One glance at these amusing silver salt and pepper pots recalls to mind the very first intrepid motorists of the early 20th century. In an episode from Kenneth Grahame's immortal tale, The Wind in the Willows, published in 1908, the three friends Ratty, Mole and Badger arrive at Toad Hall to find 'a shiny new motor-car, of great size, painted a bright red (Toad's favourite colour), standing in front of the house. As they neared the door it was flung open, and Mr. Toad, arrayed in goggles, cap, gaiters, and enormous overcoat, came swaggering down the steps, drawing on his gauntleted gloves.'
It was as easy to lampoon the motorist for his outlandish appearance as it was to criticise him for his Toad-like noise and bluster, as did the artist Frank Reynolds in his 'The Petrol Person' among a set of caricatures entitled 'Some Social Pests' (The Sketch, London, Wednesday, 4 October 1905, p. 459)
Special, all-enveloping motoring clothes like this were quickly devised and for a few short years at the beginning of the last century they became standard attire for those brave enough to take to the open road. 'Motoring at the best of t.mes s,' wrote a reviewer in 1905, 'even when the summer zephyrs blow warmest, is not conducive to good health if one be not properly wrapped. . . . Therefore one should be comfortably clothed and prepared for either wind, rain or cold. Alfred Dunhill, Ltd., of 2 and 5, Conduit Street [Mayfair] . . . are placing on the market many productions enabling one to successfully war with the elements. It is owing to the excellence of these productions that Alfred Dunhill has built up a noteworthy reputation, making an advanced stage in the production of accessories made necessary by the advent of the ''horseless age.'' . . . The new Tweed Motoring Coat is especially suitable for driving in wintry weather. The pleat at the back allows the coat to be pulled well over the knee when sitting down. It is made in heavy waterproofed double tweed, lined satin across the shoulders and leather throughout.' (The American Register, London, Sunday, 5 March 1905, p. 7e)
This new craze for motoring inevitably gave plenty of scope to the world of entertainment. Writers of songs and sketches and performers alike expanded on the theme. An early 'horseless carriage' ditty was, 'The Motor Car,' sung by the comedian and former expert clog dancer, John F. Sheridan (1848-1908) in the guise of Widow Twankey for the pantomime Aladdin at the Metropole Theatre, Camberwell, South London at Christmas, 1896. The chorus, sung to the tune of Luigi Denza's 'Funiculi funicular,' ran as follows:
Puffing, snorting, so peculiar!
People shouting, 'They don’t know where they are!'
They laughed at us – they laughed at pa,
They laughed at.mes – they laughed at ma!
When we went to Brighton on our famous motor car!
Harry Dacre's 'Oh, Flo!' billed in 1901 as 'The Great Motoring Song,' followed the same composer's much recorded 'Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Made for Two)' of 1892.
(final chorus)
Oh, Flo! Why do you go
Riding along on your motor car?
People all say you're peculiar,
Singular, so you are.
Oh, Flo! Do let.mes go;
I'll be your guiding star.
There's room for two, me and you
On your elegant motor car.
(Toot toot. Toot toot)
In 1906, when the manufacturing silversmiths Saunders & Shepherd Ltd. registered the original design no. 490421 for silver pepperettes of the same pattern as the present examples, the fashion for motoring garb was at its height. Coralie Blythe and chorus appeared in such cost.mes s for 'The Motor Carnival at Wrexhill-on-Sea' number in Mr. Popple of Ippleton, a musical comedy which was then still running at the Apollo Theatre in London. (The Play Pictorial, London, 1905, no. 41, vol. 7) This was a thinly veiled reference to the first motor car race meetings sponsored by Earl De La Warr at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.
(photo: probably Bassano, London, 1905; cost.mes s made by Nettleship & Co. Ltd., Wigmore Street, London)
A scene in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman, first produced in 1905, involved a motor car and a chauffeur but even by the t.mes
of its 1911 revival at the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus the character Ann Whitefield's motoring coat must have appeared rather out-of-date. On this occasion, Ann was played by the pretty American actress, Pauline Chase, who is usually more associated with the boyish role of Peter Pan.