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Douglas Fitzpatrick


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#1 pnegyesi

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Posted 24 January 2022 - 18:29

Good evening. I am trying to put together a biography for Douglas Graham P Fitzpatrick (13 November, 1907 - 12 January, 1986), once the very well-known proprietor of the Maybach-Metallurgique racing car.

From his obituary

Mr. Douglas Graham Fitzpatrick, the man who taught the wartime ace pilot Douglas Bader to fly, has died aged 78. Mr. Fitzpatrick served as a flying officer in the RAF at Kenley aerodrome near Croydon. He lived in Norfolk from the mid 1930s and later saw active service in the Royal Navy during world war two. Mr. Fitzpatrick was great friends with Mr. Thomas Upcher and they lived at Bradfield Hall until moving to Sheringham Hall in 1955.
Mr. Fitzpatrick had a life-long interest in old cars and machinery and was responsible for discovering and restoring the famous 1907 Metallurgique 21-litre car which appeared in films and rallies all over Europe. He developed the principle of acoustic gramophones and designed what was probably the largest acoustic gramophone ever built.
 
More information would be appreciated

Edited by pnegyesi, 24 January 2022 - 18:34.


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#2 Vitesse2

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Posted 24 January 2022 - 19:27

Neither The Times nor the Daily Telegraph accorded him an obituary. However, I have found some reports in both papers about a serious complaint which he made against some police officers in July 1933, which was even raised in the House of Commons and actually led to a change in police procedure for 'stop and search' incidents ...

 

It's quite a tale, too long to relate here, and of course has no relevance to the Maybach-Metallurgique. As far as motoring matters are concerned all we learn is that he owned a Rolls Royce which - on the day in question - he had collected from Derby (presumably after a service?) and driven to London, garaging it in Putney.



#3 Allan Lupton

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Posted 24 January 2022 - 23:41

There was a brief obit in the VSCC Spring Bulletin of 1986 which I can copy/e-mail if you like.



#4 nicanary

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Posted 25 January 2022 - 10:10

I like your term "great friends" which is rather akin to newspapers' "confirmed bachelor".  I do know that the Maybach was often used for shopping or driving to the local pubs of an evening. He was considered by the locals as a bit crazy but no real harm. My father knew him (I can't tell you much as my father is no longer with us) and considered him a bit of a character.



#5 Vitesse2

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Posted 25 January 2022 - 13:35

His full name was Douglas Graham Persse Fitzpatrick and he was born in Dublin. A family tree on Ancestry gives a different birthdate - October 4th 1907 - which is sourced to the 1939 Register entry, but this is actually a transcription error and relates to the next line down. His occupation on the Register is given just as 'private means' and he is noted to be 'on waiting list of RNVR'. Upcher is described there as the estate manager.

 

On the 1911 Census of Ireland, the family are living in Cork. His father was a civil servant - specifically a Poor Law Inspector - and the family and their servants are all described as Church of Ireland (ie Protestants) which might explain why the family relocated to England at some point, presumably in the 1920s (his father died in Torquay in 1930 and his mother - born in Scotland - in France in 1938).

 

I've also downloaded his RAF record (such as it is) from the National Archives. It looks more notable for omissions than information; all it tells us is that he was transferred to the Reserve list in 1932 as 'Class A'. Three years later, he was moved to 'Class C', apparently because he was then living abroad, at which point he resigned his commission. There is also a note of the incident I mentioned above.

 

He is buried at All Saints, Upper Sheringham, as is Upcher, who pre-deceased him by only about six weeks. This is his death notice from The Times, January 15th 1986:

 

Screenshot-2022-01-25-at-13-28-55-Births

 

All_Saints%2C_Upper_Sheringham%2C_Norfol



#6 Doug Nye

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Posted 25 January 2022 - 20:01

I spent a day with Mr Fitzpatrick at Sheringham Hall - and nearby - when Geoff Goddard and I did a Salon road test of Douglas's Metallurgique-Maybach for 'Road & Track' magazine.  I can't recall meeting Mr Upcher that day, but we certainly met 'Gerry the German mechanic' and were offered tea/coffee and sandwiches - beautifully quartered - by a strikingly handsome (spectacularly honey-tanned and decidedly camp) blonde fellow named Sven (I think) who was wearing the tightest bright white tee-shirt I have ever seen.  

