Dorothy Patten

 Dorothy Patten was a British driver who mainly competed in rallies, but also raced before and after the war. 

Her origins are rather obscure and “Dorothy” was not her real given name. It is likely that she was originally named Alice Minnie Patten and had come from a working-class background. Both of her parents died before she was ten and she and one of her sisters were sent to St Mark’s Home for Girls, a domestic science school where Minnie trained as a maid. 

A 1939 summons for speeding close to Brooklands in the name of Dorothy Minnie Patten, in her car, seems to prove her identity. 

Alice Minnie Patten was born in 1906 in Flintshire. As a teenager, she worked as a housemaid in a surgeon’s house, but at some point in the 1920s or early 1930s, she seems to have come into some money and moved to the south of England.

She got her start in motorsport very early, in 1933. Her first car seems to have been an Alvis, which she drove in that year’s Alpine Rally, finishing fourteenth in class and 53rd overall. She tried again on the 1934 Alpine but does not seem to have finished. 

Starting from John O’Groats, she tackled her first Monte Carlo Rally in 1935, still with the Alvis. She was 79th overall.

Another of her early cars was a British Salmson, which was the first she used for circuit racing. She was second in the Unlimited Standard Sports Car class for women in the 1936 Brighton Speed Trials in it, narrowly beaten by Kay Petre in a Frazer Nash. The following year, she raced it at the Crystal Palace circuit, finishing third in an Unlimited Sports Car handicap at the United Hospitals and University Motor Club meeting.

She drove the Salmson in the 1936 RAC Rally and the 1937 Monte Carlo Rally. The same, or a similar, car, also finished the 1938 Monte. This car belonged to Rainer Dorndorf. It took her to a 43rd place in the 1937 Monte, from 81 finishers. Some results lists have Dorothy entered as a co-driver to Rainer Dorndorf in a Salmson in the 1938 Monte and crashing out, but this sounds unlikely given her own entry.

She was named as a car entrant for R.E. Dorndorf's special-bodied Darl’mat Peugeot in the 1939 Sydenham Plate. This was a car that Dorothy didn’t race much herself at the time, although she used it in rallies. Her first major result in it was probably an eleventh place in the 1939 Paris-St. Raphael Rally. She was fourth in Class B, for drivers with no previous podium finishes.

Later, she married Rainer Dorndorf, a German based in Ireland, and began styling herself “Baroness von Dorndorf”, although her husband does not appear to have held such a title. As a British national married to a German, she was briefly interned during the war, although she was soon cleared of being any risk and released. By 1942, the pair had divorced and Dorothy was apparently engaged to Captain Anthony Ryan. They never actually married. It was claimed in the Tatler that Rainer Dorndorf had died in a hunting accident in 1938, but this was untrue.In 1947, she did remarry, to David Treherne. 

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Dorothy was able to resume her career after the war. She entered the speed trials held at Elstree Aerodrome in April 1946, taking the Peugeot to a class win. She covered the quarter-mile course in 22.8s.

The following year, she went back to the Brighton Speed Trials, but could only manage 17th in class and sixth-fastest lady. Her only circuit race in this car seems to have been a three-lap contest at Goodwood in 1948, although her finishing position is not recorded.

She died in 1975, aged 68.

Thanks to Adam Ferrington for information.

"Mrs AC Lace"

 

“Mrs AC Lace” is the name used by Phoebe Elizabeth McQueen, born Mylchreest in 1910, when she raced between the two wars. AC (Alfred Clucas) Lace was a driver himself and was in a relationship with her, but the two never married. She often used the forename Betty.

Her first event under this name seems to have been a hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh in September 1934, driving a Hispano-Suiza. In March 1935, she appears at Brooklands for the first time, racing a Singer in the New Haw Long Handicap. It appears to be the same car that she used at Donington in May for a women’s handicap. She was not placed in either race. 

The Singer was still her car of choice for the 1936 First Mountain Handicap, held at the March Handicap meeting at Brooklands. Again, she was not placed, nor in the Second Mountain Handicap at the same event. 

A run in a Fiat followed, as part of a three-car, three-woman Fiat team for the 1936 Light Car Club Relay race at Brooklands. She and her team-mates Elsie Wisdom and Dinah Chaff, the team leader, were fourth, from eight finishers.

A gap then follows before she reappears driving a works-supported Alta in 1938. She won the Ladies’ Cup race held at Crystal Palace as part of the London Grand Prix. 

She did enter two Brooklands races in Talbot-Lago: the JCC International Trophy and the BRDC Road Race. It was possibly the Road Race she was practising for in September when she was hit on the head by a passing seagull “at over 100mph”. She “swerved violently” but was unhurt and able to continue. 

Both times, she was co-driver to AC Lace, but did not get to drive. AC himself seems to have pulled out of the latter event and their relationship may well have broken down by then. Both were declared bankrupt at different times in 1939.

Her first forays into rallying appear in 1936, when she drove a Marendaz in the RAC Rally. The only other Marendaz entries were driven by DMK Marendaz, the car’s creator, and Aileen Moss, mother of Stirling and Pat Moss. 

By the time the RAC Rally came round again in 1937, she was driving a Railton, but she was disqualified from that year’s event. This was her only time out in that car. Driving a French Delahaye 135, she also entered the Scottish and Welsh rallies, plus an MCC rally in Torquay. That car also disappears at the end of the summer.

Making up for this somewhat, she managed to out-drive AC Lace on the 1938 Monte Carlo Rally, finishing 27th to his 47th, navigated by Elsie Wisdom. They were both driving Talbot-Darracq cars. It was a successful year on the stages for her; a month later, she and the Talbot were second in the Paris-St.Raphael women’s rally, behind Betty Haig’s MG. 

She returned to Monaco in the Talbot in 1939, and was 25th. Her co-driver was the famous pilot Amy Johnson, in what was her last rally. They had previously competed against each other in the Paris-St. Raphael. Betty’s bankruptcy later in the year was almost certainly a factor in the end of her own career.

