37 replies to this topic

[O Volante]

Just by chance I noticed there's a lot of wrong information circulating about Hugh Hamilton at this and other sites: I'm refering to information about his full name, nationality and the circumstances of his death ...

Let me start with my source. My info is coming from the article "Why Hugh Hamilton was given a state funeral in Berne" by Sammy Hamill, published in the Northern Ireland Motor Racing Year 1981/1982 on pp. 43-49. Hamill is also the editor of this yearbook published in Belfast; the original research on the Hamilton, however, was done by Mike Wylie.

In short: his full name was Hugh Caulfield Hamillton, and he was born in Omagh, Tyrone on July 18, 1905. His mother was English but his father, Claude C. Hamilton was a solicitor, and secretary of the Tyrone County Council. It was a well established family with his uncle also a solicitor in Aughnacloy and his grandfather rector in nearby Sixmilecross.

Given this background, the pending question of his nationality, I would think, is solved - surely an Irishman, he was definitely "British" in the Imperial sense ...

His racing activities are well recorded, so I will leave these out in this post. His death is a different matter: As it is known, Hugh suffered a very serious accident in the Masaryk Okruh on September 17, 1933. According to the Hamill article, he was racing an MG Midget in order to promote bussiness for the recently opened Prague MG dealership. Hugh suffered three broken ribs and severe internal injuries. It was several days before he was removed from the danger list and he was later taken to England for further treatment. He then went to India to reconvalesce on his brother Arthur's tea plantation.

For the 1934 season Hamilton was back in Britain, and shortly later at the Continent - there is no need here to give details of this. In August 1934 Hugh went to Switzerland to race with Whitney Straight's team at the Berne circuit in the scheduled Voiturette race and also the Grand Prix proper. In the junior race, his car suffered from chronic misfire and he had to retire. Then came the Grand Prix race, his last race. Hans Stuck won comfortably but on the last lap Hugh crashed. He was dead when the rescue teams reached him, killed it was thought by the head-on collision with a tree.

Later the post mortem discovered, although it was not revealed for a long time, that his heart had stopped before the crash. Hugh Hamilton died BEFORE the crash. It is believed the lung and heart injuries he had sustained a year earlier in Czechoslovakia may have have played a part.

Hugh Caulfield Hamilton died on August 26, 1934. His body lay "in state" for two day; he was buried at Berne after a funeral arranged by the British Consul and his buddy Dick Seaman.

[Vitesse2]

A sadly overlooked figure, Hugh Hamilton. Contemporary commentators rated him very highly and he was written of in glowing terms. Admittedly he was older than Seaman and had been racing slightly longer, but Dick freely admitted that he wasn't yet as good a driver as Hugh when they both drove for Whitney Straight. The obituaries for poor 'Hammy' as he was known were as fulsome as those for Seaman five years later

The British/Irish question is always a vexing one - ultimately it would really depend on whether he opted for an Irish Free State passport or retained a British one. I'd call him Anglo-Irish, but that's really fudging it.

Thanks for the post-mortem information: it's not something I'd come across before. Very interesting.

[Doug Nye]

Volante - that post mortem information is indeed very interesting. Hamilton's death was certainly regarded as having resulted from a very mysterious incident in the immediate aftermath, and there was a theory that the cycle-type waterproof cape that he was wearing in the wet race had blown up over his face, obscuring his vision. The impact upon the tree was head-on and very fast, as damage to the car testified.

DCN

[Vitesse2]

Er, Doug, far be it from me and all that ..... but you're mixing the two crashes. The rain cape problem was at Brno in 1933 - the loss of vision meant that his car left the road and rolled several times. He certainly hit a tree at Bern though. There's a picture of the remains of the Maserati in Cimarosti's Swiss GP book - a sad and sorry mess.

[Hugo Boecker]

Hamilton was reported dead after his Bruno crash in some publications.

[Doug Nye]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
Er, Doug, far be it from me and all that ..... but you're mixing the two crashes. The rain cape problem was at Brno in 1933 - the loss of vision meant that his car left the road and rolled several times. He certainly hit a tree at Bern though. There's a picture of the remains of the Maserati in Cimarosti's Swiss GP book - a sad and sorry mess.

