Jessie Ennis

Jessie Ennis born Jessie Rosina Hole (19 September 1908 – 2006) was a British motorcycle trials rider, stunt rider and founder of the London Ladies' Motor Club.

Early life Jessie Rosina Hole was born in Battersea on 19 September 1908. Her father was George Hole who managed the Gas Light and Coke Company gas works in Battersea. She had an elder brother, William George Hole, who was christened on the same day as his sister at St Mary Magdalene, Littleton, Shepperton, Surrey on 14 December 1913.

Motorcycling William decided to resurrect a Douglas motor bike. Jessie was eleven, the First World War was ending and that was where the motor bike had come from. The bike was coloured khaki and rust and it needed serious attention. She saw a lot as she watched her brother, who was five years older than her, restore the bike to working order.

She had her own 600cc Scott Flying Squirrel motorbike when she was sixteen.

In 1926 or 1927 she founded the London Ladies' Motor Club which was a women's motorcycle club. The club president was Kathleen Pelham Burn (Countess of Drogheda), and Betty Debenham acted as the press secretary. Mrs Victor Bruce and Violette Cordery. Downes hoped that her example would be followed, and his motorcycle company would attract more women owners. This competition was part of a meet organised by the Essex Motor Club and saw Jill Scott (under her married name Mrs W. B. Scott) record a speed of 1141/4 mph, a record at the time for a woman on that course.

She met her husband William "Bill" Ennis when she asked him to fix her car at a race meeting. They married in 1939.

Ennis drove ambulances during the war and afterwards she formed a stunt team with her brother. She retired from motorcycling in 1951.

Death and legacy

Ennis died in 2006. There is a display of her trophies at the Brooklands museum.