After leaving motorsport and AC Lace behind, Betty married Brian Carbury and had two sons. The fact that she was still married to Gerald McQueen did not deter her; she possibly remained married to him until her death in 1971. It did not deter her either from marrying twice more, in 1944 and 1958. Multiple bigamous marriages were only one aspect of a dishonest and criminal side to her character, which becomes obvious after she left AC Lace. Throughout her life, she was convicted many times of theft and financial fraud, usually in the form of passing bad cheques from accounts that were either closed or non-existent. Brian Carbury was also convicted of cheque fraud in 1941 and both were accused of stealing savings from their children’s nanny in 1943. A pattern emerges of her being caught, then changing her name and carrying on as before. As she got older, she tended to move her date of birth forward by a few years with each name change.

Later, she spent a long period of time living in South Africa, where her father had previously had business interests. She married a waiter called Antonio Giocondi and began calling herself Babette Giocondi. Under this identity, she embarked on a high-profile career as a boxing promoter in 1961, alongside her husband who managed the fighters. They made very little money and attempts to bring South African boxers to the UK failed. There may have been an element of fraud involved in this. “Babette Giocondi” gave interviews to the South African press and claimed to have raced at Le Mans.

Betty died in a car crash in Worthing in 1971. She was a passenger in a Daimler Sovereign driven by pub landlord Brian Samain, who also died in the accident. At the time, she was calling herself “Babette Dale-Lace” and it took the police some time to discover anything close to her real identity.

(Thanks to Adam Ferrington for sharing his research on Betty/Phoebe/Babette.)

Ruth Urquhart Dykes

 

Ruth at the 1927 Alvis meeting, on the right and in the car below

Ruth Urquhart-Dykes was a very able racer and speed record setter in the late 1920s, usually at the wheel of an Alvis. She tends to slip under the radar, partly due to her short career and partly because she appeared to be very sporting and uncontroversial.

She was born Pauline Ruth Hegarty in 1894, in the Irish town of Oughterard. She married William (Bill) Urquhart-Dykes in 1921 in Dublin. They later settled in Surrey, England.

She competed between 1924 and 1929, almost always driving an Alvis and often with her husband, Bill. Their cars were variations on a 12/50 model which they kept at home. The second, bought at the start of 1927, was named “William” after its serial number, WM 47, and may have started life as a works car. 

The first big event she appears in is the 1925 Auto Cycle Union London-Gloucester Trial, held just before Christmas. She was recorded as a finisher, alongside another woman, Miss A Dupre. The following June, she was third in her class at the Brooklands high-speed trial. 

After two years of occasional trials competition, she started entering races at Brooklands. At this time, the main organising club at the circuit was not keen on women drivers and only allowed them to run in ladies-only races. Other clubs, however, had allowed mixed competition almost from the start.  In June 1927, she took part in an all-Alvis meeting, winning a scratch race for Alvises “capable of 75mph” and finishing second in a ladies’ scratch race, behind Mrs Maddison Brown. She continued to trial the Alvis too.

Her first international race was the 1928 Coupe Georges Boillot in France, part of Boulogne Motor Week. She was ninth in the Coupe, driving the 12/50. The winner was Ivanowsky in his Alfa Romeo. Her fellow Brit and the only other woman in the competition, Margaret Maconochie, did not finish.

Back at home, she entered the Surbiton Motor Club’s August open race meeting at Brooklands. The Surbiton MC was one of the clubs which encouraged female entries and there was a ladies’ race as part of the weekend’s card, in which Ruth was second, behind Jill Scott. Ruth, Jill and Henrietta Lister then contested the 50 Mile handicap race against the men, with Ruth taking the lead at almost half distance and holding on to win by about a mile. WB Scott was second.

Ruth and Jill renewed their rivalry the following year in May, meeting in the prestigious Double Twelve race and in a two-lap ladies’ handicap at the Gold Vase meeting.

In 1929, she and Bill made their names by setting a new Twelve Hour speed record at Brooklands, driving William. The weather during the run became increasingly wet and treacherous, not letting up into the darkness. Ruth had been worried that she had fallen below the average speed she needed to maintain, but when she handed over to Bill, she had been exceeding the average comfortably, lapping at 87 or 88mph. The existing record was just over 80mph and the Urquhart-Dykes exceeded it with 81.3mph, despite William being considerably less powerful than the previous record holder. That year, Winifred Pink, another racer, wrote a rather waspish piece in The Woman Engineer in which she expressed doubt that women were really capable of handling bigger cars, with the exception of Jill Scott, Ivy Cummings and Ruth.

They were less fortunate in that year’s Double Twelve race and did not finish. Bill and Ruth completed the first twelve hours with few problems and were managing the rain on the second day when a rear spring was found to be broken during a pit stop. Ruth would have carried on, but the mechanics put a stop to that.

Both Bill and Ruth stopped competing shortly afterwards. Bill had decided to concentrate his energies on his growing patent agency, while Ruth also retired as she felt it was unfair to carry on without him. It cannot have helped that they were witnesses to a rather nasty road accident that September, in which a sidecar passenger was killed. Ruth did make one appearance in a Lagonda later that year, but it was in a concours d’elegance.

Ruth was a cheerful and generally non-combative character, but she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself or other women on occasion. As a member of the Auto Cycle Union, she argued for full female inclusion in the club’s major trials in 1929. She was also not above showing a more frivolous side, talking to the Daily Mirror about her distinctive “egg blue” overalls and helmet, although she stressed that her racing attire was functional. “My overall is only designed for safety, but of course, I try to make it as attractive as possible.”

William was sold in 1934 after “surviving” a road collision, replaced by a Railton Fairmile.

When the war broke out, both Urquhart-Dykes joined up, with Ruth serving as a driver in the FANY.

She died in 1981.

For a more thorough discussion of William by a friend of the Urquhart-Dykes family, Peter Lord’s article can be found here. It was very helpful in writing this biography.

Image copyright Daily Mirror

Henrietta Lister

 

Henrietta Lister owned and raced an Aston Martin in the 1920s, sometimes competing at Brooklands. She was sometimes known as Mabel, her middle name.

