Belgium, Ghent. A 1900 shooting award medal from the Royal Cody Club (Samuel Franklin Cody, 1867-1913)

“Cody Circle” (1895)

In 1895, Madame Lenka, the director of a permanent circus in Ghent known as “De Hippodroom” or “De Drie Sleutels” (located in the vicinity of Sint Amandsplein, Kattenberg, and St-Amandsstraat), invited the King of Cowboys, Samuel Franklin Cody, and his family to perform as guests of honor at her circus (March 20–28, 1895). The performance, which centered on a shootout, must have been particularly well-received, as on June 1, 1895, several shooters from Ghent founded our Cody Club.
Samuel Franklin Cody (originally Cowdery) was an American adventurer who grew up among cowboys, who taught him how to shoot, ride horses, and survive in the Wild West. He changed his name to Cody, which led to confusion with the real “Buffalo Bill,” William Cody, in order to promote himself as a show business performer. He traveled with his show throughout America and Europe. While in Europe, his wife, Maud Maria Lee, suffered a serious accident and returned to America alone.

Cody continued his show business career with his girlfriend, Lela Blackburn Davis, and her three children. On September 17, 1895, in Basel, she gave birth to a son, whom they named Samuel Franklin Leslie Cody. Later, Cody became interested in aviation and went on to become one of Britain’s most important aviation pioneers. On May 16, 1908, he made the first powered flight on English soil. In the years that followed, Cody won numerous awards (the Michelin Cup, the Circuit of Britain, the Military Biplane Trials, etc.). However, on Thursday, August 7, 1913, things went wrong. During a training flight, the plane broke apart, and Cody and his passenger did not survive the crash. Cody was the only civilian in England to be buried with military honors and was given a rather grand grave at the military cemetery in Aldershot. His only son, Leslie, enlisted in the 41st Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). On January 23, 1917, he was shot down during an aerial battle over Boezinge by Lieutenant von Bülow. Leslie was buried in Zillebeke near the China Wall at the cemetery in Perth.

source: https://www.royalcody.be/club.html#geschiedenis