Oh. Quite possible, jet lag after Monterey etc, but my informants must have been confused when they told me 20-30 years ago and I've been daft enough to pass it on. Cima got his pic from Jenks and Jenks used one of the series in his book on the Whitney Straight/Bira Maserati '3011'.

DCN

[KJJ]

In case there is any doubt Hamilton's Times Death Notice ( August 28th 1934 ) confirms that his forenames were Hugh Caulfield not Hugh Charles as listed on various sites, his father's full name was Claude Caulfield Hamilton.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Vitesse2

The British/Irish question is always a vexing one - ultimately it would really depend on whether he opted for an Irish Free State passport or retained a British one. I'd call him Anglo-Irish, but that's really fudging it.

Duh! Re-reading this I realised that if he was born in County Tyrone that makes him an Ulsterman, so ignore my comment about the Free State.

[Squire Straker]

Hamilton was a boyhood hero of my late father and godfather in Omagh. I know how greatly saddened by his death they both were before the TT in 1934. My godfather's brother Hugh, now 95 and in poor health, told me a couple of years ago that he had stayed with Hamilton in London on his way to work as an engineer on a tea plantation in Assam. When Hamilton came out to stay with his brother Arthur in Assam to recover from his accident in 1933, he had met him once again. He said that he always liked him and that he was the life and soul of parties.
Ho hum just tittle tattle.
Mike Wylie's article on Hugh Hamilton was a great piece of research at the time in 1972, and he even tracked down and spoke with his mother, born in 1880.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Squire Straker

Ho hum just tittle tattle.

Not at all ... it all goes to confirm what others - who might not have known him - have written about 'Hammy'. Most describe him as "popular", but that can sometimes be damning with faint praise! Personal testimony is always the best source ;)

[Hans Etzrodt]

Hamilton’s Maserati left the track at post 11 at the Wohlenstrasse, about 1500 m before the finish where the car hit against a fir tree with great impact and shattered to pieces. Since Stuck had already passed the finish line as victor, Hamilton was on his 65. lap and like the other drivers still on the course had to complete their last lap. 1500 m before the finish, just a few seconds before the end of the race, after over 3 ½ hours of defending his position the accident happened. A few eye witnesses reported the following:

Just short of the distance board of 6 KM, Hamilton arrived at a speed far above 150 km/h, when it was clearly visible that the left front wheel had lost its air and had become flat. Then the car changed into a zigzag course, while the driver tried to correct with the steering. He could not prevent that the momentum of car carried it from the course, when a 7-8 inch thick fir tree was broken off at its foot, after which the car rushed on a further 20 m where it was stopped by a mighty tree at which the car literally disintegrated. So, the front axle with both wheels but without left tire rested a few meter away. The radiator was completely pushed in and like the rest of the body pushed towards the back, the seat and steering wheel severely bent. At this heavy impact the driver received chest contusions and inner injuries, which must have resulted in his immediate death.

This showed clearly that Hamilton encountered a tire failure when he lost control of the car at high speed. This accident involved also a spectator who seriously injured was brought to the Inselspital.

The funeral for Hugh Caufield Hamilton, born 1905 in Omagh, England, was held in Bern. Present from his family were his mother, stepfather and his fiancée.

[O Volante]

Many, many thanks for the very interesting responses! But what to make out of all this?

Vitesse and Doug - the question of his nationality and the raindress seems to have been settled: British and the raindress a possible reason for the 1933 Brno accident.

Hugo - I didn't mention it, but the Hamill article also says that the German press reported Hamilton dead after the 1933 accident.

Straker - very interesting to hear about Wylie's researches in the early 1970s . Where any results of it published at the time? Where? Or why do you know about them?

Hans - surely a very detailled description of the Berne accident. However, the Hamill article stresses the pointthat the results of the post mortem were made public only much later? Any mention of it in the Swiss mags?

Again, many thanks for the responses!!!

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by O Volante
...the results of the post mortem were made public only much later? Any mention of it in the Swiss mags?...

found nothing yet.

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by Hans Etzrodt

The funeral for Hugh Caufield Hamilton, born 1905 in Omagh, England,

Northern Ireland, not England.

[Hans Etzrodt]

Thank you - Roger. I copied the quotes from the 1933 AUTOMOBIL-REVUE.