Pictures of her in racing garb next to a car at Brooklands exist from 1924, but no race results. The car was a “Bamford-type” Aston with a 1500cc side-valve engine, according to Henrietta’s obituary in a 1983 edition of the Brooklands Society Gazette. The author, Geoffrey Smith, states that she raced for four seasons only, which would have been between 1924 and 1928. How and why this professional ballet dancer, dance teacher and art graduate came to own and race such a car, no-one really knows.

The car itself was sometimes looked after by Jack Waters, who would later find fame as the actor Jack Warner. His two sisters were the comedy performers “Gert and Daisy”, friends of Henrietta, and it is possible that the Waters family formed the link between her and motor racing. Another is that she had served in the Scottish Women’s Hospital corps during WWI, working as a driver of ambulances and lorries. She saw action on the Eastern Front in Serbia and may have come across Gwenda Glubb, who was active at Brooklands as Gwenda Stewart at the same time as Henrietta.

In 1925, she was second in two editions of the Essex Long Handicap. One of these was captured on a film titled “Woman Motorist’s 90 Mile an Hour!” 

Later in the year, she entered a 50-mile handicap with the same club, although her finishing position is not recorded. Pictures show her car in action at meetings of the Middlesex Motor Club. At the time, the main organising club at Brooklands did not hold mixed races, but many regional clubs did.

The BARC relaxed its stance somewhat on female drivers in 1928 and she was third in a Ladies’ Handicap held during the August Bank Holiday meeting, behind Margaret Maconochie’s Amilcar and Ruth Urquhart Dykes in an Alvis.

There is some confusion about when exactly Henrietta competed, as other drivers often used her car, and she was named as the entrant. Jack Waters was one of those who drove the Aston.

After her time as a racing driver, she married William Burrill-Robinson and took up watercolour painting, exhibiting regularly in Yorkshire. According to her obituary, she had sold the Aston to a passing soldier at some time during WWII for £35, having helped him to hide some contraband petrol.

She had previously been a ballet dancer, using the name "Henrietta Listakova". Under this name, she performed in a “charity ballet” in West Acton in 1923. Her performances included The Dying Swan and a foxtrot with another dancer called Arthur Barron. The event was organised by a Miss Mabel Lister, who may have been Henrietta using another name, or a relative. She had been born in Australia and lived in Acton with relatives as a girl, one of whom could be Mabel. Mabel Lister’s dance school taught “Russian ballet and ballroom”, which tallies well with “Mabel Listakova’s” performance.

Henrietta died in 1983, reportedly after suffering heart trouble for much of her life. This never seemed to stop her from seeking excitement or facing adversity.

(Image copyright Brooklands Gazette. Thanks to James Thorne)

Katherine (Kate) Martin

 

Katherine (Kate) Martin was best-known as the wife of Lionel Martin, and one of the early directors of the Aston Martin company. Katherine had raced a number of cars from the early 1920s onwards, including a Riley and an early Aston Martin, which she used in hillclimbs and trials.

Katherine was born Katherine King in 1888. She married Lionel Martin in 1917. 

She is credited with designing the first Aston Martin logo, and with persuading Lionel to put the “Aston” in the firm’s name first, so it would appear at the top of alphabetic lists. She was also involved with the design for the early cars’ radiator grilles.

Kate was an astute businesswoman, whose interests included a lime quarry, which is still part-owned by a trust in her name. Its profits go to the RSPCA, Barnardos and NSPCC. She was an early director of Aston Martin, taking over from Robert Bamford and holding the position until 1925.

The BARC began organising ladies’ races at Brooklands in 1920. Katherine appears to have won one of the earlier ones in 1921, driving an Aston. This may well have been “Coal Scuttle”, the first-ever Aston Martin built. In 1921, there were perhaps three Astons in existence and there are photos of Kate in Coal Scuttle at Brooklands.

Lionel Martin was forced to sell the Aston Martin company in 1925. He reputedly never owned another Aston and it appears that Kate followed suit. This was not the end of her involvement in motorsport, however; both she and Lionel continued to compete in rallies for some years.

She drove a Wolseley Hornet in the 1932 Alpine Rally, but her first trophy seems to have been a third in the Coupe des Dames of the 1933 Monte Carlo Rally, accompanied by Agnes Gripper. Her car was a Hillman. In that year’s Alpine Rally, she co-drove for her husband, in his Humber.

Patricia McOstrich

Embed from Getty Images

Patricia, left

Patricia McOstrich was a regular at Brooklands between 1930 and 1939. She was an all-rounder who drove in trials, rallies and races.

She was born Gladys Patricia McOstrich in 1898. Her family was based in Surrey, quite close to Brooklands. It was probably during WW1 that she learned to drive; she described herself as a servicewoman who drove ambulances. After the Armistice, she worked as a chauffeur for a Liberal politician and advertised her services in the papers. This was sometimes done under the banner of female emancipation. Throughout her life, she attempted to encourage other women into the automotive world.

Her first major competitive outing was the JCC’s Half Day Trial in 1930. The trial was held at Brooklands. Patricia drove an Alvis and won a first-class award. In 1932, she entered the JCC’s Open trial in an MG Midget and received a second-class award for her performance in the under-1100cc class.

It was this year that she started racing on the Brooklands circuit itself. The MG had been exchanged for a Talbot, which she seems to have owned jointly with a Miss Hedges. This woman, who raced herself at Brooklands, was Geraldine Hedges, a former WWI ambulance driver who ran her own "motor consultancy". The two were pointedly described by the press of the time as “good friends” and may have been in a romantic relationship.

Patricia raced the Talbot between 1932 and 1934. It was not the most competitive of her cars, but she did manage a second place in the Second Walton Scratch Sprint at the 1934 March BARC meeting.

In keeping with her feminist ideals, she was a member of the Women’s Automobile and Sports Association. She took part in their one-lap handicap race at the 1932 Brooklands Guys Gala. The following year, she was part of their official team for the Stanley Cup, alongside Lotte “Irene” Schwedler and Margaret Allan.

