Maud Manville

 

Maud Manville raced Daimlers in the UK and Europe in 1905 and 1906. 

She was a contemporary and rival to Dorothy Levitt, her equivalent at Napier, although her public profile was not as high.

Her interest in practical motoring dated back to at least 1904, when she drove her Daimler from London to Germany in order to watch the Gordon Bennett races. The same year, she impressed reporters at a meeting of the Ladies’ Automobile Club with her “splendid Daimler carriage” decorated with flowers. In August, she entered the Bexhill Speed Trials and won her heat in an 18hp Daimler. The car was in the well-supported class for cars costing between £2750 and £3750.

She competed in the inaugural Brighton Speed Trials in a 35hp model. She lost out to Claudia Lasell in the main draw, but won a race for 35hp Daimlers against male drivers. A Ladies’ Handicap was also held and she reached the final, losing to Mrs Herbert Lloyd in her own Daimler.

In the same car, she drove in the Herkomer Trial in Germany in 1905 and 1906. She did not finish the 1905 Trial, but won her class the speed trial section, going faster than several larger cars including Willy Poge’s 60bhp Mercedes, which won a later timed section. 

The following year, she finished the event in eleventh place. 

Born Maud Wallis, her husband was Edward Manville, who was the chairman of Daimler, and they competed against each other. In 1906, they were both participants in the Herkomer Trophy. When Maud heard that Edward’s car had suffered a puncture, she reportedly asked the German official observer in her car whether she would be allowed to stop for “a cry”.

Maud was an early member of the Ladies’ Automobile Club, joining in 1903, who encouraged its members to try competitive driving. She drove in at least two of the club’s gymkhanas, winning a “Bomb Race” in 1905.  In 1906, not long after her return from the Herkomer Trial, she was yet again one of the winning drivers in the club’s annual gymkhana, held at the Ranelagh Club. She won the Bending Race and was second in a “Tilting at the Ring” competition. This was a game adapted from an equestrian event where a contestant in a moving car had to catch a hanging ring with a lance or similar. 

The same year, she gave a talk to the club about her experiences in the Herkomer Trophy.

Her motoring career seems to end after 1906. She died in 1909, aged 37. 

(Portrait by Amata Bouwens, 1901)