‘The Woman and The Car’ was first published in 1909. To complete the title, it is ‘A chatty little handbook for all women who motor or who want to motor’. Its author is Dorothy Levitt and what a woman she was! Dorothy first came into contact with motorsport through her work as a secretary at the Napier motor company. There she met S.F. Edge who took her under his wing so-to-speak and he arranged a six month apprenticeship with French automobile maker Clément-Bayard in Paris, where she learned all aspects of building and driving cars. On her return to London she started teaching women to drive – including Queen Alexander amongst other members of the Royal Family.
Yes – we are talking about the privileged classes but in her book she states that "there might be pleasure in being whisked around the country by your friends and relatives, or chauffeur, but the real intense pleasure only comes when you drive your own car."
Her book can now reach a far wider audience since it has been republished in facsimile by Osprey Publishing with 146 pages and 27 black & white plates. Five pages of contemporary adverts in the back remind us of the Edwardian era in which she lived and the advert for the Webley automatic pocket pistol takes us to straight to chapter 2 where she writes, “If you are going to drive alone in the highways and byways it might be advisable to carry a small revolver.” More realistically she also advises taking a dog along if driving alone.
The author calculates she drives about 400 miles a week and so it’s easy to believe she writes from experience. Women drivers are advised to carry a hairpin to clear blocked jets, a fine file to attend to trembler points, along with an extra handkerchief, a clean veil, a hand mirror – “not for strictly personal use, but to occasionally hold up to see what is behind you.” – and finally, “ .. some chocolates are very soothing, sometimes.”
The reader is offered practical advice about when to tip and how much, and is encouraged to join The Ladies’ Automobile Club whose headquarters are situated at Claridge’s Hotel where they have a suite of rooms and Miss K. d’Esterre Hughes is secretary. Membership has many advantages – the use of club rooms, the club garage when in town and a discount off your hotel bill.
I was taken back to my childhood when I read members are advised to join the Automobile Association who place scouts on different main roads to warn motorists of police traps, and when they see the AA badge on the front of your car they will stop and warn you of any danger. My grandfather was always saluted by AA men at the side of the road when they saw his AA badge on the radiator of his car.
Towards the end of her book Levitt lists some fellow women motoristes and one name jumped off the page – The Hon. Mrs Assheton Harbord …”who drives a Rolls Royce Car, owns her own balloon “The Valkyrie” and has competed with it in seven races.” I know the name from my own balloon book collection and she is regularly pictured with Charles Rolls in balloons. She is known to have flown across the English Channel twice in four days.
The book gives a glimpse of extraordinary women in very different times but I am glad Dorothy Levitt agrees that some things are unladylike and in the Motor Woman’s Dictionary at the back we see the following definition; “BACKFIRE - A premature explosion of the gaseous mixture in the cylinder. When it occurs while the starting-handle is being turned its effects are distinctly unpleasant to the operator.”
Text and Robin Batchelor.