The nineteenth-century
motorist project
Truly a horseless carriage, and being used essentially as a freak show, getting attention for advertising purposes. The soap is Sunlight’s. Image: Illustrated London News, 28 Nov. 1896, p. 729
Welcome!
This is a project to share thoughts on the who, the why and the how of the earliest of motorists. The 1890s and early 1900s was a time when ‘motoring’ was seen as much as a sport as a means of transport. ‘Motoring’ (or ‘moting’ as it was often called then) is taken in its widest sense here, and so means anything self-propelled. Motor cars and motorcycles were produced in a manner of shapes and sizes: there was yet to be any standardisation of design or mechanical layout.
What's new
23.8.23
Albert Charles ('Charlie') Hills (1864-1952) took part in the Thousand Mile Trial of 1900, accompanying R.E. Phillips on a 'Petit Duc' Mors. He left his early motoring memoirs, now transcribed.
See The Who
23.8.23
Updated list of nineteenth-century motorists published - now at 6,063
See The Who
15.8.22
Updated list of nineteenth-century motorists published - now at 5,400
See The Who
5.5.21
Updated list of nineteenth-century motorists published - now at 3,000
See The Who
18.3.21
Errata and Addenda to Craig Horner (ed.), The Cheshire Motor Vehicle Registrations, 1904-07 (2019)
See Events
26.2.21
Publication of
Craig Horner, The emergence of bicycling and automobility in Britain (Bloomsbury, 2021)
Information here
18.12.20
Mary Eliza Kennard (1850-1936) was a noted motorist and motorcyclist from 1899. She followed the Thousand Mile Trial of 1900 in her De Dion.
See The Who
11.12.20
Henry Benjamin Merton (1848-1929) had a ¾hp De Dion tricycle in about 1896 which he attempted to adapt to electric ignition. He features in the autobiography of Montague Grahame-White.
See The Who
6.3.20
Aubrey Richard Langton (1880-1957) applied to join the Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists in 1932 but his application was rejected. He claimed to have driven a 1½hp Ormonde motor bicycle and a 6hp belt-driven Benz prior to 1900.
See The Who
14.2.20
Capt Arthur James Mayne (1870-1947) applied to join the Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists in 1930, claiming to be the first in England to ride the newly imported Hildebrand and Wolfmüller motor cycle, in 1894. See The Who
1.2.20
Arthur Percy Strohmenger (1876-1943) applied to the Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists in 1928. He had driven Sperry and Elieson electric motor cars prior to 1900. See The Who
6.12.19
Charabanc advertisement from 1900 in the cycling press. See The What
11.10.19
Harold Keates Hales (1868-1942) was a member of the Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists, and drove a Beeston Humber and an International Benz before 1900. See The Who
4.10.19
Pennington's Autocar of 1897 is most famously pictured with nine people aboard... See The What
20.9.19
An autocar for desert use, made by Coulthards of Preston in 1897, intended for Australia. See The What
13.9.19
Cartoonists in magazines (here, G.H. Jalland) based some of their drawings on real vehicles, here a 1895 Kane-Pennington. See The What
6.9.19
The Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists was set up in 1928 and only allowed membership for men who had driven before April 1900.
The entertainment was quite shocking...
See The Who
30.8.19
Samuel Okell (1838-1932)
was probably the first to drive a motor car in Cheshire
See The Who
16.8.19
Walter Richard Randolph (b. c1881)
Walter applied to join the Circle of Nineteenth-Century Motorists on 10 January 1929 and was elected on 30 January. Being elected was a serious business - he had to provide evidence he had driven a motor vehicle prior to April 1900.
See The Who
