Operating in Hampshire in the UK, the National Motor Museum Trust (NMMT) will celebrate its Diamond jubilee of its Reference Library with an online commemoration from April 28, 2021. It will give motoring enthusiasts a fascinating insight into one of Europe’s largest publicly accessible motor heritage libraries.
Six Decades
Marking six decades since the library was opened in 1961, a selection of films will be available to watch on the NMMT YouTube channel. They will take the viewers behind the scenes of the library, which contains over 300,000 items, revealing its remarkable history. This vast collection spans from the beginning of the automobile era in the 1880s right up to the present day.
The Reference Library curators Carina Taylor and Lindsay Whitaker-Guest are looking forward to commemorating this invaluable resource. Lindsay says, “The 60th anniversary is definitely a proud moment for us as it shows how far the collection has come over the years”.
Carina says, “Thanks to the expert knowledge of all its librarians, staff and volunteers, past and present, the service has become the place for information and advice whether you are a vehicle restorer, academic researcher or finding more about your family history”.
The Reference Library, or National Road Transport Library as it was originally called, was officially opened on April 28, 1961, by the late Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, who recognised the importance of providing a motoring library and archive service for historians, researchers and members of the public.
From its unlikely location in the kitchens of Palace House, the Montagu family home, the library expanded quickly, relocating to larger premises at Beaulieu’s John Montagu Building in 1972, then to its current location in the National Motor Museum Trust’s Collection Centre in 1989. Today, it occupies five rooms over two floors.
The Beginning
Founded in 1972, the National Motor Museum Trust Limited is a charitable organisation, which runs NMMT at Beaulieu. Continuing the work of the flagship Montagu Motor Museum, the Trust has a world-famous collection of vehicles and associated motoring items. It houses and cares for a vast array of images, books and items all related to motoring.
Collections
The Reference Library tells the story of motoring in Britain and abroad. The service provides access to a wealth of research material, including rare and out of print publications on everything from cars and motorcycles to commercial vehicles. The collection includes 14,000 books, 7,000 bound volumes of periodicals, 100,000 loose periodicals, 70,000 sales literature items, around 25,000 handbooks, 7,000 workshop manuals and over 9,000 event programmes and show guides.
The collection continues to grow, with over 2,000 historical and contemporary items added each year. Besides, it has 280 vehicles (cars, commercial vehicles and motorcycles), about 50,000 objects, 1.4 million photographic images, 300,000 archive items, 26,000 film, video and audio recordings and 310,000 items in the reference library. The Shell Heritage Art Collection and the Caravan and Motorhome Club Collection are also hosted at the NMMT.
First Caravan
Who built the first caravan to be towed by a motor car? Angela Willis, Curator, Caravan and Motorhome Club Collection says that there was a new craze sweeping the wealthy and leisured classes of Britain in the Edwardian era for horse-drawn leisure caravanning. By 1907, the hobby was so popular that the then Caravan Club of Great Britain and Ireland (now known as the Caravan and Motorhome Club) was formed to represent the growing number of horse-drawn caravanners.
The very first trailer caravan designed for this purpose was reported to have been built in 1914 by Frederick Alcock, an adventurous early motorist and friend of pioneering car manufacturers, the Lanchester brothers. However, the quest to find hard evidence to back up these anecdotes is on-going. It is said that the caravan body was mounted on a 1909 Lanchester axle, and this he towed with a 1913 Lanchester Landaulette.
Britain’s First Motor Race
Patrick Collins, Research and Enquiries Officer, tells the story of Britain’s first official motor race. The development of motor racing in Great Britain was rather slow compared with the rest of Europe, where a number of long-distance races were held on public roads in the 1890s and early 1900s.
Although many motorcycle and motor tricycle races were held on cycle tracks from the late 1890s onwards, car races took longer to appear in Britain. According to the pages of The Autocar, the English Motor Club (successor to the Motor Car Club, organisers of the 1896 Emancipation Run from London to Brighton) held a race meeting on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, South London, on April 10, 1901.
Driving Test
The origins of the driving test are explored in the latest blog from Collins. June 1, 2020, marks the 85th Anniversary of the introduction of compulsory driving tests in the UK. After that date, anybody who had taken out a driving licence after April 1, 1934, was obliged to undergo an official driving test. Britain was among the last nations in Europe to introduce driving tests, France having been the first as early as 1899.
Thousand Mile Trial
On the 120th Anniversary (celebrated on April 23, 2020) of the Thousand Mile Trial, Collins, tells the story of this historical event and its association with Beaulieu and the Montagu family. At the beginning of the 20th century, motoring was finally just starting to catch on in Britain. A small number of local manufacturers were becoming established, forming the nucleus of what would soon become a major industry.
Yet throughout the country, people remained sceptical about the impact of the motor car, while many more had yet to actually see one of the machines for themselves. Against this background, a group of leading motorists proposed an event that would test the current crop of motor cars, while allowing a large slice of the population to see what all the fuss was about, the Thousand Mile Trial.
Organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (forerunner of the Royal Automobile Club), the Thousand Mile Trial started in London on April 23, 1900 and followed a route that included Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds and Nottingham before returning to the capital on May 12.
It would be their first encounter with the motor car for many ordinary people in the Midlands and North. At various locations along the route, the entrants and their machines were tested in a speed trial and several hill-climbs.
Courtesy: The National Motor Museum Trust.