There is no country in the world—not even France, where the motoring movement received its first real start and its keenest pursuit, nor America, where the fair sex is supposed to receive and to exercise its largest freedom—there is no country in the world in which woman may be seen at the helm of a motor-car so frequently as in England. Whatever the cause—whether it be due to a greater sense of security from annoyance on public roads or simply to superiority of pluck, the fact remains that women in England excel their sisters in other countries as greatly in motoring as in horsemanship.

Almost every woman who can afford it is, of course, a motoriste in the sense that she owns, or has at her disposal, a motor-car. It is not, however, with the ladies whose experience of the pastime is limited to a seat beside or behind the driver that this chapter deals, but rather with those who are accustomed to the task of driving and caring for their cars, and who find a healthful recreation in doing it. Twenty or thirty years ago, two of the essentials to a motorist—some acquaintance with mechanics and the ability to understand local topography—were supposed to be beyond the capacity of a woman’s brain. The supposition was simply due to the fact that woman’s brain had never had occasion to approach these subjects. Fifty years ago a satirical writer—a man, of course—averred that although instruction in “the use of the globes” was part of the curriculum of every girls’ school, no woman could understand, or would try to understand, a road map. If the remark was true when it was written it is

certainly not true to-day. The school-room globes have long been buried in the dust of disuse, but the pastimes of cycling and motoring have made the understanding of maps a necessity to every active gentlewoman; indeed the average woman is probably quicker than the average man in gathering from a map the information which it has to offer.

So with mechanics. If a woman wants to learn how to drive and to understand a motor-car, she can and will learn as quickly as a man. Hundreds of women have done and are doing so, and there is many a one whose keen eyes can detect, and whose deft fingers can remedy, a loose nut or a faulty electrical connection in half the time that the professional chauffeur would spend upon the work.

Incontestable evidence of the practical interest which Englishwomen are taking in motoring is afforded by the existence and prosperity of the Ladies’ Automobile Club. This institution was established in 1903. The annual subscription is five guineas, and there is an entrance fee of the same amount. There are nearly four hundred members, most of whom are fully competent to drive their own cars. The club has successfully organised a number of tours in England and on the Continent as well as driving competitions at Ranelagh.

The president of the Ladies’ Automobile Club, the Duchess of Sutherland, is the grande dame of automobilism in England. The Duchess is an accomplished motoriste, and although in cold weather she prefers to be driven by somebody else, in summer she may often be seen at the wheel. Her latest car is a MercÉdÈs.

Another peeress who drives, and drives well, is the Countess of Kinnoull. The Countess shares her husband’s fondness for sport, a great variety of which is provided in the neighbourhood of their beautiful Scottish home at Dupplin Castle, and she finds the motor-car an indispensable adjunct to the full enjoyment of country life.

Lady Wimborne, whose energy and industry are as inexhaustible as those of her brother, the late Lord Randolph Churchill, finds the

motor-car an invaluable aid to her useful activities as well as a means of recreation. She has three or four cars, and is an able and confident driver.

Lady Viola Talbot, daughter of the Premier Earl of England, is like her father in the love of sport. Like him she is almost as fond of motors as of horses. She is mistress of the car and its appurtenances, and has driven some thousands of miles at home and abroad.

Among other titled ladies who count their miles by the thousand may be named Lady Beatrice Rawson, a devotee of the small car; Lady Muriel Gore-Brown, the Hon. Mrs. Maurice Gifford, of Boothby Hall, Grantham; Lady Plowden, and the Baroness Campbell de Laurentz. The Baroness has the distinction of being the first lady in Britain to drive and manage her own car. Cars in those days were patterned like high dog-carts and were mostly steamers. The Baroness possesses several photographs of herself and husband, with a groom in the tiger’s seat, of the old-fashioned car. To-day these pictures have a very queer look.

A complete list of the ladies who have taken part in motor-car road trials and club competitions would be wearisome to the reader, but a few names may be mentioned. Miss Muriel Hind, one of the few women who favour the motor-bicycle, has won many medals in long-distance trials. Mrs. Herbert Lloyd, who is not only an expert driver, but the inventor of some very ingenious appliances for motor-cars, has done well in open competition with professional male drivers. Miss Daisy Hampson has won prizes with her 120 horse-power Fiat. Mrs. E. Manville has taken part in the Herkomer competition.

No list of distinguished women motoristes would be complete without the names of those who took part in the first race for ladies upon the Brooklands course. The race, which was called the Ladies’ Bracelet Handicap, took place in July 1908. There were five starters: Mrs. Locke-King, wife of the founder and owner of Brooklands Racecourse; Miss Muriel Thompson, Miss Christabel Ellis, Miss N. Ridge-Jones, and Mrs. J. Roland Hewitt. Mrs. Locke-King, who started from scratch,

finished a length in front of Miss Muriel Thompson, her speed over the course being at the rate of fifty miles an hour.

There are few lady motoristes who take a keener practical interest in their cars than Miss Isabel Savory. Miss Savory, who has driven many cars, is loud in her praises of her 10 horse-power Cadillac. This car she has always driven and attended to herself, never having employed a chauffeur. She has done all the oiling and adjustments and has put on many a new inner tube by the roadside. She has driven long distances without any companion, and has dealt single-handed and successfully with every emergency that has arisen.

Mrs. George Thrupp, of Cadogan Square, has been driving ever since 1896. Her favourite cars are the Renault and Mors, in which she has toured in Great Britain and on the Continent. She has won prizes in driving competitions. She was, in fact, one of the pioneers of motoring for women, and her youngest boy, Roger, was the first baby to have a “motor christening.”

Other names of motoring women that occur to one are those of Mrs. Edward Kennard, the novelist, who is equally at home at the wheel of a 40 horse-power Napier car and in the saddle of a motor-bicycle; Miss Hunter Baillie, of Cirencester; Mrs. Mark Mayhew, Miss Schiff, Mrs. Claude Paine, Mrs. Nicol, Mrs. Weguelin, Mrs. Charles Jarrott, and Mrs. Edge. No doubt there are other names which at the moment have slipped the memory but which have as good a claim as these to inclusion in the catalogue of distinguished women motoristes. The list is long enough, however, to show the ardour and success with which women have applied themselves to the mechanical details of automobilism.