Of all of the racing cars she drove, she got the best results out of a Frazer Nash. Her first event in it seems to have been the March meeting at Brooklands. In May, she was third in a ladies’ race at Donington Park with it.

By 1937, she had really got to grips with the Frazer Nash. she started the year by winning a Ladies award in the Brooklands Rally. Then, she won the Second Easter Long Handicap, as well as finishing second in a Sports Handicap at Crystal Palace.

In 1937, she was also part of a Frazer Nash team for the JCC Relay. They finished in seventh place. Kay Petre was part of the winning Austin team.

After that, she carried on racing until 1939, but was not quite as successful. She competed in several trials and won some awards, but there were no more race wins. After the war, she did not return to the circuits or the rally stages.

Patricia ran her own garage business, Speedy Transport and Garages, away from the track, and contributed the motoring section to the book “Careers and Vocational Training: a guide to the professions and occupations of educated women and girls”. In it, she discussed the merits of working as a “chauffeuse”, which she warned was often combined with more domestic work or a companion role, and advised on how to start a garage. She gave rough budgets for a filling station or a repair garage. “Motor racing as a career cannot be recommended except for those with plenty of money and where earning a living is not the object” was what she had to say on professional motorsport.

She died in London in 1958, aged sixty.

Muriel Thompson

Muriel in her FANY uniform

Muriel Thompson was Brooklands’ first female winner in 1908, when she won the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap and the Match Race that followed it, defeating Christabel Ellis.

She was a member of the Berkshire Automobile Club from at least 1904. Among her earliest practical motorsport experiences was a run in the club’s Gymkhana in 1904. She drove a Wolseley in a “Legal Limit Race” on a grass track at Hall Place near Maidenhead. She was second overall.

She made another appearance in the Berkshire AC’s Gymkhana in 1905. She was third in the “Bending Race”, a slalom between markers, driving an 18hp Siddeley, belonging to her brother.

Her first motorsport success seems to have been a win in a Blindfold Test at the Berkshire Club’s 1907 Gymkhana. The competitors were required to drive blindfolded towards a flag 75 yards away, from a stationary position facing away from the flag. Muriel got within forty feet of the flag, in 25 seconds.

Her car was an Austin, nicknamed "Pobble", which had belonged to her brother, Oscar, a regular racer. He was a member of the BARC, and as such, was able to enter his car into the first ladies’ event at Brooklands, held in July 1908. Eight ladies entered the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap, with five making the start. Muriel won comfortably, after the favourite, Christabel Ellis, ran into trouble. Commentators likened Muriel’s upright driving stance to that of “an American jockey”. Shortly afterwards, Muriel and Christabel challenged each other to a match race at Brooklands. Muriel won again.

In 1908, she also went up against Dorothy Levitt in the Aston Hill Climb, driving the Austin. She was eighth overall. Her achievements were reported in Queen magazine.

Opportunities for Muriel to race "Pobble" were quite limited, due to the BARC's ban on women drivers, but she did make some other appearances.

In 1909, she was part of the winning Berkshire Motor Club team in the five-mile Inter-Club Team Trophy, at Brooklands. She was permitted to race due to the meeting being a non-BARC sanctioned event.

The same year, she was appointed by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) as an official driver. She acted as chauffeur to Emmeline Pankhurst and other prominent suffragettes in the WSPU’s own Austin. She was succeeded as chauffeur by Vera Holme, but was still an active member of the Union in 1912.

In July 1911, at the RAC's Associated Motor Clubs meeting, she won the Declaration Handicap, in the Austin. At the same meeting, she revisited her blind-driving skills, winning another blindfold driving competition.

The following year, she returned to Brooklands for the RAC Associated Clubs meeting once more. She drove Pobble in the Skilful Driving Race. She posted a very fast time in the hillclimb section up the Test Hill, but clipped an obstacle in the reversing section. In yet another blindfold driving competition, she did not live up to her usual high standards and did not stop when she reached the marker.

She later became a decorated war hero, as a WW1 ambulance driver and medic, in the FANY. Among her awards was a British Military Medal, French Croix de Guerre, and from Belgium, the Order of Leopold II and Queen Elisabeth Medal. Muriel commanded convoys and delivered aid to soldiers on the frontline. She took her own Cadillac, named “Kangaroo”, over with her and it was used as an ambulance. Muriel kept a detailed diary throughout the war, which has been useful in piecing together the history of the FANY. Her nickname among her FANY colleagues was “Thompers”.

She continued testing cars occasionally until the 1930s. In 1939, she died of encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness), probably contracted during a flu epidemic. She was 65.

(Image from http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/thompson3.html)

The Women's Automobile and Sports Association

A WASA car badge, belonging to motorcyclist Marjorie Cottle

The Women’s Automobile and Sports Association was one of the foremost women’s motor clubs in Britain between the world wars, and the one with the greatest emphasis on competition.

It was founded in 1927 by a group of female motor enthusiasts, encouraged by their experiences in the Wood Green & District MC women-only trial, held in January of that year. The first committee was elected in 1929: the Marchioness of Carisbrooke, Irene Mountbatten, was the first President, assisted by vice-presidents, Lady Ermine Elibank, Lady Iris Capell, and Gabrielle Borthwick. Iris Capell was a rally and trial driver of some skill, and Gabrielle Borthwick had run her own women-only motor garage. The club had its own garage, and offered a suite of hotel rooms for members' use. Among the other early members was Katherine Martin, Aston Martin and Riley racer and wife of Lionel Martin. She joined in 1928. Amy Johnson, the aircraft pilot, was another, along with Mary Bruce. Mary was brought in as "chief motor advisor".

