Dashing about in a Daimler: a speed machine for a young Edwardian

• 

If, in 1910 or thereabouts, you were able to go motoring in a Daimler, you were extremely fortunate. If, as a young man, you were able to go motoring in anything it all, you were likewise extremely fortunate. If, however, you were a young man and entrusted with the care of a large, sporty Daimler, you were an elite youth indeed. The picture is clear enough that we can make out the Royal Automobile Club radiator cap, which just shows goes to show that our friends here could afford to motor with the best of them.

With the presence of the older gentleman by the side of the car, we are inclined to suspect that the Daimler does not actually belong to the young man. The elder chap is probably his father and the owner, and it may be this photograph marks his son's coming of age—his first time at the controls of an automobile. Then again, supposing this family was really inordinately wealthy, it is just about possible that the son had bought his own car, or was gifted the Daimler as a 21st birthday present, but we think our first explanation is most likely.

We regret that we have no further information, but for one clue as to the general area in which it was taken. On the back is the stamp of a photographer named M. Guillon of Woodville Road, Thornton Heath. Thornton Heath, near Croydon, is one of many parts of London which, sadly, has entered a state of decline, but the surviving houses of the Victorian and Edwardian periods testify that it was once a very respectable place to live. The fact that Woodville Road was only two miles from the famous Crystal Palace would have added to its desirability, and the terraced houses from the turn of the 20th century distinguish it has having once been a resoundingly middle-class area. There's no way our Daimler drivers lived in a modest terrace, though. We wonder exactly where they had their stately abode.

M. Guillon, incidentally, was Pierre Martial Maximilien Guillon (1852-1940), who moved from France to England in the 1870s and, after moving around the country several times, settled in Thornton Heath in the 1890s and remained there for the rest of his life. His specialism was for residential photography, but there survive some photographs of horse carriages with his name on them, so this probably was not the only photograph he took of a horseless carriage. His brother Valentin also established himself as a professional photographer in England and, surprisingly, a lot of research has been done into their lives and is available online.

We mustn't go off-track, though. The car, we suppose dates from c.1910, but beyond being a Daimler, we don't know anything about it. Can anyone give us some help?

Words: Zack Stiling
Photograph: Stiling Collection

Kommentar abgeben...