From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
HUTTONS OF SUMMERHILL:
In the early history of motoring in Ireland, one commercial establishment was pre-eminent. John Hutton & Sons of Summerhill, Dublin, were already significant coachbuilders when the first automobiles began to traverse Irish roads. The firm had been founded in 1779 by John Hutton with premises initially in Great Britain Street.
John Hutton could trace his ancestry back to a Thomas Hutton, an officer in Cromwell's army, who was given confiscated land in Ulster. By 1750 the family had moved to Dublin and were well established in trade.
Henry Hutton became Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1803. His brother, John, founded the coachbuilding business in 1779 when only 22 years old. His carriages quickly acquired an excellent reputation, no doubt helped by his employing Rudolph Ackermann to design a series of carriages. Ackermann's name is familiar to us by virtue of the steering system to which he gave his name.
When the Irish Post Office was established in 1784 as an independent entity, John Hutton was commissioned to build the first mail coaches. Their construction turned out to be a great triumph and all later Irish mail coaches were built to Hutton's design.
By now the business had moved to Summerhill and it was there that the Lord Mayor's coach - still used on ceremonial occasions - was built in 1791.
A disastrous fire in 1851 brought the firm to its knees, but it recovered to prosper once again and in 1853 was asked to build the Irish State Coach which is still used today at the annual opening of the Houses of Parliament in London.
In the last years of the 1800s, Huttons turned its attentions to the newly arriving car and acquired the Daimler agency for Ireland in 1900.
Dr John Colohan joined its board of directors and provided much promotion for Huttons and Daimler cars. Colohan had a gift for publicity and undoubtedly his efforts paid off for Huttons. He claimed to have been one of the first British subjects to have motored anywhere, which he did while travelling in Europe in the early 1890s.
In November 1896, he imported a Benz into Ireland. This was probably the second car to arrive here - and the first petrol-engined car imported.
Such was the success of Huttons in this new trade that by 1902 it had doubled its staff to 160, and opened new showrooms at No 2 Dawson Street. By the time of the 1907 Dublin Motor Show at the RDS, Huttons had acquired agencies for Darracq, Minerva, Gregoire, Sheffield Simplex, Lanchester and the interesting White Steam cars discussed here some weeks ago.
Hutton's success seemed to know no bounds. However, the 1907 Dublin Motor Show also saw the make of car which was to dominate the future of the Irish industry. Ford offered its Irish franchise to Huttons, but it turned it down in deference to its long-standing relationship with prestigious Daimler.
In a few short years the market for expensive prestige cars had all but disappeared in Ireland, and with it Huttons. The firm went into voluntary liquidation in 1925.
The Summerhill site was sold to the Dublin United Tramways Company and, in due course, became the property of CIÉ. Today it's the Summerhill depot of Dublin Bus - a sad end to a business that had survived for 156 years.