Hi
The vast majority of squirrel mascots are seen on either the front mudguard or the radiator cap. I have seen occasional ones on an otherwise unused steering damper mounting boss on vintage Flyer petrol/oil tanks, ie. just between the filler caps. Also one or two on Scott “kite shape” forks using the boss that the mudguard bolts to.
Brian

I had belived that the first reference to Squirrels in relation to Scott Motorcycles was in 1921 with the introduction of the Squirrel model. However posted elsewhere on the internet is a picture of what I think is two of the entrants in the 1911 A-CU Six Days Trial – follow this link:

https://www.whittingtonvillage.fsnet.co.uk/images/hodgkin/hodgkin00086.jpg

The picture was taken by Reverend Hodgkin, an early Scott (and other motorcycles) owner. I seem to remember that the bikes were identified as a 1911 model and a 1912 prototypoe and there are corresponding pictures of all three bikes in the team and their riders in John Underhill’s books.

The interesting and relevant thing here is the mascott on the top of the headlamp of the second bike – clearly a soft toy version of a Squirrel.

Perhaps the Squirrel name was adopted earlierand transferred to the sports model later. Certainly Jeff Clew suggests that the Six Days Trial ridders had some hand in the development of the Squirrel. Any comments, thoughts or proper information gratefully accepted !

Yes, I noticed the mascot on the Reverend Hodgkins photo too.   And unfortunately it does look more like a teddy bear than a squirrel   The Scott so adorned is AK18 which was Alfred’s machine.  A few thoughts on this…the Reverend took several photos with children (his own ?) playing on his various bikes in the field next to his house in Whittingham, with a particularly charming one of a young person (could be a boy or girl) sitting next to his clearly new 1910 Scott T503.  Perhaps one of the children donated the mascot ?

There are two photos of AK18 and BR16 with competition numbers (32) and (33) at this time.  The very high quality Hodgkin photo referred to above of two immaculate and shiny touring Scotts showing the mascot on AK18 and titled as being at Heysham Harbour awaiting the IOM ferry.  The other photo (Made to Limit Gauge ‘A’ 35) is described as the 1911 ACU 6 Days Trial in Carlisle with Frank Philip beside AK18 and Kit Parker of Kendal beside BR16.   An evening browsing the internet shows there was no 1911 6 Days Trial in Carlisle – it was in Harrogate and Alfred was involved as a course official on the route.   I cannot find a programme for the event on-line though.

Perhaps the Rev Hodgkin rode over to Harrogate ?   Perhaps he put (his son/daughters ?) mascot on Alfred’s machine just for the photo ?  Or perhaps it was Alfred’s or Frank’s soft toy all along ?

More research required – and underway !

That’s a great map of the event.   The easiest run for my 1950 Scott from Whittingham would be Settle but that might not be a lunch stop.   The photo of the hotel yard is bustling with activity, once the virus lockdown is over I’ll ride over to Settle and Appleby to see if there any architectural clues – the hotel doorway where the lady is leaning and watching all the activity is hopefully still extant.   High ceilings here !