From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
ONE FOR THE LADIES!: Ever since Bertha Benz wrote her name into the motoring history books by making the world's first motor journey in her husband's 'borrowed' car, there have been women motorists.
And as motoring developed and motor racing took hold there was even one lady who made a name for herself as being the equal of her male contempories. Madame du Gast took part in the ill-fated Paris to Madrid race of 1903 and distinguished herself by her driving and then by her humanity when she dropped out of the race to help the many injured she came across upon the route.
Here in Ireland we know that there was at least a handful of women driving cars by the end of 1903 when driving licences and vehicle index marks were introduced.
Indeed, at least one skilful lady driver was forced off the road by the 1903 legislation, as she was too young to qualify for one of the newly introduced driving licences.
The key motoring organisation of the time was the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, which in time would evolve into the Royal Automobile Club, while its Irish branch founded in 1901, would become the Royal Irish Automobile Club in 1918. Recognising the number of enthusiastic lady motorists then in existence, the secretary of the Club, Claude Johnson - later to become famous for his Rolls Royce involvement - established the Ladies' Automobile Club as an affiliate to the main club.
This was separate to the gentlemen's club and was distinguished by a solid silver badge enamelled in either Lincoln green or deep red, which could also take the form of a brooch.
Johnson, something of a male supremacist, felt it was better to satisfy in this way the 'almost frenzied enjoyment' which cars gave to 'motorinas'!
Certainly, some 'motorinas' were passionate about their motoring and one claimed she would "willingly give up a house and live in lodgings, and do without fashionable restraints, and even a fashionable dressmaker and fine clothes, rather than abandon her motor".
Surprisingly little is to be found in the contemporary motoring journals of the first decade or so of the 20th century about women motorists.
I suspect that this is because for the early motorists, and this was particularly so in Ireland, motoring was looked upon as another sport to add to the existing sporting pursuits of hunting, shooting and fishing, all of which were perceived to be manly pursuits.
The few women who breeched the barriers of these pursuits were regarded as the exception and tended to be tolerated rather than accepted and, I suspect, so too it was with motoring.
Despite the Latin motto of their badge declaring they were "everywhere", it seems that the Edwardian members of the Ladies Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland remained a somewhat rare and endangered species.
Perhaps an Irish Times reader has one of these rare badges belonging to an adventurous motoring lady ancestor lying in a forgotten box in their attic?