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Driving an 1899 12hp (9kW) Daimler, the
older Lord Montagu joined 64 other cars
on the Thousand Mile Trial from London
to Edinburgh and back in 1900, winning
a bronze medal. The gold went to Charles
Rolls in a 12hp Panhard. In June 2000,
Edward Montagu drove the same Daimler in
the 100th anniversary of the run. After John’s
death in 1929, when son Edward was little
more than two years old, his 1903 6hp (4kW)
De Dion-Bouton remained at Beaulieu.
It was this car that sparked the idea for a
motor museum.
As previously mentioned, Lord Montagu
began his collection of old cars in 1952,
and, by the time I met him 12 years later,
there were three centres — in Beaulieu,Brighton, and Measham — housing 200 cars,
150 motorcycles, trolley buses, trams, and a
train. The first museum was established in the
front hall of historic Palace House at Beaulieu,
but this was only an interim location, since it
made the whole house smell of oil.
Lord Montagu always believed that the cars
in the museum should be used, and as many
as possible raced, hill climbed, and ran in
speed events.
“It doesn’t mean anything to just collect
cars,” he told me.
Montagu always believed there were few
motor museums in the world but “an awful
lot of collections”. Museums, he pondered,
were different, since they attempted to tell the
story of the car and should be surrounded by
artefacts and relics of the time. Collections did
not tell any story of the cars; rather they told
the story of the person who did the collecting.
Beaulieu was to be a working museum, with
the sound and smell of veteran and vintage
engines turning over once a month.New use for historic building
In 1951, at the age of 25, Montagu succeeded
to the estate and title but found that there
was insufficient money to fund the cost ofrunning the property and its buildings. So,
along with reluctantly selling a small portion
of the estate’s land, the idea of a motor
museum made sense to him to improve
the finances.
The world’s first motor museum originated
in 1912 when Edmund Dangerfield founded
a collection in London’s Oxford Street.
This early effort failed due to the onset of
World War I. Lord Montagu’s plan was
somewhat different. He sited his old-but-
modest group of vehicles in one of the
so-called treasure houses in England. In
addition to his dad’s De Dion, the initial
collection comprised an 1898 Daimler, an
1896 Léon Bollée tri-car, an 1898 Benz, and a
19 0 4 Vau x h a l l.
The media loved the idea, the Daily Mail
newspaper reporting: “Old crocks are now on
show in King John’s abbey”.
Lord Montagu was working in public
relations up in London and was well versed
in dealing with the press. He soon saw the
size of the public interest in old cars. A sharp
increase in that interest came in 1955 with the
release of the comedy film Genevieve, which
starred two rival cars, a Spyker and a 1905
Darracq, taking part in the Brighton run.Lord Montagu always
believed that the cars
in the museum should
be used, and as many
as possible raced, hill
climbed, and ran in
speed eventsLeft: Lord Montagu with one of
his favourite vehicles, a 1909
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
Below: A Beaulieu flyer