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Samuel Franklin Cody
Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 6 March 1867 – 7 August 1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight.
He is most famous for his work on the large kites known as Cody War-Kites, that were used by the British before World War I as a smaller alternative to balloons for artillery spotting. He was also the first man to fly an aeroplane built in Britain, on 17 October 1908. A flamboyant showman, he was often confused with Buffalo Bill Cody, whose surname he took when young.
Cody's early life is difficult to separate from his own stories told later in life, but he was born Samuel Franklin Cowdery in 1867, in Davenport, Iowa, where he attended school until the age of 12. Not much is known about his life at this time, although he claimed that during his youth he had lived the typical life of a cowboy. He learned how to ride and train horses, shoot and use a lasso. He later claimed to have prospected for gold in an area which later became Dawson City, centre of the famous Klondike Gold Rush.
In 1888, at 21 years of age, Cody started touring the US with Forepaugh's Circus, which at the time had a large Wild West show component. He married Maud Maria Lee in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and the name Samuel Franklin Cody appears on the April 1889 marriage certificate.
Cody arrived in Europe in 1890, claiming to be the son of the well-known William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, though in fact the two were unrelated. Cody, together with his wife, toured England with a shooting act. Maud used the stage name Lillian Cody, which she kept for the rest of her performing career. In London, they met Mrs Elizabeth Mary King (née Davis), wife of Edward John 'Ted' King, a licensed victualler, and mother of four children, Edward, Leon, Vivian and Liese. Mrs King had stage ambitions for her sons. In 1891, Maud taught the boys how to shoot, but then later returned to the USA alone. Evidence suggests that by the autumn of 1891, Maud was unable to perform with her husband because of injury, morphine addiction, the onset of schizophrenia, or a combination of these ills.
After Maud Cody returned to America, Mrs King left her husband and took up with Cody. She took her younger sons with her [Leon and Vivian] but left her daughter, Liese, with husband Ted who was in the early stages of Bright's disease. While in England, Cody and Mrs King lived together as husband and wife. She used the name Lela Marie Cody and was generally assumed to be his legal wife. Her younger sons, Leon and Vivian (King), were known as Cody. However, the marriage of Cody and Maud was never legally dissolved.
While in England, Cody, Lela and her sons Leon and Vivian toured the music halls, which were very popular at the time, giving demonstrations of his horse riding, shooting and lassoing skills. While touring Europe in the mid-1890s, Cody capitalized on the bicycle craze by staging a series of horse vs. bicycle races against famous cyclists. Cycling organizations quickly frowned on this practice, which drew accusations of fixed results. In 1898, Cody's stage show, The Klondyke Nugget, became very successful; it included Lela's eldest son Edward, who was known as Edward Le Roy, and her younger sons Leon and Vivian (King), who were known as Cody to save any embarrassment.
One of Lela's great-grandsons (and the grandson of Lela's daughter Lizzy 'Liese' King with her husband Edward King) is the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson.
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Samuel Franklin Cody
Samuel Franklin Cowdery (later known as Samuel Franklin Cody; 6 March 1867 – 7 August 1913, born Davenport, Iowa, USA) was a Wild West showman and early pioneer of manned flight.
He is most famous for his work on the large kites known as Cody War-Kites, that were used by the British before World War I as a smaller alternative to balloons for artillery spotting. He was also the first man to fly an aeroplane built in Britain, on 17 October 1908. A flamboyant showman, he was often confused with Buffalo Bill Cody, whose surname he took when young.
Cody's early life is difficult to separate from his own stories told later in life, but he was born Samuel Franklin Cowdery in 1867, in Davenport, Iowa, where he attended school until the age of 12. Not much is known about his life at this time, although he claimed that during his youth he had lived the typical life of a cowboy. He learned how to ride and train horses, shoot and use a lasso. He later claimed to have prospected for gold in an area which later became Dawson City, centre of the famous Klondike Gold Rush.
In 1888, at 21 years of age, Cody started touring the US with Forepaugh's Circus, which at the time had a large Wild West show component. He married Maud Maria Lee in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and the name Samuel Franklin Cody appears on the April 1889 marriage certificate.
Cody arrived in Europe in 1890, claiming to be the son of the well-known William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, though in fact the two were unrelated. Cody, together with his wife, toured England with a shooting act. Maud used the stage name Lillian Cody, which she kept for the rest of her performing career. In London, they met Mrs Elizabeth Mary King (née Davis), wife of Edward John 'Ted' King, a licensed victualler, and mother of four children, Edward, Leon, Vivian and Liese. Mrs King had stage ambitions for her sons. In 1891, Maud taught the boys how to shoot, but then later returned to the USA alone. Evidence suggests that by the autumn of 1891, Maud was unable to perform with her husband because of injury, morphine addiction, the onset of schizophrenia, or a combination of these ills.
After Maud Cody returned to America, Mrs King left her husband and took up with Cody. She took her younger sons with her [Leon and Vivian] but left her daughter, Liese, with husband Ted who was in the early stages of Bright's disease. While in England, Cody and Mrs King lived together as husband and wife. She used the name Lela Marie Cody and was generally assumed to be his legal wife. Her younger sons, Leon and Vivian (King), were known as Cody. However, the marriage of Cody and Maud was never legally dissolved.
While in England, Cody, Lela and her sons Leon and Vivian toured the music halls, which were very popular at the time, giving demonstrations of his horse riding, shooting and lassoing skills. While touring Europe in the mid-1890s, Cody capitalized on the bicycle craze by staging a series of horse vs. bicycle races against famous cyclists. Cycling organizations quickly frowned on this practice, which drew accusations of fixed results. In 1898, Cody's stage show, The Klondyke Nugget, became very successful; it included Lela's eldest son Edward, who was known as Edward Le Roy, and her younger sons Leon and Vivian (King), who were known as Cody to save any embarrassment.
One of Lela's great-grandsons (and the grandson of Lela's daughter Lizzy 'Liese' King with her husband Edward King) is the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson.