Date: 1858 - 1910 (c.)

Description: Author Ruth Brandon writes that from its first appearance in the late nineteenth century, the car became ‘the ultimate consumer good’. Brandon remarks that the car was the perfect vehicle for exhibiting wealth and fashion with ‘mere ownership’ of a car signifying the ‘utmost social importance’.

Malcolm Asquith describes the Leveson-Gower family as ‘pioneer motorists’, owning the first car manufactured for commercial sale in 1858. The Rickett steam car manufactured by Thomas Rickett of Buckingham immediately attracted the attention of wealthy men The vehicle was powered by a two cylinder engine and seated three people including the driver who controlled the car using a steering tiller.

Contextual information from Ruth Brandon Automobile: How the Car Changed Life (Macmillan, 2002) Information about the Rickett Steam Car courtesy of Malcolm Asquith www.crossley-motors.org.uk taken from Beaulieu Encyclopaedia of the Automobile (The Stationery Office, 2000).

Motorcars in the Sutherland Papers

Considering the family’s history as ‘pioneer motorists’ and the commercial desirability of motorcars, it is not surprising that Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1851-1913), the fourth Duke of Sutherland, was a motorcar enthusiast. Accounts, vouchers and correspondence in the Sutherland Papers suggest that the Duke owned a number of cars allocated for his estate and for his own private use. The Duke’s cars were managed by the staff at his Stables at Lilleshall. A man named William Watson oversaw expenditure on motorcars and was also responsible for co-ordinating the use of the cars, their maintenance and organising drivers for the vehicles.

Click on the images on the left to see documents relating to motorcars in the Sutherland Papers.