The club’s first event was in 1929. It was a night running of the Exeter Trial, an established trial route usually run by the MCC. The route was 300 miles long, and included three “observed sections”: two hillclimbs and a starting and stopping test. Motorcyclist Nancy Debenham acted as Clerk of the Course. Forty-three cars took the start, with seventeen of those being driven by all-female crews. More women entered on motorcycles, bringing the entry list to 51 strong, with 47 finishers. The drivers included Paddie Naismith in a Ballot, Patricia McOstrich in an Alvis, Victoria Worsley and Mrs Dobson in their MG Midgets, Lady Iris Capell in an Alvis and future RAC Rally winner, Kitty Brunell, in a Talbot. Mrs Carleton had Gabrielle Borthwick as her passenger, although she was unable to give mechanical assistance. Some entrants came from other sports, including tennis player Violette Lermitte. Una Chick, one of the motorcyclists, set the fastest time.

The club's other project in 1929 was led by Mary Bruce. She had recruited a small team of women to act as motorcycle road scouts, in the style of the AA's own scouts and the RAC's guides. At least two women were recruited, and wore uniforms designed by Mary. The first of them was Grace New. One of the scouts rode alongside the Exeter Trial with first-aid supplies. The whole idea was fairly short-lived, despite extensive publicity. Much of this media coverage was disapproving.

In 1930, the club held its own Land’s End Trial, another classic MCC route. Twenty-five drivers took part. Among them were Brooklands stalwarts like Elsie Wisdom, in a Frazer Nash, and Irene Schwedler in her MG Midget. Kitty Brunell was another entrant, as was Florence Scudamore in a Triumph, and founder member Lilian Roper in her AC. It is not recorded who won the event, but Miss Roper only just managed to finish, due to engine trouble. Lilian was one of the senior members of the club, who had been active in motorsport since before WWI and had previously been the Treasurer of another Ladies’ Motor Club.

Members elected to the Club's executive committee came from the worlds of rallying and motor racing, but also motorcycling, powerboat racing, aviation and sports writing. It organised gala evenings for both Amy Johnson and Mary Bruce, in celebration of their flying achievements. Zoe Livesey was one of the representatives of motor boating. Betty and Nancy Debenham stood for both motorcycling and sports journalism.

As well as trials and other motoring events, WASA held at least two golf championships, in 1931 and 1932. They attracted female professionals as well as club members.

WASA members would go on to distinguish themselves in other trials. Florence Scudamore won the Ladies’ Prize in the 1931 London-Gloucester Trial, in her Triumph, and Joan Weekes succeeded her as the ladies’ champion in 1932, driving a Ford. After 1932, Florence Scudamore usually drove a Singer, supported by the works team.

Margaret Allan, who was a race-winner at Brooklands and drove at Le Mans, began her career in WASA trials, using her parents’ big Lagonda. She had watched one of the events as a spectator, and was initially unimpressed with the standard of driving. This spurred her on to have a go herself, as she believed she could win.

Lord Wakefield presented WASA with a trophy in 1930. This was awarded between 1932 and 1938, for the club member judged to have performed the best over the year. The trophy was awarded for penalty-free runs in the Monte Carlo Rally (Mrs Montague-Johnstone in 1932) or for Brooklands heroics (Mrs Wood, 1938), or for the highest scores in the club’s own trials. Mrs Wood kept hold of the trophy during the war, and it was she that gave it to the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club in 1973. It is now awarded for the most meritorious performance for a woman in motorsport during the year, if warranted.

By 1932, WASA was accepted as a bona fide motor club, and was invited to take part in the Inter-Club Meeting at Brooklands. Geraldine Hedges and Irene Schwedler upheld the honour of the club by taking first and third place in the Sports Long Handicap.

The same year, WASA ran a one-lap handicap race at Brooklands, as part of the Guy's Gala, a benefit for Guy's Hospital. Thirteen women took part. Joan Chetwynd was the winner in an MG, followed by Florence Scudamore in a Triumph, and Miss E Wheler in a Delage. Several WASA members took part in the Duchess of York's ladies' race at the same meeting, and in the Hazard Handicap. Iris Capell and Morna Vaughan sat on the Gala's Ladies' Committee.

The club carried on organising its own trials, as well as social events. A Cotswold Trial was held at least twice, in 1933 and 1937, as well as a WASA “Day in the Hills” in 1934, which ran in the Chilterns. Margaret Allan, Doreen Evans, Florence Scudamore and Morna Vaughan were among the winners of First Class Awards in the trial, which was also open to male drivers.

As well as trials for established drivers, WASA organised at least one "have a go" event aimed at encouraging more women to take part. A "Test Run for Good Drivers" was run in 1936, consisting of driving tests and a hillclimb at Hustwood Hill. It was won by Mrs. A Wynne in an Austin 10.

The year before, in 1935, the club sponsored an endurance record run by one of its members, who drove to Cape Town in South Africa. Phil Paddon, from Devon, drove across the Atlas Mountains in the course of her journey. Her progress was followed by the newspapers. This run was an advance survey for a planned event called the "Algiers-Rand Trail", which offered ten thousand pounds to the first finisher. 

The 1937 Cotswold Trial was a mixed affair. Frazer Nash cars predominated, with five of the awards given to Frazer Nash drivers. Two of these were for Midge Wilby and Miss E.V. Watson in the team trophy, and Miss Watson also won the Iris Capell Trophy, donated by the founding Lady member. Midge Wilby earned a First Class Award in the trial.

Motorsport ceased for the duration of WWII. After the war ended in 1945, WASA did not regroup. Some of its members, including Morna Vaughan and Irene Schwedler (now known as Charlotte Sadler), continued to race and rally for some time. At least one other all-female motor club was formed, but it did not last. The closest parallel to WASA today is the British Women Racing Drivers’ Club, founded in the 1960s, which keeps a link to WASA through the Wakefield Trophy.

(Image from http://www.hvauctions.com/)

Ivy Cummings

Ivy and friend at Gaillon, 1921

Ivy Cummings is most famous for being the youngest person ever to lap Brooklands, aged twelve, in 1913. She became a successful racing driver as an adult, and particularly excelled at hillclimbing.

