EXCLUSIVE CIRCLE: From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
Of all the clubs or associations of motorists that have been formed, perhaps the most interesting, and certainly the most exclusive, was the Circle of 19th Century Motorists. The Circle - to quote from its application form - was "A fellowship/circle of men who owned/or drove a motor vehicle prior to the conclusion of the 1,000 Mile Trial of 1900, on April 15th of that year". Founded in 1927 to bring together the surviving veterans of the earliest days of the car, the Circle grew to around 200 members before the passage of time took its toll and their numbers began to fall. Their chairman and one of the key instigators of the group was Charles Jarrott who had, of course, been a member of the British team in the 1903 Irish Gordon Bennett Race, and was a widely respected personality in motoring circles.
There seem to have been very few Irish members although about 60 pioneer Irish motorists would have been eligible for membership. Most prominent of the Irish members were The Hon. Leopold Canning (Lord Garvagh), one of the founders of the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland and a veteran of the Irish Automobile Club Motor Tour of 1901, and John Christie Cooney, a motor agent from Kells, County Meath. Cooney, who had been a cycle racer, first owned an Ariel Quad in 1898, a vehicle that was soon replaced by a De Dion Bouton. Cooney also had the distinction of winning Ireland's first motor sport event, a motorcycle race held at Navan racecourse in August 1900. Cooney, incidentally, was also a fine golfer and a excellent amateur photographer. His photographs of the 1903 Gordon Bennett Race and the Phoenix Park Speed Trials held two days later are amongst the finest of either event.
The last surviving member of the Circle was St John Cousins Nixon, who had as a teenager acted as riding mechanic for SF Edge on the 1,000 Mile Trial in 1900, and who died aged 84 in 1970.
DANGEROUS TIMES: During the Civil War that followed the establishment of the Irish Free State, motor spirit became a valuable commodity. During the burning of the Four Courts in Dublin, a Shell petrol lorry was commandeered from the company's Alexandra Road terminal at gun-point. In another incident, in which the ownership of the vehicle concerned is not recorded, a tank wagon belonging to one of "the leading distributing companies" and containing a full load of motor spirit was stopped on a main road in Co Kildare by a party of Irregulars and the driver forced at gun-point to drive to a quiet side-road. There the Irregulars proceeded to fill a full load of empty tins on a lorry already concealed there. Having completed their task, they doused the tank wagon, planning to burn it. However, in carrying the tins from the tank wagon to the lorry they had left a trail of spirit along the road. When a match was applied to the tank wagon, the flames soon spread to the lorry containing the newly-filled petrol tins, quickly reducing the wagon, the lorry and its contents to ashes. A result, one suspects, which was somewhat different to what they had expected.
AN IRISH FILM FIRST: In a first for motor sport, the Irish Gordon Bennett Race was the first motor race to be officially filmed. The Mutoscope and Biograph Company were appointed to make the official film record. Led by the great English pioneer cameraman, Cecil Hepworth, the film taken was processed in a special tent beside the track and was shown in Dublin and Dún Laoghaire on the day following the race. Happily, portions of this film survive today in the Irish and also the British Film Archive.