Fairy motorcycles were produced from 1906 to 1908.
It was the anglicized name of the Fee, built by Joseph Barter of Bristol in 1905.
The machine had a 2.5hp flat-twin engine fitted high in a stock bicycle frame, with transmission by chain to a counter-shaft and clutch, then by belt to the rear wheel.
In 1907, after Joseph Barter had joined Douglas, the name was taken up by them.
The advertised address for The Fairy Motor Co., in April 1908 was 102, Westcombe Hill, Blackheath, S.E.
"The Fairy is the highest powered lightweight in the show, viz., 3 h.p. at 80 lbs. twin cylinders, horizontally opposed, with Simms-Bosch magneto. This machine also attains its gear reduction safely, as the engine drives a counter-shaft fixed in bearings at the bottom angle of the diamond frame by means of a chain, the drive being continued by belt. This machine is specially smooth running, and its carburetter is a sound device, with detachable jet."
The Stanley Show in The Motor Cycle, December 25th 1907.
Fee was a motorcycle produced in 1905 by Joseph Barter of Bristol.
Joseph Barter had produced a single-cylinder machine prior to this which he offered under his own name until, in 1905, he turned to a flat-twin engine. Later it was known as the Fairy and was the fore-runner of the Douglas.
The Fee engine was 2.5hp and mounted high in the frame of a stock with braced forks. It had a large flywheel on the left and the transmission was by chain to a countershaft. This carried a clutch and then went by belt to the rear wheel.
Within a year the name had been anglicized to Fairy.
Barter of Aston Gate, Bristol were motorcycles produced from 1902 to 1905.
Light Motorcycles
A very short article in The Motor Cycle of May 22nd 1907 shows a machine from Light Motorcycles of "180 Gray's In...", (remainder illegible). The address corresponds with that of Joseph John Barter, so this motorcycle appears to be another variation on the Fee and Fairy machines.
Discussion of Light Motorcycles here: douglasmotorcycles.net
Notes: 1. Bristol Evening World, quoted in icenicam.org.uk
Sources: Graces Guide, The Motor Cycle, et al.
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