According to the story, Ivy and her father had driven down to Brooklands in her father’s SCAR touring car. While his back was turned, watching the flying from the airfield, the pre-teen Ivy drove off in the car, and got onto the track. She was driving surprisingly quickly, and resisted being caught. She was only apprehended when the car developed a puncture, and she hurt her hand trying to jack it up.

There may have been some exaggeration going on with this story, which has become something of a Brooklands legend, but it certainly started somewhere. No date is ever given for when it happened, but it has remained remarkably consistent over the years. Ivy’s age is often quoted as being eleven at the time, but she was born in 1900, so she was twelve or thirteen.

Just a few years later, during the First World War, Ivy was driving around in her own car, a Peugeot. She helped out at a convalescent home for injured soldiers, and kept their spirits up by taking them out for drives, as well as taking her mother and grandmother on errands.

She started her legitimate racing career after World War I, possibly as early as 1919. In 1921, she raced a Coupe de l’Auto Sunbeam 12/16 in France. It is said that she won a race, possibly on sand, but further details are rather hazy. Pictures from that year show her posing in the car at Gaillon, which ties in with contemporary reports of her entering the hillclimb there, driving a 130hp car.

She won the 1922 Duke of York Long Distance Handicap in the Coupe de l'Auto Sunbeam. Shortly after, she drove well in the Sunbeam in the Car Speed Championship, finishing third in the Essex Senior Short Handicap, and second in the Essex Junior Long Handicap. 

In June 1923, she won a Bexhill speed trial in a Bugatti. Further details about this car are not forthcoming. In September, a second speed trial was held at Bexhill, over a mile. Ivy won this event, too. Her car on this occasion was the famous 5000cc 1913 Bugatti, “Black Bess”, as named by Ivy. In March, she had driven “Bess” in the Kop Hill climb, in Essex.

In 1925, she won her class in the Skegness Speed Trials in this car. Ivy was not the only female driver; Cecil Christie was there with her Vauxhall, and the two seem to become friends. Reports in Motor Sport suggested that this would be Ivy’s last event before marrying, but this does not seem to have transpired just yet.

In between, Ivy also raced the GN “Akela”, normally in hillclimbs. She won her class in the South Harting climb, organised by the Surbiton Motor Club. In the Arundell Speed Trial, which, like the South Harting event, was run over a half-mile course, she also won the 1500cc class, finishing just four-tenths of a second behind the winner, Woolf Barnato in a Hispano-Suiza. The GN appeared at the Spread Eagle Hill climb, the Brighton Speed Trials and the Herne Bay Speed Trails that year. Akela was sold on at the end of the season. For the Aston Clinton hillclimb, she drove the Bugatti instead.

In 1926, she raced the Bugatti in France. She entered the Grand Prix de Boulogne, run on sand, and led for the first three laps, but rolled her car into a ditch and did not finish. After this mishap, she is reported to have telephoned her father, to tell him that she was all right. Motor racing was very much a family thing for Ivy, who sometimes had her mother in the car with her, as her riding mechanic. She had also taken a Frazer Nash along, which she used in the speed trial.

Back in England, she raced again on the sand at Southport, in a Frazer Nash, with Cecil Christie. In June, she was back at Brooklands for the JCC High Speed Trial.

After 1926, she competed much less frequently. She drove a Riley in the JCC Half Day Trial, which seems to have been her last event.

Ivy married a radiologist and this put an end to her racing career. She died in 1971.

(Image from http://gallica.bnf.fr/)

Irene Schwedler (Charlotte Sadler)

Charlotte Schwedler's pilot's license photo

Irene Schwedler was part of the Brooklands ladies’ racing “set”, and an occasional rally driver. Her later, post-war career was in rallying, and under a new name, Charlotte Sadler.

She was born in Germany in 1906, and was originally named Ilse Charlotte. Racing-related records tend to refer to her as Irene, but she did not use this name personally, going by Charlotte or Carlotta, Lotta for short. It is not clear where "Irene" came from - possibly an administrative error somewhere.

Charlotte was a German national. She had come to live in England in 1923, in order to work as a nanny. She had several different jobs as an adult. At some point, she apparently owned a shop in Luton. Her pilot's license gives her occupation as “private secretary”. Other records have her as a “garage proprietress”.

During her early time in England, Charlotte took up motorcycling and toured the country. Back in Germany, her father and two sisters were also keen adventurers, with a preference for motorcycles. She seems to have been the first racing driver in the family; according to her nephew, she first raced at Brooklands in 1928, practising for a Ladies' race in an Alvis. She did not make the start due to a piston failure. A year later, she lapped Brooklands as a passenger in an MG Midget, before finally getting to compete in earnest herself.

The earliest media mention of her seems to be as a competitor in the Women’s Sport and Automobile Association (WASA)’s Lands End Trial in 1930, driving an MG. In a similar car, she entered a Ladies' race at Brooklands in March. 

She began racing an Alvis Speed 20 at Brooklands at the start of the 1930s, when she was in her mid-twenties. The car was a new model in 1931. A few years later, in 1934, Charlotte’s Alvis was described as belonging to a C.G.H. Dunham, although this may not be the same car. A small article in the Triple-M Register Bulletin from November 2015 states that Gerald Dunham was a personal friend of Charlotte’s, and that she raced more than one Alvis from his own showroom. Both Dunham and Charlotte lived in Luton.

Her first major Brooklands appearance was a Ladies' Handicap in 1931, in which she was third, in a 1645cc Alvis. There were eight entrants in the race, and she was behind Fay Taylour in a Talbot, and Elsie Wisdom in an Invicta.

In June 1932, she took part in the BARC Inter-Club Meeting at Brooklands. She was representing the Women’s Sport and Automobile Association. Her third place in a nine-mile handicap helped the club to second in the Stanley Cup, for the best club team of the day. Her team-mates were Geraldine Hedges and Margaret Allan.

At the same meeting in 1933, her individual performance was better; she won the Lightning Short Handicap, her first major Brooklands victory. The WASA team was second. This time, she was driving the Speed 20 that probably belonged to Gerald Dunham. At the Whit Monday meeting, she was one of the first female drivers to enter a mixed race organised by the BARC at Brooklands, when she drove in the Cobham Senior Short Handicap.

