From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
MYSTERY TRAFFIC JAM: A photograph of a Dublin traffic jam is a bit of a mystery. All we know about it is that it was taken in Dublin in 1904. I suspect that the location is O'Connell Street, then Sackville Street - the width of the road and the fact that the traffic is all one-way possibly indicates that another side of the street not apparent in the photograph carried traffic going in the other direction.
What was the occasion that brought out so much motorised traffic? The Dublin Horse Show held at the RDS in Ballsbridge is one possibility. At least 16 vehicles can be discerned and this at a time when the total car population of Ireland was between 400 and 500.
The one clearly identifiable car is the Daimler in the centre of the photograph which is sporting the side finned radiator first introduced in 1904 - this would seem to confirm the date on the photograph.
The RDS already had a strong association with the motor car, having organised a parade which comprised most of the cars then in the country at the Spring Show in 1901. That parade numbered 27 cars and was a great success. It gave many Irish people their first view of the newfangled automobile.
However, even that noted motoring enthusiast, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Dudley, chose to arrive at the 1904 Horse Show in his barouche pulled by his famous team of jet-black horses. It was his successor, Lord Aberdeen, who first travelled to the show by car three years later in 1907.
Perhaps another clue lies in the bunting and other decorations on the lampposts. Could this have been a scene on the way to a special function? Perhaps a Vice-Regal garden party? If so, what was the occasion?
Perhaps one of our readers can shed some extra light on this fascinating photograph of Dublin life in 1904.
MOTOR INSURANCE: It's believed that the first regular motor insurance of the modern type was offered by the Law Accident Insurance Company after the passing of the 1896 Emancipation Act. It's not possible to identify the first motor policy ever issued, but it's claimed that a Lloyds underwriter, AJ Withcomb, in 1901 drafted a policy which treated motor vehicles as ships navigating on land.
Attitudes towards claims were somewhat different then. It's reported that the same Mr Withcomb settled an early claim by the toss of a coin with the insured!
As the motor insurance market developed, Dublin was catered for from London. There were Dublin agents for the major insurance companies and motorists were invited to fill in proposal forms for insurance which were often included in motor magazines. An early Irish broker was the Irish Vehicle Owners Accident Company Limited which was founded in 1901 and advertised in the programme for the Irish Gordon Bennett Race of 1903.
PETROL ALTERNATIVES: Irish motoring circles in 1903 were full of discussion regarding the possible use of alcohol as an alternative to petrol. Quite a campaign developed and Sir Horace Plunkett was urged to encourage farmers to produce potatoes for alcohol distillation.
To encourage the switch to alcohol fuel and to promote its use, the influential Motor News magazine proposed the running of an alcohol race in Ireland in 1904 following the successful organisation of the Irish Gordon Bennett Race.
In the previous year in France, the French Minister of Agriculture supported the development of an outlet for his "wine lake" by sponsoring trials for motors using this form of alcohol. Apparently, it proved too expensive to pursue further.