[Geoff E]

Originally posted by Roger Clark

Northern Ireland, not England.

Ireland.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Geoff E


Ireland.

Without getting into the politics too much .....;)

When Hamilton was born, Omagh was within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. When he died, it was within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Therefore he was, as I said, an Ulsterman (which is a whole other question, but we'll ignore that!) and, unless he opted for the Free State, a British subject. In addition, until 1937, what is now the Republic of Ireland was known as the Irish Free State. It had Dominion status within the Empire and still acknowledged the King as head of state. So, any citizen of the Irish Free State was as much a subject of the British Crown as an Australian, New Zealander, Canadian, South African or Newfoundlander.

[Michael Ferner]

This caught my eye:

 

American Killed at Berne

 

BERNE, Switzerland, Aug. 26 - (A. P.) - H. C. Hamilton, identified as an American automobile racing driver living in London, was killed today when his car left the track and hit a tree on the sixty-fifth lap of the Swiss Grand Prix. One spectator was injured in the crash.

 

The Detroit Free Press, Monday, August 27, 1934.

 

Throwing a spanner into the works?

[Rob G]

This caught my eye:

 

 

 

 

The Detroit Free Press, Monday, August 27, 1934.

 

Throwing a spanner into the works?

I doubt it. Probably someone looking at an entry list with Whitney Straight's nationality listed as American and assuming that Hamilton was as well.

[Vitesse2]

It was actually the Swiss press that got this wrong. Both the Journal de Genève and the Gazette de Lausanne described Hamilton as American in their race reports.

 

Reports of some other events state that - rather than London - his home in 1934 was in Great Bookham in Surrey.

[Michael Oliver]

I don't know if this is of any interest but Cimarosti's photos of Hamilton's car after its accident (five in total plus two shots of his grave) are being offered for sale by Automobilia Ladenburg in its current online auction. The preview photos show a front wheel missing its tyre and a tyre alongside the wreckage. Although the negatives show it to be the right front of course they could have been reversed so could have been left front as described above by Hans. Lot 6347 to save wading through 15 pages of lots, although I would recommend doing so as there are tons of negs/photos on offer from the 30s Berne races. I have no connection with the auction house, just to be clear!

[Mike Riedner]

Hugh Caufield Hamilton's grave is still at the Bremgarten cemetry (grave #9007-00-0509) and taken care of by the city of Berne since 1994, sixty years after his death.

[Tim Murray]

Some of the posts above name him as Hugh Caulfield Hamilton. Others have him as Hugh Caufield Hamilton. Can we establish the correct spelling of his middle name?

Edit: I think I’ve found the answer to my own question. His gravestone shows his middle name as Caulfield:



https://www.findagra...9/hugh-hamilton

[Vitesse2]

Definitely Caulfield. Sources (via Ancestry) various Surrey electoral rolls, Ireland Civil Registration Births Index, Ireland Census 1911, English and Scottish Probate Indexes. Plus The Times, as above.

 

His address in Great Bookham is given in the probate documents and electoral rolls as 'Dolwaenydd', Great Bookham. This seems to have been his stepfather's home.

 

https://www.triple-m...e&TOPIC_ID=6903

[Eric Dunsdon]

Its nice that we remember him.

[P0wderf1nger]

May I return to the question of Hamilton's post-mortem? This is now widely reported on a number of web sites, but does anyone know a primary source for it?

 

Thanks

 

Paul  

 

 

[Vitesse2]

May I return to the question of Hamilton's post-mortem? This is now widely reported on a number of web sites, but does anyone know a primary source for it?

 

Thanks

 

Paul  

 

 

I tried digging into this a while ago, Paul. Nothing - as far as I can see - in the Swiss press. I couldn't even find a library which held a copy of the cited yearbook, which leads me to think it was some sort of private publication with a limited circulation. Maybe the RIAC's Guinness Segrave Library might have one?

