Hugh Fortescue and Dame Ethel Locke King
© Brooklands Museum
Hugh Fortescue Locke King (1848-1926) landowner and motor-racing promoter, born at Woburn Park, Chertsey. He was the 2nd son of the 7th Baron Peter Locke King MP his elder brother dying just before his father so he inherited 4,000+ acres including those in Surrey.
He entered the Law in 1873 but in the census of 1881 said he was a barrister but not practicing. In 1878 he was part of the Rifle Volunteers – Middlesex.
He married Ethel Gore-Brown in 1884 at St Mary Abbotts Kensington.
In 1906, he was concerned that there were strict speed limits on public roads in Britain and there was limited viewing for spectators. Although there was some racing on private land, British motor manufacturers and racers had no test facilities, Mr Locke King met with Lord Northcliffe, the owner of the Daily Mail. Encouraged by Northcliffe, Mr Locke King agreed to provide the land to create the first purpose-built motor-racing track where cars could be driven at speed and British motor manufacturers could use the track for testing cars, tyres, accessories etc. The idea was publicly floated in May 1906, supported by the Automobile Club and Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, as well as leading figures in the racing world, including Selwyn Edge and Charles Jarrott, who were persuaded by Locke King's friend Ernest de Rodakowski to get involved. In 1906 Hugh Locke King agreed to provide the land for the Race Track on his Brooklands estate on the south side of the railway track from his house which was on poor quality land which was regularly flooded by the Wey. The track was designed by Colonel Holden and built by a railway engineer Mr Donaldson. Mr Locke King did not realise the scale of what the venture would become, it would cost around £150,000, which he raised by mortgaging his properties. As the cost of building the track increased, loans from his wife's family saved him from bankruptcy. The oval banked track was built using steam cranes, horses as well as railway trains and wagons and carts to transport soil and materials and a large work force was needed including navvies and farm workers.
The race track was formally opened on 17th June 1907 with the first race on 6th July. (The first British Grand Prix was held in August 1926). Aviation came a couple of years later including flying schools and eventually aircraft manufacture. Weybridge Hospital with 75 beds as an auxiliary hospital was built on land given by Hugh Locke King in his will which was the site of Vigo House.
In 1907 he took the Justice of the Peace oath so became a JP.
Hugh Locke King died in January 1926 and was buried in Weybridge Cemetery.
Dame Ethel Locke King (nee Gore-Browne;1864-1956) was born in Tasmania, the daughter of Thomas Robert Gore-Browne who was governor of St Helena, then New Zealand and then Tasmania. She moved to England when she was under 10 years of age.
Ethel married Hugh Locke King in 1884 and as she was an enthusiast for motoring and motor racing, she was a supporter of her husband's ambition to build the worlds first purpose built racing track. In December 1906 her husband's health was not good so she oversaw much of the track's construction supported by her brother Frank.
As well as her great interest in motoring, Dame Ethel was a keen flyer and was one of the first women to fly. The French pilot Louis Paulhan took Dame Ethel for a flight from Brooklands as his passenger and encouraged by this, aviation sheds and flying schools were built at the Byfleet end of the estate inside the race track. (Tommy Sopwith, Harry Hawker and Alliott Verdon Roe also flew from Brooklands).
Dame Ethel and her husband jointly owned Brooklands Estate Company which covered the track, flying ground and some other projects. When her husband died in 1926 Dame Ethel took over and after 10 years she began negotiations for the sale of the track and airfield together with Brooklands House. She moved to Caenshill House (now demolished which adjoined Shell Way) after the sale of Brooklands House.
In April 1937 she formally opened the Campbell Circuit which was opened as something closer to road racing conditions. (This was the 3rd circuit as the smaller Mountain Circuit had been opened in 1930).
Ethel was Vice-President of North Surrey and Assistant County Director Surrey British Red Cross and Order of St John of Jerusalem being commandant of 8 military hospitals in the area by the end of the war. She was awarded the Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in January 1918.
Ethel carried on farming specially raising Guernsey cattle after the death of her husband.
She died in 1956 and was buried next to her husband in Weybridge Cemetery.
Sources
- The Birth of Brooklands by Roger Bird 2012 edition
- Brooklands The Official Centenary History by David Venables 2007 published by Haynes Publishing
- Brooklands a Pictorial History by GN Georgano 1995 published by Dalton Watson Fine Books
- Brooklands Society Gazette Vol 3 no 2 2008