Rough Riders of the Midlands 1930s Wolverhampton

Hello everyone,

I’m a local lady with interests in genealogy and vintage memorabilia. In a local barn clearance I’ve very recently acquired an interesting item that has definitely been lost from Wolverhampton and I’m trying to find some more information about it as I believe it’s rather unique; I’m hopeful that someone on this forum might be able to help me 🙂

I have a presentation award/trophy that features the names of several prominent businessmen from 1930s Wolverhampton engraved onto small shields as follows:

J G Hogan 1935
C W Goodyear 1936
H T Fullwood 1937
J R Wilder 1938

It also features an engraved plaque stating “Rough Riders of the Midlands”, a brass horseshoe engraved with “George Stevens Founder 1932-1933”, and 4 unused shields. The award has a wooden base and the trophy is made up of a horse bit and two stirrups.

I am pretty convinced that the names are:

George Stevens from AJS, founding member of Wolverhampton Rotary Club

Charles Goodyear from Steelway, once vice-president of Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce.

Harold Fullwood from Staffs Motor Tyre Co, Alderman and Mayor of Wolverhampton 1952/53

J R Wilder, an elected member of Chamber of Commerce when Charles Goodyear was VP, business details not yet known.

J G Hogan, wine & beer merchant from Chapel Ash, otherwise details unknown.

Because of the use of the term “Rough Riders”, the horse parts on the trophy, and the dates stopping at 1938, I expected to find that these gentlemen were Yeomanry and perhaps the trophy was showing the winners from training/sports days but a decent dig around Fold3 & Ancestry.com hasn’t confirmed this theory and these guys were probably too old in 1930s to have been winning such physical challenges. As there is a different name every year, I think there is a possibility the names on the shields reflected the current chairman of their group, perhaps the group was linked with the Rotary Club or Masonic Hall, they may have had charitable aims to support the Yeomanry as military funds were dwindling after WW1. Because of George Stevens being the founder and the group starting up the year after AJS was taken over, I think the trophy is relevant to Motorcycle Scrambling as the term “Rough Riders” applied to motorbikes aswell as horseback.

Does anyone have any information to help my research? Maybe someone on here remembers hearing about a scrambling event or knows something about this seemingly exclusive group of gentlemen?

I intend to have the item refurbished and ensure it reaches a suitable shelf for display as I believe it is of historical significance. It would be fabulous to have the full story of these men and their group to accompany the display.

Thanks in advance for any help!!