65 replies to this topic

[Vitesse2]

Now, who can search UK WW2 records?

Immediate family only (or researchers who have their permission), I'm afraid, John:

http://www.mod.uk/De...cePersonnel.htm

I've already searched the London Gazette: the only AG Sinclair in WW2 is a junior RAF officer.

[Vitesse2]

Another (not very good) picture of Sinclair and the Alta single-seater, from the Adelaide Advertiser of December 21st 1937:



John M: please check your PMs!

[Vitesse2]

Quite accidentally I found a pic of a TT Replica Frazer Nash reportedly photographed new outside the Frazer Nash factory when "about to be collected by its purchaser A G Sinclair", in ( we assume) 1935 or 1936.....

C/n 2120 with Meadows engine and AFN body according to Jenks in "From Chain Drive to Supercharger": delivered May 1934, registered BMC448. "Driven by Fane in 1937" then "sold to Mr Paape in New Zealand. Registration returned to Council."

Sinclair is described as living in "London W", which corresponds today to the London W1 district.

[David McKinney]

Same car, still in NZ, photographed by self 50 years later (give or take a month or two)

[fivestar]

To round off, a front picture of the Alan Sinclair car as it is today.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited by fivestar, 16 February 2011 - 10:30.

[john medley]

Betty's car! I look forward to parking next to it or the red Alta at Eddington next month

[Vitesse2]

One small piece in the AG Sinclair jigsaw: he appears on the 1936 electoral roll for Richmond on Thames as living in a flat at 361 Richmond Road, Twickenham.

But to set another hare running, could he perhaps be the Alan Sinclair who was the son of Lt Col Sir Walrond Arthur Frank Sinclair KBE? Sir Walrond was Life President (formerly Chairman) British Tyre and Rubber Co Ltd; Chairman of The India Rubber, Guttapercha and Telegraph Works Co. Ltd and a Director of the Royal Bank of Scotland and got his K for his work as Director of National Service for London region from 1917. There is a racing connection and, noting that Autocar was often a source for AGS's exploits, an Autocar one too - Sir Walrond Sinclair was the entrant of Sammy Davis' LeaF in the 1930 TT.

That Alan Sinclair is on the electoral roll from 1934-39 at the same address as Sir Walrond and Lady Yvonne: Flat 7, 2-4 Weymouth St, W1. Which ties in with the other address reference I found - see post #53.

[Geoff E]

Sorry, I'm late to the party.

Alan Gascoigne SINCLAIR aged 4 appears in the 1911 census as son of
Alexander Duncan SINCLAIR 43 Manufacturing Drysalter, born Salisbury
and
Emma Gascoigne SINCLAIR 34 born Oakham (she was nee MORRIS)

Family living in Streatham.

There was an elder brother Duncan born 1902.

AGS seems to have died in Cornwall in 1995 - date of birth given as 22 May 1906

Edited by Geoff E, 30 June 2012 - 20:21.

[Vitesse2]

Another snippet, from the passenger list of Orient Lines' Orford on a voyage from London (6 Nov 1937) to Adelaide (arrived 11 Dec) ...

Mr AG Sinclair, described as a motor engineer, c/o FAP Motors Ltd, Rear of Clarendon Restaurant, Twickenham.

According to the phone book, the full address of the Clarendon Restaurant was Masonic Banqueting Rooms, 1-5 The Broadway, Twickenham.

Having said that - it seems there is only a Broadway Avenue in Twickenham, not a Broadway. Earlier directories say simply Broadway, London W6, so presumably it was actually Hammersmith Broadway.

Any guesses as to who FAP Motors might be?

[Vitesse2]

These may be red herrings, but I thought I'd note them here.

 

An Alan Gascoigne Sinclair appears in the Navy List between 1945 and 1960. Reserve officer, rank lieutenant in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve, with seniority to February 15th 1943. That doesn't fit with the previous 'London Scottish' mention of course, but I have found a possible marriage as mentioned in the same Autocar piece - an Alan G Sinclair married Reine MT Zoro, 4th quarter 1939, in Andover.

[Geoff E]

AGS of 58, Mayfield-road, Sanderstead was fined for speeding on a motorcycle in Nov 1925.

I think perhaps his parents divorced. His mother was imprisoned in 1912 after fraudulently obtaining £600 from a pawnbroker. It seems she had a drug habit.

Edited by Geoff E, 11 October 2018 - 19:52.

[cooper997]

Relating to the January 1939 Lobethal meeting - a period newspaper snippet borrowed from Tony Parkinson's 'Legend of Lobethal' booklet.