 

Neither Geoff nor I felt particularly at ease amidst this isolated and very self-contained ménage, but in conversation Douglas was very forthcoming about his great - if peculiar - car and was undoubtedly a fellow enthusiast for nearly all things motoring.  

 

It was a broiling hot day as we tried with Gerry to fire up the M-M in the stable yard at Sheringham Hall.  Partway through the process, which involved cranking the Maybach engine with a 4-foot long crank lever, there was suddenly a shattering bang from the side of the Hall, about 40 feet above us, then a clattering, shattering series of thuds and clunks and clangs.  

 

A cast-iron gutter had expanded so much in the scorching sunlight that - probably after 100-150 years (or more) of such summertime treatment it expanded beyond its resilience and had finally shattered.  

 

Fortunately nobody was hit by the falling, flying, bouncing yet heavyweight shrapnel. Even so, Gerry responded to the unexpected shock by rushing about waving his arms, bawling at the top of his heavily German-accented voice, "Mister Douglas! - Mister Douglas! Die...".(pause for thought) "...'troffen' ist KAPUT!!!".

 

I fear that neither Geoff nor I could maintain our thus far determinedly 'brucester' sang froid - and we both burst out in hysterical laughter.

 

Out on the road in the M-M, Douglas more than got his own back.  I quickly decided that I was not man enough to drive the mighty Met competently, nor safely, and I asked him to take over and demonstrate.  Which he did.  Most competently.  Cruising at up to 70-80mph on curving Norfolk roads proved highly impressive. In the Salon test text I owned up to my wimpishness that day, and described how I had tried, but failed.  

 

And from my people-watcher's perspective, what a gay day it had proved to be...

 

But whatever else his accomplishments, Douglas Fitzpatrick was, of course, a very prominent and significant member of the Vintage Sports Car Club - over very many years - and the majestic Metallurgique-Maybach will forever be identified with him.

 

DCN


Edited by Doug Nye, 25 January 2022 - 20:04.


#7 Vitesse2

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Posted 25 January 2022 - 21:26

If you haven't already been made aware of it, Pal, there is an article about Fitzpatrick in the Summer 2014 issue of 'For the Record', the journal of The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society.

 

https://www.clpgs.org.uk/ftr50.html

 

After resigning his commission in the RAF, he doesn't seem to have continued flying, as there is no record of him possessing a British Royal Aero Club Certificate (private pilot's licence) up to 1950. However, a probate notice in the London Gazette (20th May 1987, p6571) describes him as an 'RAF Officer, Flight Division, Retired' and it is of course possible that he might have obtained a licence in another country. Flight magazine might have more details about him but their online archive has been unavailable and 'under maintenance' since December 2019. :well:

 

I can't find any other references to him in the London Gazette, which seems to suggest he wasn't accepted for the RNVR - at least as an officer. The Navy Lists are all available online but incredibly difficult to use. I did look at one 1940 one at random, but he wasn't in the alphabetical list of RNVR officers.

 

http://www.navylistr...a_archives.html



#8 pnegyesi

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Posted 26 January 2022 - 07:14

Thank you all for your great contribution. This year the Metallurgique-Maybach will be out in force at several events by its new owner. And there will be an accompanying booklet, depicting its story - and you just helped me making it more complete. Thank you!



#9 Steve L

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Posted 30 January 2022 - 18:38

Will be great to see the car out. How will the booklet be available please?

#10 pnegyesi

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Posted 03 April 2022 - 20:04

Will be great to see the car out. How will the booklet be available please?

I am not sure the booklet will be available publicly, but we will see.
You can see the car at the forthcoming Montlhery Revival.

#11 Steve L

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Posted 03 April 2022 - 21:47

I would certainly be interested in a copy should the opportunity arise please.