Rolls-Royce 20HP (1928)

SALE AGREED


A lovely, correct and original 20hp saloon, which is spacious, light & airy, and very appealing full of character. The car is nicely finished in black and an attractive shade of purple (perhaps Damson is a suitable name for the colour), with black leather interior. This is complimented by a lovely dashboard, with an excellent set of original instruments, very nice nickel plating throughout, rear-mounted trunk, four 'diver's helmet' rear lamps incorporating flashing indicators (as do the side lamps at the front) and an overall appealing patina, adding to the car's charm. Running & driving very nicely, benefitting from overdrive, a relatively recent new cylinder head, rebuilt, correct 21" wheels with a matching set of Dunlop tyres, as well as various repairs & improvements in recent times, all documented in the substantial history file which accompanies the car. MoT'd until January 2018.

Chassis No. GKM39 Reg. No. YX 4557 £42,500.

Snippets: Solicitor to Air Marshall to Teachers
Laurance Harding took delivery of GKM39 whilst on holiday in Frinton-On-Sea rather than at his newly built home of Abbots Lea on Nightingales Lane in Chalfont St Giles. His sister-in-law Ethel was the Clerk of Works for the architect Edwin Forbes (1876/1955) who designed the majority of the houses in the area. In 1828 the small holding at Nightingales was turned by John Mair into a large country house set in parkland, the family retained the estate until 1928 when it was sold as a large number of building plots – with Abbots Lea being built in 1928 & Courtlands and Drumgage in 1930. The occupation of Harding family members included a Mayor of Tamworth, a blacksmith, a banker, several solicitors, an accountant and a mushroom farmer! The various Harding family connections via marriage include Oliver Cromwell, Duke of Grosvenor (land), Lord Ilkeston (surgeon), James Strachey (psychoanalyst) and Sir Robert Peel (police). It is not sure who owned the car during the war period but in 1946 it is shown as being with Air Marshal Sir Philip Babington (1894/1965), during WWI he was commissioned in the 9th (Cyclists) Battalion in Hampshire prior to his being transferred to the Royal Flying Corp. After WWI Sir Philip continued his career with the RAF and during WWII became Commanding-in-Chief of the Flying Training Command prior to his retirement in 1944 when he joined a committee to consider the future of the Court-martial system. (During the 16th Century Anthony Babington orchestrated a plot with the intention of replacing Queen Elizabeth I with Mary, Queen of Scots – the plot failed and both Babington and Queen Mary were executed. Sir Philip’s brother John was also an Air Marshal who in 1945 renounced his surname of Babington to become Air Marshal Sir John Tremayne Tremayne – a different meaning on Double-Barrelled!) In 1954 Sir Babington advertised GKM39 as immaculate for the princely sum of £690 with the car having had an extensive overhaul. The gentleman who purchased the car was Paul Witherington a teacher who taught at Monkton Combe School (he also coached the rowing term) and later at Lancing College, whilst at Monkton GKM39 was known as “The Flightal Bee”. In 1963 GKM39 changed her education and became resident at Eton College in Windsor with Michael Neal – Eton was founded in 1440 by Henry VI to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go onto King’s College which he founded the following year. In 1969 Michael Neal left Eton & became the first male headmaster at Cranborne Chase School for girls which was located at New Wardour Castle in Wiltshire – originally built in 1769 for the Arundell family by James Paine with the grounds being designed by Capability Brown a few years later, the last Lord Arundell died in 1944 and the family sold the castle in 1992 to property speculator and ecologist Nigel Tuersley who developed the property into substantial apartments with Jasper Conran the designer buying the main apartment in 2010.

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