From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
EARLY ENTHUSIAST: The Earl of Dudley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was an early motoring enthusiast, losing no opportunity to travel by automobile. In October 1902, a vice-regal party consisting of the Lord Lieutenant, the Countess of Dudley, his brother, the Hon C Ward and their entourage travelled on a tour of Connemara by motor car.
The tour attracted considerable attention not least because of the decision to use motor cars. The event served to give an official imprimatur to the fledgling automobile in Ireland. The tour began on October 20th when the party travelled by train to Recess where they transferred to three cars, two 12 hp Panhards and a 10 hp Mors.
Having stayed overnight at the Zetland Arms Hotel, Cashel, the party travelled the following day to Ballinahinch, Clifden, Leenane and on to Killary Harbour. On the final day of the tour they headed for Westport by Maam Cross.
It is recorded that at Maam Cross the locals turned out en masse to remove the loose stones from the road which was apparently in particularly bad condition. From there the party continued to Cong and then to Westport via Ballinrobe.
At Westport the vice-regal party concluded the motor element of the journey, transferring to a train for the onward journey to Mulranny.
The success of the journey was widely reported and it was generally acknowledged that only by the use of cars could such a large extent of the country have been visited in such a short period of time.
Dudley also gave his support to the holding of the Gordon Bennett Race in Ireland the following year and viewed the contest from the Club enclosure at Ballyshannon. On the Saturday following the race, he gave a garden party at the Vice-Regal Lodge in the Phoenix Park for competitors and officials who had been involved in the Speed Trials held there earlier in the day.
Dudley was also an interested spectator at the trials, travelling there behind his famous team of jet-black horses from the Vice-Regal Lodge.
GOING TO WAR : No other event in the early history of motoring gave such an impetus to the development of motoring as the first World War. Between 1914 and 1918, the military needs of the warring nations led to a concentrated development of both chassis and engine.
In this four-year period, the reliability and performance of the motor car improved out of proportion to all of the years that had gone before.
Many Irish men and women were exposed to motor vehicles for the first time in the armed services. Many more learned to ride motorcycles or drive cars and at the war's ending it was these people who stimulated the tremendous period of growth and development that occurred in the assimilation of the motor vehicle into Irish society. Another aspect of the motor cars history which is generally overlooked is the part it played during the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Both sides used the motor vehicle with powerful effect. It gave flexibility and facilitated manoeuvrability in a way that had not been possible before.
During the Rising, armoured cars were deployed for the first time in Ireland and whether or not it was the Rolls-Royce armoured cars or the cruder, but no doubt effective, improvised armoured lorries deployed by the Crown forces, a new and sinister element was added to the conflict.