During her racing career, she often drove alongside other female drivers in the team relays and match races which happened at Brooklands. Her best performance in a relay was third, in the 1934 Light Car Club event, driving an MG Magnette alongside Margaret Allan and Doreen Evans. Despite their superior performance, they were denied a Le Mans place in favour of Kay Petre's Singer team, who had exploited a loophole in the rules that the Ladies' Cup, and the Le Mans entry that went with it, was not awarded to anyone finishing in the top three. The Singer crew had found a copy of the MG pit notes, and successfully intercepted their pit signals, allowing them to maintain position behind their rivals, and claim the Le Mans spot. Charlotte, although a capable driver, never seems to have competed internationally.

In 1934, she took part in the Brighton Speed Trials, driving Gerald Dunham’s Alvis. She was second in the Ladies’ class, behind her regular rival, Kay Petre, in her Bugatti.

As well as circuit racing, she occasionally drove in rallies in the UK in the 1930s. In 1935, she entered a Rover Speed Pilot into the RAC Rally, starting at London. She used the same car and start point the following year. For the 1938 RAC, she used a Hillman Minx, and began at Leamington. This year, she is recorded as finishing in 154^th place. She drove the Hillman again in the 1939 RAC Rally, before rallying ceased for World War II.

Her last Brooklands appearance was in 1938, the year before the circuit closed. She drove a Talbot 10 in a one-make Talbot race, during the August Bank Holiday meeting, but she was not among the leaders. Her friend Gerald Dunham also entered.

After the war, she reappeared in the entry list for the 1947 JCC Eastbourne Rally, driving an Alvis, presumably one of her earlier cars.

Some time later, in December 1947, she formally changed her name from Ilse Schwedler to Charlotte Sadler, adopting her erstwhile middle name. This followed her naturalisation as a British citizen in November. She seems to have competed a little in sprints and hillclimbs in 1948, driving an Alvis Speed 20 in the Brighton Speed Trials. This was the start of the second part of her career, as the rally driver, Miss Charlotte Sadler.

After 1950, she was something of a regular on the Tulip Rally. In 1950, she drove a Hillman Minx, with Hazel Dunham and a Mrs. Plummer. Hazel was the daughter of Gerald Dunham, Charlotte’s earlier supporter. They were 37^th overall.

The Sadler/Dunham pairing tackled the Tulip again in 1951, assisted by Mrs. DM Alcock. Driving solo in the Minx, Charlotte also tackled the Scottish Rally. The following year, Charlotte and Hazel in their Rover won the Closed Car Ladies’ Cup in the RAC Rally, as well as finishing 31^st in the Tulip. Another appearance in the Tulip in 1953 seems to have been their last major event together. She retired from motorsport completely in 1959.

Away from the race track, she was quite an experienced pilot, flying from Brooklands and being awarded her license by the Royal Aero Club in 1937.

As a German national, Charlotte was interned during the War, as a “hostile alien”. She was held on the Isle of Man, after her classification was changed to a higher one. This was practice at the time, and does not reflect any personal misdemeanours or beliefs. She was a private person; other than her closeness to the Dunham family, little is common knowledge about her. One of her sisters emigrated to England later, having survived a prison camp. The two women lived together. She did not have children of her own, but was regarded as a family member by the younger Dunhams, joining her nephews on shoots. Late in life, she took up water skiing.

She died in Luton in the late 1970s.

This post was created with help from the TNF Nostalgia Forum, particularly the users "alvista", “Vitesse2” and “ReWind”.

Mary ("Mrs Victor") Bruce

Mary after the 1928 Bournemouth Rally

Mary (Mrs Victor) Bruce was a pioneer racer, aviator and businesswoman.

She was born Mildred Mary Petre in 1895. Her father was related to Kay Petre’s husband. Her mother was American, and an actress. The young Mildred very soon developed a taste for adventure, alongside her brothers. When she was eleven or so, she learned to ride a motorcycle, and by the age of fifteen, was riding one on the road, sometimes with her dog in a sidecar. That was, until she was stopped by the police, fined and barred from riding until she reached the appropriate age.

Her adventures continued on four wheels in 1920, with a brief hiatus for the birth of a son, Anthony. This would have been highly shocking at the time, as she was not married to the boy’s father. In 1926, she married The Honourable Victor Bruce, who seems to have adopted Anthony. Mary almost always styled herself “Mrs Victor Bruce”, and maintained an outwardly ladylike appearance and demeanour. She is said to have stated “don’t call me a Women’s Libber”. During her career, her path crossed that of several female racers and aviators, but she never particularly sought to be part of their “set”. Her self-presentation as a traditional wife and “lady” may have been an effort to offset her past as an unmarried mother, but this is conjecture.

Victor was a rally driver with links to the AC marque, now run by Francis Selwyn-Edge, the patron and probable lover of the Edwardian racer, Dorothy Levitt. After Victor won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1926, driving an AC, Mary started petitioning to Edge for a drive. He of all men knew the publicity value of a woman in a car, having stage-managed Dorothy Levitt twenty years before. Mary was set up with her own AC Six for the 1927 Monte, and promptly won the Coupe des Dames. She was sixth overall, and drove solo (with two passengers but no co-driver) and non-stop from John O’Groats to Monte Carlo, a considerable physical feat.

The single-crewed Monte Coupe des Dames was only the first of a series of challenges and record runs that Mary, usually with Victor, undertook. Straight after the Monte, they drove to Montlhéry, taking an 8000-mile detour through Italy, North Africa and Spain, before completing a 1000-mile run at the track, which was a record in itself. That July, the Bruces drove as far above the Arctic Circle as they could, and planted a British flag at their furthest point. In December, it was back to Montlhéry for an attempt at the 10,000 Mile record, which they broke by driving at an average of 68mph for ten days. This was made more remarkable by the fact that there was snow on the track, and they had to undertake fifteen hours of repairs after a roll.

