May 17, 1922 Dorothy Levitt, speed queen and gambler, dies
Dorothy Levitt had it all in 1908. Feted as Britain’s fastest woman, the 26-year-old had won motor races across Europe. She had a house in Marylebone, sporty cars, glamorous friends and the ear of sports writers and gossip columnists alike.
How then did Levitt become a persona non grata, found dead in her bed by a neighbour having just turned 40?
The story is far from clear. In her book, The Woman And The Car – in which she gave advice for female drivers, including carrying both a revolver and a hand mirror for looking behind, the first known use of a rear-view mirror – Levitt writes that she grew up in the countryside, riding to hounds, shooting and fishing.
There was no country house, nor a hunting pedigree. Levitt was born Elizabeth Dorothy Levi in Islington in 1882, to Jewish parents. She spent her early years close to her paternal grandparents in Hackney, where her father worked as a tea merchant. It was he who changed their family name from Levi to Levitt, and his own name from Jacob to John.
The Levis were prosperous, employing several servants at the time of the 1901 census. This was not a rags-to-riches tale, more an obscuring of a background that did not fit with the image of Englishness that Levitt wanted to portray.
Levitt’s fame soared in an era in which Britain had no permanent motor circuits. Speed trials run along beach promenades were her favourite events and she won races in a mighty 80hp Napier car against the leading men, as well as setting speed records for driving between London and Liverpool.
But by September 1920 her life had descended into chaos, amid bad company. Summoned to court following a police raid on a property near Hyde Park, “on premises used as a common gaming house”, Levitt, described as having no occupation and living on Upper Baker Street, was among 10 people found at baize tables with “money, cards and treasury notes”. The ringleader was Antonio Domenico, an Italian restaurant owner who had been bound over several times in London and Brighton, and threatened with deportation. His co-conspirator was the notorious “nightclub queen” Kate Meyrick.*
Levitt’s quirks and comments were seized upon by the media as much as her results. As early as 1903, she was summoned to court for speeding, later claiming that she wished she had “knocked the policeman down”. A year later came the debut of her mascot, a black Pomeranian named Dodo, who rode alongside her in the car and allegedly bit an RAC observer. Her rivals in the Hereford Trial tried to ridicule her by driving with toy dogs stuck to their cars; she gave them dog biscuits.
One factor in her success probably also led to her downfall. Selwyn Francis Edge, managing director of the Napier motor company, provided her cars. She had been employed as a typist at the Napier works in 1901 and later became Edge’s secretary. The relationship between them was probably romantic as well as professional. He had separated from his wife, Eleanor, herself a keen motorist, and the society pair were seen together by gossip columnists.
After supporting Levitt initially, by 1907 Edge had shifted his attention to the new racing circuit at Brooklands, where he attempted to set a string of speed and distance records. But Brooklands did not allow females to compete against men, and Levitt was sidelined and finally set adrift in 1908.
For a while, she thrived as a motoring writer and advocate for the female motorist. She wrote for several local newspapers and even branched out into general journalism, composing a diatribe against the wearing of corsets in 1910. In 1909, she stated she was embarking on a career as a pilot, but no licence has ever been found. After that, things started to go very wrong.
Between 1913 and 1919, Levitt simply vanishes. The next we know of her, she is registered in 1920 as living in Baker Street, the flat where she died. Levitt described herself as a gambler in her book, with her own system for winning at roulette and an eye for horses. She was by no means destitute at the time of her death, leaving the equivalent of several thousand pounds to her sister Elsie. On her death certificate, heart disease, morphine poisoning and measles are listed as contributing factors. One thing is clear, her luck did not last.
In 1903, she was summoned to court for speeding, later claiming she wished she had ‘knocked the policeman down’