From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE NORTHERN MOTOR COMPANY: The question often arises as to which was the first "garage" in Ireland. As is often the case in matters of primacy, one has to be careful with one's definitions. In this case, the often quoted "first" is that of WF Peare Motor Works Limited of Catherine Street, Waterford. But Peare's was the first purpose-built garage in Ireland, and not the first motor business to be established. This honour was the subject of a very lively correspondence in the pages of the Motor News magazine during 1931 and 1932, which finally resolved the matter in favour of The Northern Motor Company, established in May 1899 at Chichester Street, and later at Montgomery Street, Belfast, by Leslie Porter and George Combe. The business of The Northern Motor Company was built initially around an agency for Darracq, and later for Wolseley.
The Motor News correspondence also dealt with the claim of J B Ferguson, brother of Harry Ferguson, for his company, J B Ferguson Limited: however, the earliest it could claim to have been established was 1902. In any case, WF Peare's Motor Works was also established in advance of that date.
Interestingly, a letter from a Mr R J Campbell to the Motor News magazine at the time of this controversy claimed that both of these rivals for primacy, received their first lessons in driving from him during 1899, Porter on a Leon Bollée fitted with tube ignition and Ferguson on a Locomobile Steamer.
In Waterford the WF Peare Motor Works was established in 1900 with financial backing from a prominent Waterford businessman and pioneer motorist, WGD Goff, and in the same year was reported as assembling several motor tricycles. In 1902, Peare developed a quad design that was especially suited to Irish road conditions.
MOTORING THE HARD WAY!
This description of a two-cylinder Milnes-Daimler car which Peare's imported in 1900 may give today's motorists some idea of what they escaped. The engine was fitted with tube-ignition, and"Before one could start, it was necessary to light two primus or similar lamps under these tubes which were made of platinum, and when the tubes became red hot, the engine could be started with the help of a starting handle. The steering was by tiller. The wheels were shod with solid rubber tyres; the front wheels were 18" in diameter and the rear 48".The transmission was through a large-pattern gearbox with counter shaft and thence by chains to the rear wheels. There were no side doors, glass screen or hood. One day we left Waterford for Dublin at 11 o'clock, and took with us a sack containing 17 spare inner tubes. We used 16 of them on the journey, and arrived in Dublin as it was striking midnight - 13 hours covering less than 100 miles!" As I said, motoring the hard way!
MECREDY'S ROAD BOOKS :
Now that the summer is (hopefully) with us, many will be planning to explore parts of Ireland by car. From the start of the last decade of the 1800s right up to the outbreak of the "Emergency", such a journey - whether by cycle or car - would have been unthinkable without the latest edition of Mecredy's Road Book of Ireland. This indispensable guide was published in two editions - volume 1 for the south and volume 2 for the north.
Updated regularly, the guide was pocket-sized, each volume contained a Route Index, journey distances, touring routes, and guides to each county together with golf and angling information plus a map of all the major roads. "Have you got the Mecredy?" was a familiar cry of several generations of Irish motorists. Indeed, I doubt if it ever let any of them down.