From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
HENRY O'NEAL DE HANE SEGRAVE: Airman, Grand Prix winner and holder of the World's Land and Water Speed Records, Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave's story is truly remarkable. The Segraves were a family of Norman ancestry from the Ashtown area of Dublin. Henry was born in 1896 while his father Charles and his wife were residing in Baltimore. Upon the early death of his wife, Mary Lucy, Charles Segrave returned to Ireland with him, settling at Kiltymon in Kilquaid, Co Wicklow.
An early devotee of motoring, Charles was an official at many of the events run by the Irish Automobile Club. In 1906, the Segraves moved to Belle Isle, a half mile from Portumna. There, in 1911 young Henry learned to ride on a Rudge motorcycle, having learned to drive a 6 hp Rover round the estate some years previously!
In 1915, Henry joined the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and, getting his "wings" early in 1916 was posted to a squadron on the Western Front. There, although becoming a successful fighter pilot, Henry was appalled at the mechanical failures then commonplace on the aircraft the RFC flew. In July 1916 he was hit by "Archie" (anti-aircraft fire) and his ankle joint was badly broken - an injury from which he was to suffer for the rest of his life.
Segrave was demobbed and became involved in a motor business with Alistair Miller in London. An attraction of this partnership was undoubtedly the fact that Miller had two pre-war Opel Grand Prix cars and Segrave got the opportunity to make his race debut in one at Brooklands at the Whitsun holiday meeting in 1920. There he met another Irishman, the Sunbeam driver, Kenelm Lee Guinness, with whom he become friends. In his debut race, Segrave was sensational and ran out an impressive winner.
Segrave was invited to drive for the Sunbeam works team at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1921. The race turned into a bit of a saga, Segrave finishing in ninth place despite no fewer than 14 pit stops! Segrave's dogged determination to finish at all costs was noted by the team and further invitations to drive for the Sunbeam team followed.
Success came in many events at Brooklands in particular, but Grand Prix success eluded him until the San Sebastian Grand Prix in September 1924 when he brought his 2-litre Sunbeam home first across the finish line. He continued racing until the end of the 1926 season but by then his thoughts had turned to record breaking and in particular to taking the World Land Speed Record. Driving a 4-litre Sunbeam producing 296 bhp from its V-12 engine at Southport Sands, he took the Flying Kilometre Record from Malcolm Campbell at a speed of 152.33 mph.
In March 1927, Segrave took the 44.8 litre "1000 hp" Sunbeam to Daytona, in the US, and set new World Records for the Kilometre, 1 Mile and 5 Mile distances at speeds of 202.98, 203.79 and 202.67 mph respectively. In March 1929 he was back again at Daytona with the beautiful 23-litre Irving Napier "Golden Arrow" to successfully set new records for the kilometre and mile distances at 231.44 and 231.21 mph.
In September, 1929 he also captured the Water Speed Record for Single-engined hydroplanes at 98.8 mph in "Miss England". Then in June 1930, with the specially built "Miss England II" Segrave attempted the World Water Speed Record at Lake Windermere. Segrave was ready for the record attempt on Friday 13th. His first and second runs having set a new record of 98.76 mph Segrave turned the boat around for another run.
At full speed it hit a floating object and turned turtle. Two and a half hours later, Segrave, along with one of his crew, was dead from his injuries. His last words were "Did we break the record?"