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. Her brother tested the bike on the cinder track of the gas works and then he allowed his younger sister to try it out. She was so small that her brother had to keep up with her so that he could catch the bike when she stopped.