 

 

Stephen

[Geoff E]

The United Hospitals and University of London Motor Club (UHULMC)held a meeting at Donington Park 24 Oct 1936, mentioned here http://www.uhulmc.org/history.htm

The following day, there occurred a road accident involving a Horace Frederick Hore who was driving a car which was pulling a trailer. On the trailer was a racing car owned by Alan Gascoigne Sinclair (who gave evidence). They were driving "from Donington Park".

(Court proceedings reported in Rugby Advertiser 29 January 1937)

EDIT: In other court proceedings, Hore was described as manager/technical engineer of Western Speedways and lived in Plymouth.

A Horace Frederick Hore was fined £1 for a motoring offence in Brisbane in 1927.

Edited by Geoff E, 12 October 2018 - 09:55.

[Vitesse2]

Sorry, I'm late to the party.

Alan Gascoigne SINCLAIR aged 4 appears in the 1911 census as son of
Alexander Duncan SINCLAIR 43 Manufacturing Drysalter, born Salisbury
and
Emma Gascoigne SINCLAIR 34 born Oakham (she was nee MORRIS)

Family living in Streatham.

There was an elder brother Duncan born 1902.

AGS seems to have died in Cornwall in 1995 - date of birth given as 22 May 1906

Ancestry now has some records from Surrey History Centre, including AGS's christening. July 1st 1906, St Philip's, Norbury. Home address then 57 Melfort Rd, Thornton Heath.

 

AGS of 58, Mayfield-road, Sanderstead was fined for speeding on a motorcycle in Nov 1925.

I think perhaps his parents divorced. His mother was imprisoned in 1912 after fraudulently obtaining £600 from a pawnbroker. It seems she had a drug habit.

53 Mayfield Rd on the 1933 electoral roll. Alexander Duncan Sinclair as well.

 

Now here's another can of worms. The probate records show that Alexander Duncan Sinclair died on November 27th 1933, in the Freemasons Hospital on Fulham Road, leaving a not inconsiderable estate of just over £10000 - somewhere north of £700k in today's money. That would seem to explain how AGS was able to afford to buy his first Frazer Nash in 1934!

 

And another snippet re the trip across the Atlantic on 'Seaplane'; the third member of the crew was one NR Cox. Source: Ferguson's Gang - The Maidens behind the Masks by Anna Hutton-North.

 

https://books.google...inclair&f=false

[Vitesse2]

Doug's recent unearthing of Jenks' Alta notes has perhaps added a little more to what we (don't?) know about AG Sinclair and what seems to be another link to the aforementioned Mr Hoare - and possibly another connection to Philip Jucker:

 

https://forums.autos...k/#entry9388088

 

On the subject of Jucker, it seems that - although a Mancunian by birth (but of Swiss/Italian descent) - he was living in Surrey. Source - blurb for this book, the war memoirs of his brother:

 

 

Adrian Jucker (pronounced Yooker, the 'oo' rhymes with book) was born in Manchester. He was the youngest child of Enrico Jucker, the Italian Consul in Manchester, a wealthy paper-mill owner. The ancestry of the family is Swiss/Italian. Whilst Adrian was a child, the family moved to Grayshott Hall, in Surrey, which has since become a health spa. Then, following the untimely deaths of both Philip, Adrian’s adored older brother, and, a few years later, his father, the remaining family moved locally, to an elegant 1930s house called Anthony Place.

https://www.amazon.c...k/dp/B00LW82OU8

[Vitesse2]

AGS seems to have been a pupil at Dulwich College: https://www.familyre...Dulwich College

 

I've also found a further reference to what may be our man in the London Gazette, 21 May 1943, Issue 36024, Page 2273. A Sgt Alan Gascoigne Sinclair is one of a large number of NCOs who were granted an emergency commission as 2nd Lieutenants. In the Indian Army. Rank effective 12 December 1942. Unfortunately no service numbers are quoted, but is this our man? Is he one and the same as the RN reserve officer, whose seniority dated from a couple of months later in the Royal Indian Navy?

 

And another of AGS's exploits in Australia ...

 

RACE DRIVER AND
GIRL INJURED

Collision With Trolley

ADELAIDE, Monday.-Alan Gascoigne
Sinclair, aged 31 years, of Hewitt avenue,
Rose Park, engineer, who came to Aus-
tralia a few months ago to take part
in the Grand Prix motor races at Lobe-
thal to-day, was slightly injured when a
car which he was driving collided with
a horse-drawn trolley at the intersection
of Ackland and Flinders streets.

A girl cyclist. Margaret Murley, aged
18 years, of Ackland street, was also in-
volved in the collision, and was admitted
to the Adelaide Hospital suffering

concussion, lacerations, and a probable
fracture of the skull

Sinclair was also taken to hospital, but
was allowed to go home after treatment
for a lacerated scalp.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) Tue 8 Mar 1938 Page 3