In 1928, she continued to compete in the AC. As well as support from Selwyn-Edge, she capitalised on her fame by writing down her experiences, which were published in newspapers and as books. She was fourth in the Monte Carlo Rally, although Charlotte Versigny just beat her to the Coupe des Dames. Later in the year, she entered the Alpine Rally and got to the finish, but was disqualified for colliding with another car during the event. She also seems to have rallied in the UK, and is pictured with trophies from that year’s Bournemouth Rally.

In 1929, Mary’s third attempt at the Monte did not go to plan. She was driving an Arrol-Aster, and started from Riga. The car developed electrical problems and almost caught fire at least once. She did not finish.

Later that year, she returned to Montlhéry and record-breaking. Her car this time was a 4.5l Bentley “Double Twelve”, raced by Henry Birkin and loaned to Mary by the Bentley factory. She broke the Class C record by driving for 24 hours, solo and non-stop, at an average of just over 89mph.

1930 saw her last attempt at the Monte, driving a Hillman. She chose the most obscure start point she could find, which was Sundsvall in Sweden. This proved to be a difficult route, but she got to the end of the rally in 21^st place.

1930 also saw her biggest circuit race. She and Victor competed in the Brooklands Double Twelve in May, driving an Alvis Silver Eagle. They were thirteenth overall.

After this, Mary’s interest in motorsport waned. In 1929, she took up speedboating, and set some cross-Channel records. The following year, she learned to fly an aeroplane. With only 40 hours’ experience, she set her mind to flying around the world. For the next few years, she made and broke several aviation records, including flying solo across all the continents of the world, and becoming the first woman to fly to Japan. Her adventures, including many near-misses, were recorded as they happened through a tape recorder in the cockpit, to be written up into articles and a series of books. Among the more unlikely sources of Bruce news were Ovaltine adverts, which must have proved quite lucrative.

Mary eventually founded her own airline, Air Dispatch, which started by delivering newspapers, but by the start of the War, was running a regular passenger service to French resorts. Air Dispatch was involved with repairing crashed aircraft during the war. By this time, Mary and Victor had separated. Mary’s son, Anthony, would in time take over the running of the company. Her airline activities reportedly made her a millionaire in her own right, something that she long had ambitions to become.

The veneer of respectable femininity that Mary maintained – some of the less complimentary papers called her “The Flying Housewife” during her aviatrix days – barely concealed an extremely driven, capable woman, with unlimited energy and ambition. This showed when she tested a Ford Capri in the 1970s, and looped the loop in a plane at the age of 81.

She died in 1990, aged 94.

(Image copyright ALAMY)

Jill Scott-Thomas

Jill in 1938

Jill was a British racer of the late 1920s and early 1930s. She was born Eileen May Fountain in 1902, and was the daughter of a coal mine owner. Her entry into motorsport came via her first husband, William “Bummer” Scott, who was a regular at Brooklands and lived next door.

She competed at Brooklands between 1926, when she entered her first trial, and 1939.

1928 was the year when Jill really made her mark on the motor racing scene. She became one of the first women to be awarded the Brooklands 120mph badge, to be displayed on the front of her car. This was given to her after she lapped the circuit at the requisite speed in September, driving an ex-Grand Prix Sunbeam that she and Bummer owned jointly. She was also elected to membership of the BARC, but this offer was downgraded to honorary membership; the BARC was a conservative association and had only recently allowed women drivers to enter its sanctioned meetings. Jill was the first woman suggested for membership.

At about this time, she attempted to race the ex-J.G. Parry-Thomas Leyland Eight, which she and Bummer had bought after the death of their friend and mentor. Although the car was nominally hers, and she was actually quite skilled in handling very large cars, it defeated her. Her main Brooklands experience in it was riding as a passenger with John Cobb, who raced the car on her behalf. They also owned the Thomas “Flatiron” special, which Jill is said to have driven, but no results are forthcoming.

In 1929, she entered her first big international race, driving a 4.5 litre Bentley with Bummer. It was the JCC Double Twelve race, and the Scotts were eleventh overall, from 26 finishers. Just a week later, Jill won a Brooklands ladies’ handicap, driving a Delage, after Miss Burnett was judged to have jumped the start.

The following year, she tried her hand at the Double Twelve once more, in a Riley Brooklands 9. She and her team-mate, Ernest Thomas, were sixth, a very pleasing result. Jill also had another go at one of the Brooklands ladies’ handicaps in March, and was second. Her car was a Bugatti.

After the 1930 season, Jill was absent from the track for a long time. Her marriage to Bummer Scott ended, and she started a relationship with Ernest Thomas, her erstwhile Double Twelve team-mate. The pair had met whilst flying their respective planes at the Brooklands airfield (Jill had had her pilot’s license since 1927). They married, a union that lasted until Jill’s death in 1974.

As Jill Thomas, she returned to Brooklands in 1938. She drove an Alfa Romeo in the March meeting, and in the JCC International Trophy, but did not finish either of the races. In the international Ladies’ Race at Crystal Palace, held in June, she was third, in a Delahaye, behind Mrs Lace and Kay Petre. Despite her absence, and the personal upheaval she had experienced, she was still a popular figure. Madame Yevonde produced a colourised photograph of her in her distinctive red racing attire, which is now in the National Portrait Gallery.

In 1939, she mostly drove a Frazer-Nash BMW. She was second in the First March Long Handicap at Brooklands, but was disqualified from first place in the Second March Handicap, due to a coming-together with another driver. In April, she also raced a big Alfa Romeo in the Road Championship, but did not finish. She then raced at Crystal Palace again in April. Her best finish was a third place in the Second Long Scratch Race. Her last competitive outing looks to have been the Second August Mountain Handicap at Brooklands, in which she was unplaced.

After the war, Jill did not return to motorsport. Although her marriage to Ernest was a happy one, her personal life was not straightforward, particularly in regard to her eldest daughter, Sheila, whose father was Bummer Scott. After her death, her racing trophies and Brooklands 120mph badge were found in a charity shop.

(Image copyright The National Portrait Gallery)