The motor car craze fuelled a new class of journalist, says Jonathan Sale


HIT THE ROAD, HACKS


T


he 1890s saw the dawn of motoring – and the early morning of British motoring journalism. “It has been arranged that this,


the first column of notes devoted to the auto-car that has ever appeared in any English newspaper, shall be published in the Daily Mail every Wednesday.” This was the discreet announcement on September 13, 1899 on a page totally lacking, as was the usual practice, in illustrations or, indeed, anything that could be regarded as layout, just columns marching up and down in a sober sort of way. “All communications should be addressed to ‘The Man at the Wheel’, Daily Mail London E.C.” There have been 12 Men at the Wheel since then, not the least being Sir Malcolm Campbell, holder of the land speed record. The present and longest lasting scribe in the hot seat is the award-winning Ray Massey. He gets a come- hither layout and flattering mugshot, not to mention hard-to-beat headlines such as ‘How world’s fastest driver crashed at 100 mph – with me as passenger’ being just one example. Back in 1899, the pioneering piece, titled


‘The Coming Craze – Hints to Intending Motists [sic]’, confined itself to a reassuring language that was, like the potential motorists or motists, careful not to frighten the horses. Speaking of which, a car might seem expensive at £200 but “once purchased, the charge for upkeep of one of these carriages is nothing like that of a horse, and no coachman is required”. Ideally, a toff had both. Take Lord Shrewsbury,


who “uses his motor carriage for long journeys and to drive him to and from polo matches but still sticks to his [horse-drawn] phaeton for short drives.” Likewise equine-loving Lord Iveagh had not got rid of a single nag, “though he has many motor-cars”.


20 | theJournalist Furthermore, continued The Man in the


Victorian Driving Seat: “Motor-cars are invaluable for station work where a carriage has to go back several times a day fetching passengers and luggage… For shooting parties, they are excellent.” As Hamlet nearly said: “To mote or not to mote is the discussion in many households just now.” On the plus side, less technically minded readers were reminded that, unlike a horse, “a motor car cannot shy, run away, kick, bolt or rear”. A possible downside was spelled out under the


crosshead of ‘Cheap cars’: “Let me warn against the small, cheap German motor carriages” that


Red flags and road hogs and red flags


THE FIRST motorist believed to have set foot, or wheel, on one of our roads was the Hon (it helped to be well heeled) Evelyn Ellis (pictured). In 1895, he steered his Panhard et Levassor from Micheldever in Hampshire to his home in Datchet, Berkshire. “We passed 133 horses,” wrote his passenger in the Saturday Review. “They took it very well.” The second car on the


road was probably the 2hp Benz Velo belonging to coffee importer Henry Hewetson, who


was threatened by police with the Locomotives on Highways (‘Red Flag’) Act of 1865. He then, one


suspects, became the first driver to break the speed limit. He had hired a couple of lads to accompany him; one rode ahead on a bicycle to give warning of any coppers ahead, at which point the other would leap from the passenger seat to amble in front of the vehicle at not more than the regulation 4mph while cheekily waving a pencil to which


retailers were pressing upon customers because manufacturers offered unfairly generous profits. The point is proved by the following paragraph about a doctor who set off from London over a hilly route in his new German jalopy that turned out to lack any vital gizmo to prevent the vehicle from running backwards downhill and, as in this instance, tipping over sideways. Over a century later, Massey was to point the finger at a modern example of lethal manufacturing: ‘How your hi-tech car dashboard can kill you.’ ‘How safe are your tyres?’ asks another piece. Quizzed about his job, he replies,


was attached a two-inch-square piece of red linen. The first road hog to


be named and shamed in the local press after being nicked for speeding was Walter Arnold, who, roaring in his 15hp Benz-Velo through Paddock Wood, Kent, at all of 8mph,


passed the house of the local constable, who abandoned his dinner and chased him for an exhausting five miles on his bike. Arnold was charged with four motoring offences. Oddly enough, this did


not put him off from going into the motor trade – with Hewetson.


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