THE VELO-DOG

THE name Velo-dog, in its various guises, hints at the use to which this little pistol was to be put: to be carried on your ‘velocipede’ – or, as we know it today, your bicycle – to protect the rider. In the early days of cycling, around the 1870s, it was thought that protection would have been needed against robbers or footpads as bicycles were expensive, although this was more of a perception than a reality.

But as the century worn on and the threat of theft lessened, there were other problems to be encountered: dogs, especially wild ones, which attacked cyclists in the countryside and in the cities. A means to defend oneself while riding was necessary and a pistol could be a useful accessory, especially if it was small or pocket-sized. Some writers have queried the origin of the word Velo-dog, suggesting that the ‘Dog’ part was not a reference to our canine friends but a nod to the classic small British revolver commonly known as a ‘Bulldog’. In either case, the weapon is a small, pocket-sized one intended to be carried for protection.

In 1894, French gunmaker Charlesfrançois Galand, or possibly his son, René, designed just such a small revolver with a folding trigger, which used a 5.5mm cartridge. Although he was French and had a shop in Paris, his workshop was in Liège, so he registered the ‘Velo-dog’ trademark there in 1904. Many other gunmakers followed his lead with their own versions of the Velo-dog, especially in Belgium and Germany, which were both cheap and popular. The name ‘Velo-dog’ soon became a generic term for all pistols of this type, including small, noise-making cap guns. These revolvers, such as the ‘Le Novo’ (pictured) in the Royal Armouries collection, tended to be characterised by a folding trigger and, in the case of Le Novo, a folding butt, but they are also seen with both a fixed trigger and trigger-guard. The Le Novo was made by Galand at his facility in Liège but sold through his retail outlet in Paris and is marked as such. It is also dated 1905, its date of introduction.

The popularity of the Velo-dog in France survived into the early 20th century – apparently the French continued to have a problem with wild dogs. There is also a small cap-gun type of pistol that falls into the Velodog category, which is similar in effect to a starting gun, where the loud noise scares a predator or dog away. The Royal Armouries holds quite a few examples in its collections. They tend to have a blanked-off barrel, use caps and have no trigger guard. Bizarrely, there was even a type of Velo-dog revolver designed to fit into your bicycle handle-bar, in this case a pinfire version, made by French gunmaker Albert Joubert, though these are now considered quite rare.

The Le Novo revolver can be viewed by appointment at the

Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds, the national museum of arms and armour. Open 10am to 5pm (Wednesday to Sunday during term time; daily during school holidays). Admission is free. Tel 0113 220 1916; royalarmouries.org