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Abecassis, Cowell, Elliott, Almack, three Mitchisons and an Austin


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#1 stuartu

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 12:35

As some of you will know the rebuild of George Abbecassis' first racing car is under weigh, a single seater blown Austin built by Pete Almack. I have become involved because I have a few photos of the car from its first year of competition.  Doug Nye posted a picture here a while ago but more are needed, so it would be much appreciated if anyone can help.

 

The people named above are those we know drove (and maybe owned) the car.

 

J A Elliot of Bournemouth also raced a Crossley 10 (!) in 1935 and drove the Austin at Poole in '36.

 

Robert Cowell is a familiar name, of course - Robin Jackson revised the car for Cowell.

 

We think Mitchison drove the car at Southsea. I have tripped over three people with the surname Mitchison in contemporary reports; the contenders are E Mitchison, R A Mitchison and Ralph C Mitchison. Perhaps they are one and the same? Ralph lived on the Isle of Wight and died in 1941, at which time he was a dispatch rider in Palestine - thank you Google. He advertised an Ulster Austin with Almack wheels in Motor Sport in '38 - thank you MS digital archive.

 

Photos, speculation, hard facts all gratefully received!

 

Regards,

Stuart Ulph


Edited by stuartu, 21 May 2014 - 07:35.


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#2 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 13:04

'JA Elliot' could be Jack Elliott (with a double T), who was a friend of Tony Rolt and prepared his Triumph Dolomite when he first started racing. When Rolt bought 'Remus' from Chula in 1938, Elliott continued to spanner for Rolt until he later entrusted the ERA to Freddie Dixon. Elliott raced what I assume is the same Dolomite in the Leinster Trophy that year, crashing in practice and having to rebuild it overnight: he was also looking after Rolt's ERA at this race and despite all this he still managed to finish third on handicap! He also finished 17th in the 1938 Tourist Trophy.



#3 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 13:34

There's a 1936 travel record on Ancestry that suggests Ralph Conyngham Mitchison might have been an officer in the Palestine police in the 1930s. Address is given as Wootton Rise, Wootton, IoW. Profession given as police officer and travelling 2nd class from Palestine: not 100% proof, but it looks likely from that evidence.

 

However, there's an Australian connection: the same home address is given in a death notice in The Times, with his parents quoted as HGS and The Hon Mrs Mitchison, citing him as 'younger son' - so at least one older male sibling - I'll get to that later! He was in the Australian Corps, Australian Imperial Force, Middle East Forces and the death notice requests 'Australian papers please copy'. According to another record on Ancestry - a press cutting from 1946, referring to a grant of probate in Australia in 1942 - he was a schoolmaster at Scots College Preparatory School in Sydney. The probate grant can be found in the Sydney Morning Herald, July 3rd 1942: home given as Bellevue Hill, NSW, which is the location of Scots College.

 

So maybe he sold the Ulster because he was emigrating?

 

CWGC records give his parents' full names: Captain Herbert Guy Sturges Mitchison and Ivy Mitchison (née Denison - from RCM's birth record, early 1912).



#4 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 13:46

His older brother was called Denison Guy Mitchison. Father 'of private means, late 2nd Lt 19th Hussars' according to the 1911 census, at which time they employed three servants - a nurse, a cook and a domestic.



#5 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 14:15

As for the other possible Mitchisons - there was a Ralph A S Mitchison living in Kent at about the same time, but in general it seems to be a surname which comes from County Durham, Northumberland and thereabouts (RCM's father was born in Yorkshire). There is an Edward Mitchison from Houghton-le-Spring who might fit: appears to have been the son of a mine manager of some sort.



#6 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 16:14

 

Ralph [son] raced cars at Brooklands and Harold Barton of Palmers Road serviced them for him. He emigrated to Australia, and was killed in action during the Second World War.

http://woottonbridge...mitchisonhg.php

 

No sign of him in WB's Brooklands book.



#7 stuartu

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 16:19

Thank you very much, Vitesse 2. J A Elliott does indeed have two ts, mea culpa. I found a reference to a J A Elliott co driving a Triumph at Spa with Rolt in I think '36 so I begin to think he is our man.

The Mitchison business intrigues me.

The "Light Car" reports E Mitchison inverting Almack's Austin at the hairpin in May '36. I have the programme for that meeting but can only assume Mitchison was a late entry since he does not figure in the programme. I also have a photo (courtesy of Ted Walker) of a gentleman I don't recognise driving Pete Almack's alloy wheeled Ulster (unmistakeable) at Dancer's End. Date uncertain but probably '36. The comp. no. on the Ulster is 85. Highest no. in the May '36 programme is 84....

