CTC and the UK's national cyclists' organisation are the trading names of the Cyclists' Touring Club.
The Bicycle Touring Club was founded at Harrogate, Yorkshire, on 5 August 1878 by an Edinburgh medical student, Stanley Cotterell. It was originally called the Bicycle Touring Club and its headquarters were wherever Cotterell happened to be living. It had 80 members, all men. The first woman, a Mrs. W. D. Welford, joined in 1880.
In 1883, the Bicycle Touring Club was renamed the Cyclists' Touring Club to open membership to tricyclists. Membership rose to 10,627 and CTC opened a headquarters at 139-140 Fleet Street, London EC4.