Catalogue description Egerton Collection

Collection of photographic material, newspaper cuttings and other papers relating to Egerton Motors.

Open to bona fide researchers. By appointment only.

Lantern slides were a 'gift from Sir Clive Edwards'.

• Motor vehicles

Brothers Justin Reginald (known as Reginald) and Hubert Wingfield Egerton were sons of the Rev.Charles Cadwallader Egerton, M.A. the Rector of Western, near Norwich. J.R. Egerton was born in 1873 and Hubert in 1875. The two brothers ran a garage and car showroom, Egertons (Ipswich) Ltd., a major garage in the centre of the town. J.R. Egerton was a director and founder. Pre-war, Egertons would obtain and sell you any make of car and had a stand at the annual Motor Show at Olympia. At the beginning of the war the garage in Northgate Street was commandeered and converted into a clothing factory for military uniforms. The premises in Crown Street became a centre for the repair and maintenance of military vehicles. Mann Egerton was founded in Norwich in 1898 by G.N.C. Mann, an electrical engineer who took Hubert Egerton into partnership in 1900. Botwoods of Ipswich also joined forces with Mann Egerton. Hubert fell out with his co-partner, Mann, within a very short time, and sold all his shares in Mann-Egerton (a very bad move as the business expanded). Reginald showed great prowess at sports of many kinds and spent ten years in the engineering line, at times in Canada, and France. He was the Chairman and Governing Director of Egertons (Ipswich) Ltd. He started a local Automobile Club which became the Suffolk County Automobile Club. He took part in all the early motor cycle races in Suffolk. In February 1903 he drove a 7 hp Primus voiturette from John O'Groats to the Egerton works in Ipswich. On Easter Monday 1905 he won a silver cup at the Bury St. Edmund's Athletic Club 5-mile motor cycle handicap on a Bat. He was involved with the Suffolk Motor Cycle Club and Eastern Counties Automobile Club, assisting at races with safety and timing. In June 1907 Mrs Egerton drove a 8 - 10 hp 2-cylinder Darracq in the Ladies Section of the annual hill-climbing test of the Ipswich and East Suffolk Automobile Club at Lawford Hill, Mannington. She came second, two seconds above the fastest time. Reginald came second in the Trade Members section in a De Dion. Over the years Reginald was frequently taken to court for speeding! He drove many different cars, among them Arrol-Johnston, Argyle, Gobron-Brillee, New Century Tandem, and Primus. Hubert was employed by the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. and later became the sales manager of the De Dion-Bouton British and Colonial Syndicate Ltd. His first vehicle was a Beeston motor tricycle purchased in 1896. Early in 1900 he purchased a De Dion-Bouton voiturette and drove this in the Thousand Miles Trial, maintaining the stipulated speed of 12 m.p.h. winning £10. In the severe winter of 1900 he drove from John O' Groats to Landsend in a Locomobile Steam Car, a feat which has never been repeated. Shortly afterwards he drove from Landsend on a Werner motor bicycle. His front wheel was badly buckled when he was run into by a cyclist, but he managed to straighten it and he finished in time. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he discovered a very early Bollee three-wheeler which had been standing out in the open since the beginning of the century. He worked on it for 8 years to bring it into serviceable condition again. Shortly before the task was completed his health broke down. The machine was sold to Ronald Lawson who was a director of the Montagu Motor Museum. He also restored a Panhard car which had belonged to the Hon. C.S. Rolls. This was later donated to the Norwich Museum and then sold to the Montagu Motor Museum. Pre World War II he worked in his brother's business as a salesman. After the war he was in very poor health and spent some time in Ipswich Mental Hospital and ultimately in an old people's home. Hubert died on 19 November 1950.

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