R A Mitchison is reported as driving an Almack Austin at Southsea in August '36. Rather inconveniently Pete had several Austins, all of which he referred to as Almack Austins, including the Abecassis car. However this was in the sports class, so I'm inclined to think it was the Ulster (as at Dancer's End) with alloy wheels of Pete's design.

This does sound like the car sold from the IoW in '38. If they are three different people then they all knew Pete Almack!

Found one reference to R C with an Austin at Brooklands in Motor Sport, incidentally.

Thank you for your interest and efforts. I wonder if any of Jack Elliott's family are still around?

 

Regards,

Stuart


Edited by stuartu, 20 May 2014 - 16:20.


#8 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 20:30

I think I may have seen a reference to Elliott being Welsh, possibly in an Irish race report. I'll have a hunt ...

 

Now, this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but given the Bournemouth connection you highlighted, I wonder if this might be him? Father appears to be a brick manufacturer and farmer: this chap is possibly offspring of a second marriage.

 

http://www.cwgc.org/... JOHN ATHELSTAN

 

His widow seems to have died in 1946.



#9 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 22:06

Hmm ... the entry list for the Leinster Trophy gives Elliott's home as Northop, which is a village in Flintshire. He also ran the Triumph at Cork earlier in the year in what was nominally a National Handicap, supporting the GP and Light Car Race.



#10 stuartu

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 22:30

John Athelstan Elliott looks quite likely. I have a copy of an undated advert in which J A Elliott advertises the ex Abecassis car for sale. It gives his address as Woodlands, Kinson, Bournemouth. Doesn't immediately fit the Flintshire address but nicely fits the churchyard.

I begin to feel a little guilty that all I really want is the poor man's photo album.

I should say that Pete Almack was also a native of the Bournemouth region. A coincidence?

 

I greatly appreciate your help.

 

Regards, Stuart



#11 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 May 2014 - 23:04

Probate gives his address at date of death as Braewood, New Rd, Ferndown. Place of death was Boscombe Hospital in Bournemouth. Estate was a not inconsiderable £13544 - about £600K today.

 

However, Woodlands was his parents' home: it's on his father's burial record - also at Kinson - when he died in 1944. The advert is therefore presumably pre-1937, which was when JAE married.



#12 stuartu

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 07:49

Bullseye! Most impressive. All I need to do now is trace any of JAE's surviving family and tactfully enquire about a pile of photos. It seems the advert I have seen must be from 1936. The car can be "inspected at R R Jackson's premises". I suspect this is when Robert Cowell bought it and continued to use Jackson's expertise.

As for the many Mitchisons, the link you posted has a gallery with a photo of Ralph C Mitchison in Antipodean uniform. I really can't reproduce Ted's photo here for copyright reasons but suffice it to say that there is a strong resemblance between Ralph C and the driver of Almack's Ulster in the photo.

http://woottonbridge...mitchisonhg.php

 

No sign of him in WB's Brooklands book.

Pete's Ulster is very characteristic and, thanks to Austin Harris, there are some photos here:

http://www.austinhar...ing-meeting/165

I will dig more on Ralph C's Brooklands appearance. I begin to think he may not be associated with the Abecassis car but I am interested in Almack's doings for other reasons anyway.

What a brilliant response, thank you.

All the best

Stuart


Edited by stuartu, 21 May 2014 - 07:49.


#13 Vitesse2

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 11:05

Still worrying away at this. There are definitely two different but contemporaneous John Elliotts. A similar situation to the Freddy Clifford/Lord de Clifford confusion of the same era.

 

John Elliott from Bryn Glas, Northop was - according to an engagement announcement in The Times of February 11th 1938 - the son of the late Dr & Mrs Elliott of Chester. Digging into Ancestry reveals that his full name was John Weaver Johnson Elliott and that he was born in Chester in 1904. He appears to have attended Rugby School and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on July 1st 1939. He died on July 31st 1952, at which time he was living at South Lodge, Mollington, Cheshire. Probate on his estate was granted to Bryan Hervey Talbot - an even more obscure racing driver from Rhyl who competed in the 1939 Antwerp GP, almost won the 1939 Leinster Trophy and is also known to have been associated with Tony Rolt, who was reportedly in his pit at Tallaght during that race.

 

So, it looks like this means that any references to JA Elliott being associated with Rolt are wrong. It doesn't help that - from Irish sources and Richard Hough's book on the Tourist Trophy at least - JWJ Elliott appears to have only used his first initial, entering races simply as J Elliott.

