1904 Humberette 6½hp 'Royal Beeston' Two-seater

• Top-of-the-range Royal Beeston model
• Substantially known ownership history
• Present ownership since 1975
• Many-time London to Brighton participant

Founded as a bicycle maker in 1868, Humber later became associated with Harry Lawson's British Motor Syndicate, from which it purchased the rights to various unlikely automobile designs dreamt up by American E J Pennington. Freeing itself from Lawson, the reconstituted company commenced motor car production in 1900 with the unconventional (front-wheel drive, rear-wheel steered) M D Voiturette. A more conventional range of De Dion-powered light cars soon followed, which was notable for its use of shaft drive in an era when chain was the norm for such vehicles.

Four-cylinder 12hp and 20hp models, designed by Louis Coatalen, had been added by 1903, but that year's most significant introduction was the Humberette. The latter was powered by a 5hp single-cylinder engine and featured two-speeds-plus-reverse transmission and shaft drive. It was the first Humber motor car to be produced in significant numbers, and it is a tribute to the design's fundamental soundness that so many survive today. There was also a 6½hp model, and both versions were built at the firm's Beeston and Coventry factories.

By January 1904 it was announced that almost 500 of these light cars had been built, and in 1904 the Prince of Wales awarded a Royal Warrant. The new and significantly more powerful 6½hp models became 'Royal Beeston' Humberettes and by now were equipped with a three-speeds-plus-reverse gearbox. The Beeston models were superior in various respects to the Coventry-built cars, featuring side doors and a governed engine with pedal accelerator, while by 1904 wooden artillery wheels had replaced the more fragile wire wheels of the early models. The 'Royal Beeston' Humberette was priced at 160 guineas, some 10 guineas dearer than the Coventry cars.

Correspondence on file states that this particular Royal Beeston Humberette was first owned by a Dr Falwasser, passing a couple of years later to Corfes the Chemist of Maidstone, Kent; the car was driven by one Arthur Henry Hodges, a commercial traveller. The old-style continuation logbook on file records the owner in 1954 as Alfred Childs of Matfied, Kent and lists six further owners. The last listed is the current vendor, who acquired the Humber in 1975, since when it has been a regular London-Brighton Run participant (see list on file). Additional documentation consists of a V5C Registration Certificate, a VCC Dating Certificate, and a Science Museum Certificate.