Motor pioneers called in during 1,000-mile rally
MANY of the people in these photographs may well have been looking at the first motor cars they had seen.
The scene inside Cheltenham Winter Gardens was captured on camera between 1.30-3pm on Wednesday April 25, 1900 where the 1,000 mile rally, organised with military precision by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, made a scheduled stop.
The 84 machines that took part, which included cars, motorcycles, tricycles and buses, represented 10 per cent of all the motor vehicles in Britain at the time.
And while they were parked in the Winter Gardens or outside in Imperial Gardens, their owners had lunch in the Queen’s Hotel just over the road.
In late Victorian Britain the arrival of automobiles was frowned upon in official circles.
Mechanically powered road vehicles were required to have three drivers on board, they had to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag and there was a speed limit of three miles per hour.
None of this aided the development of the motor car.
These restrictions were eased in 1886 when the Red Flag Act was withdrawn and the speed limit raised to eight miles per hour in towns, 12 miles per
hour in the country.
Cars were so expensive only the great and good could possibly afford to indulge in the hobby.
One such was the newspaper magnate Alfred Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe, who cajoled the Automobile Club into organising a long distance event that would promote public interest in this novel mode of transport.
Motor vehicles were forbidden to race on Britain’s roads, so the rally was arranged with a promise from Harmsworth to publicise and finance it.
The event began on April 23, continued until May 12 and entrants followed a course that covered daily distances of between 61 and 122 miles over a course that totaled 1,060 miles through England, Wales and Scotland.
Among those taking part were Herbert Austin, founder of the car company that bore his name, John Scottmontagu MP, who became Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, and the Hon Charles Stuart Rolls of Monmouth, cofounder of the most famous marque in the world.
The sole women driver was Mrs Louise Bazalgette.
The rally started from Grosvenor Place, London, and moved on to Bristol.
From there the vehicles chugged their way to Cheltenham and 58 arrived to take part at 1.30pm in the display, at which the photograph on this page was taken before heading off for the next stop in Birmingham.
Just 48 of the starters completed the course from London to Edinburgh and back with the winner’s gold medal being awarded to C S Rolls in a French Panhard.
Only four years before, C S Rolls had a hairy experience in Gloucestershire when driving from London to stay with his parents in Monmouth for Christmas.
As he was steering his open topped Peugeot up Birdlip Hill the engine stalled and the brakes failed.
Rolls rolled back down the steep slope, gathering speed all the while – and no doubt looked distinctly pale by the time he reached Brockworth.
He stayed overnight at The New Inn in Gloucester while his car was repaired, but this did not turn out to be a happy occasion either.
The mechanic who brought Rolls’ car to the inn left it in gear.
Consequently, when Rolls gave the starting handle a swing the engine fired and his troublesome Peugeot lurched across the road to collide with a fruit and vegetable seller’s stall.