclays Bank were descended from this 2nd Laird, he married Sarah Ann Allardice, a descendant of Robert II of Scotland and of the Earls of Airth, Menteith, and Strathearn. In recognition of the nobility of his wife’s family, Robert Barclay thenceforth took the surname of Allardice.

Several of the Barclay family were noted for unusual strength. The 1st Laird of Ury known as “Robert the Strong”  was reputed as one of the strongest men in the country at the time of the English Civil War, and Robert’s father was himself a noted pedestrian, who once walked 510 miles from the Ury Estate in Aberdeenshire, to London in 10 days, this would have been no mean task given there were no tarmac roads back then.

Oor “Captain” Barclay’s most notable achievement was walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours to win a bet!!

While still at Cambridge University, Robert undertook to walk from Fenchurch street, London to Birmingham via Cambridge, a distance of 150 miles, which he covered in two days in December 1799, to visit relatives. A few days later he made the return journey via Oxford in a similar time.

Most of Barclay’s later walks, like the 1,000 mile one, were due wagers with Robert Fletcher, the “Daft Laird”  His feats include, 1801 he walked 110 miles in 19 hr 27 min in a muddy park, 1802 walking 64 miles  in 10 hours, and this one makes me chuckle, in 1805 he walked 72 miles  between breakfast and dinner, in 1806 he walked 100 miles over “bad roads” in 19 hours and then in 1807, 78 miles on hilly roads in 14 hours.

I mentioned the wagers, and while his walks were extraordinary, he lost a lot of money to the Daft Laird and is described as throwing away good money after bad.

He is considered the father of the 19th century sport of pedestrianism, a precursor to racewalking, he was inducted into the Sport Scotland Hall of Fame in 2002

Barclay met his end on the 8th May 1854, dying of paralysis a few days after being kicked by a horse.

There is an excellent lengthy page all about Robert Barclay Allardice, “Captain Barclay”, his family and of course his wagers on the link below, however the date of death on this article is given as May 1st, rather than the 8th as on wiki.

http://donaldpfox.blogspot.com/2018/10/robert-barclay-allardice-captain.html