 

So: it appears we have Jack Elliott (John Weaver Johnson Elliott), who was born in England, but lived some of his life just over the border in Wales, and was a friend and associate of Tony Rolt. And John Athelstan Elliott, who hailed from the Hants/Dorset border.



#14 stuartu

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 16:01

Yes, that sums up the Elliott conundrum. Excellent, a sterling effort!

 

R C Mitchison has yielded to investigation to a large extent but there is still a bit of a mystery about R A Mitchison.

 

In reporting the 1936 Southsea sprint, Motor Sport (and Motor) record that the second placed man in the Invitational under 850cc RACING class was R C Mitchison. They, along with Speed and the Autocar, record that the man who tied first in the under 850cc Invitational SPORTS class was R A Mitchison. Both in 'Almack Austins'. However, Speed and Autocar appear to make a mistake when recording the 2nd placed man in the RACING class, saying it is once again R A Mitchison.

 

It seems to me that there may be two separate Almack Austins - Pete's white Ulster with the alloy wheels and the Abecassis single seater - with two separate drivers; or there maybe just the Ulster entered in two classes with separate drivers; or either of those but with one driver and some typos!

 

Oh, I'm so sorry, you nodded off! I hardly dare tell you how many Almack Austins there were but I think on the date in question there were only two in Pete's possession, thank Heaven.

 

I have a few full days ahead but will dig around more re RA Mitchison next week.

Thanks once again for your researches,

All the best,

Stuart

 



#15 Vitesse2

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 17:37

The Mitchison family appear to have been somewhat unimaginative - not to mention confusing - with their choice of names.

 

The first names of RAS Mitchison, who - as previously noted - lived in Kent, were Ralph Anthony Sturges! He was born in Yorkshire in 1883, the son of Herbert Sturges Mitchison and Gertrude Mitchison. However, the Yorkshire birthplace is somewhat against the grain, since the family were originally from Sunbury-on-Thames.

 

Now, Ralph Anthony Sturges Mitchison turns out to have had an older brother, whose name was Herbert Guy Sturges Mitchison and who was seemingly known as Guy. As previously noted, Herbert Guy Sturges Mitchison was the father of Ralph Conyngham Mitchison.

 

So, this means that Ralph Anthony Sturges Mitchison was the uncle of Ralph Conyngham Mitchison.

 

Ergo, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that there were actually two Ralph Mitchisons present and competing at Southsea in 1936. Doesn't solve the question of the car(s) though!

 

RAS Mitchison's death was registered in Canterbury in 1981 - he was 97.



#16 stuartu

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 17:53

Excellent! I have just been shown a photo of the Abecassis single seater at the relevant Southsea meeting so must be two cars and very possibly two drivers. All the more motive to pursue a putative Mitchison photo album.

 

You do keep turning them up! Many thanks,

 

All the best,

Stuart



#17 Bazzeroonie

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Posted 27 July 2015 - 09:47

Hi Stuart

 

I found this post during an internet search for John Athelstan Elliott. Did you manage to obtain any photo's of John?

 

I recently bought an oil painting from an antique market in London, not something I would normally buy but this picture stood out and being ex-military myself I couldn't let it continue to rot on the floor at the back of a pile of other art work. The picture is a portrait of a Royal Artillery officer but has no name on it only rank and unit badges. The portrait was done in 1941 but from the style I guessed it was done post the individuals death. The military unit was the 5th Anti Air Brigade. A search of the CWGC website threw up 96 officers of the same rank and regiment who died pre 41, further work on units, an initial on the rear of the portrait and age (guessed from the portrait) narrowed it down to two individuals. A lucky search for JA Elliot found the school archives below with a photo that confirmed the person in the portrait is JA Elliott. The family where brick makers, John's father owned the Somerset Brick Company in Shepton Mallet up until 1904, and John seems to have gone into the same business reading the obituary on the school archives.

 

I can't find any reference to the two addresses you found last year, Woodlands or Braeburn. Any pictures you have found would be great as it would help to definately confirm John is the person in the portrait I have. 

 

https://m.flickr.com...ves/9414953224/

 

Thanks in advance

Baz

 



#18 stuartu

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Posted 31 August 2015 - 09:32

I have found only one photo of J A Elliott. He appears in a small photo in "The Light Car" of 14/8/36, p. 374. He is shown competing in the West Hants Light Car Club speed trials at Poole Park, driving the ex Abecassis single seater supercharged Austin.

I have a poor scan of a photocopy of this small photo. Despite all the cumulative losses of the various imaging systems JAE's characteristic features are still, in my opinion, quite recogniseable.

I shall attempt to send you my poor scan via the personal messenger on this site.

Regards,

Stuart