[Arjan de Roos]

The Swiss newspaper Bund, August 30th 1934

 

"At the request of the relatives of the racing driver Hugh Caulfield Hamilton, who died in an accident at the Grand Prix on Sunday, the funeral of this young representative of British motoring took place in Bern on Wednesday. The automobile club had also invited to the funeral service, which was scheduled for 1.30 p.m. in the chapel of the "Inselspital" (ed. hospital in Bern). The large mourning community and the extremely rich flower donations showed the sympathy of wide circles. Among the people present, we noticed, in addition to the parents of the victim, the representatives of the Swiss Automobile Club and the Organizing Committee, and also a member of the English legation and stable companion, Seaman, who was victorious in the small car race. After the English clergyman, Dr. Mende delivered the word of a last greeting from the A.C.S. and the "Royal Automobile Club of England" to the deceased sportsman and sketched a brief life picture of him who passed away too early. After this ceremony, the funeral procession set off for the Bremgarten cemetery and was overflown by a squadron called up for the funeral service by "Oberstkorps" commander Biberstein, who, wanted or unwanted, brought the last thundering salute from engines to the deceased. At the grave, Dr. Perlet on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the Grand Prix and described Hamilton's rise as a racing driver. This year the victim started for the first time in Switzerland in Montreux and then at Klausen. He was generally considered to be a very safe driver, which makes the tragic racing fate that befell him all the more sad for those who knew him as an extremely amiable person. Not far from where he had to sacrifice his young life for his beloved sport, he now lies in peaceful earth."

Edited by Arjan de Roos, 02 December 2021 - 14:24.

[Arjan de Roos]

Same newspaper, August 29th 1934

 

"Civil status notifications from the city of Bern

- 26th of August. Hamilton Hugh Caulfield, single. Racing driver, British citizen, born 1905."

[P0wderf1nger]

I tried digging into this a while ago, Paul. Nothing - as far as I can see - in the Swiss press. I couldn't even find a library which held a copy of the cited yearbook, which leads me to think it was some sort of private publication with a limited circulation. Maybe the RIAC's Guinness Segrave Library might have one?

Always nice to learn about a new source, Vitesse, and if you don't ask you don't get, so I will give that a go, thanks.

I have a copy of a five page article by Michael Wylie, 'The Wild Man of Ards', published in a magazine called Wheels. I can't see a date, but the covering letter which I didn't copy appears to be from late 1978. It doesn't mention the post-mortem.

[P0wderf1nger]

The Swiss newspaper Bund, August 30th 1934

 

"At the request of the relatives of the racing driver Hugh Caulfield Hamilton, who died in an accident at the Grand Prix on Sunday, the funeral of this young representative of British motoring took place in Bern on Wednesday. The automobile club had also invited to the funeral service, which was scheduled for 1.30 p.m. in the chapel of the "Inselspital" (ed. hospital in Bern). The large mourning community and the extremely rich flower donations showed the sympathy of wide circles. Among the people present, we noticed, in addition to the parents of the victim, the representatives of the Swiss Automobile Club and the Organizing Committee, and also a member of the English legation and stable companion, Seaman, who was victorious in the small car race. After the English clergyman, Dr. Mende delivered the word of a last greeting from the A.C.S. and the "Royal Automobile Club of England" to the deceased sportsman and sketched a brief life picture of him who passed away too early. After this ceremony, the funeral procession set off for the Bremgarten cemetery and was overflown by a squadron called up for the funeral service by "Oberstkorps" commander Biberstein, who, wanted or unwanted, brought the last thundering salute from engines to the deceased. At the grave, Dr. Perlet on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the Grand Prix and described Hamilton's rise as a racing driver. This year the victim started for the first time in Switzerland in Montreux and then at Klausen. He was generally considered to be a very safe driver, which makes the tragic racing fate that befell him all the more sad for those who knew him as an extremely amiable person. Not far from where he had to sacrifice his young life for his beloved sport, he now lies in peaceful earth."

Thanks Arjan, very powerful.

[P0wderf1nger]

An update on this. Wolfgang (O Volante) has kindly emailed me a scan of Sammy Hamill's article on Hugh Hamilton. It's topped and tailed with the post-mortem story. I've reached out to Mr Hamill on twitter and I hope to ascertain where he picked it up from.

 

And thanks, too, to Vitesse. The RIAC have got in touch and are digging out their material on Hammy.

 

In the meantime, are there any medics among us? How can a post-mortem detect heart failure seconds before catastrophic injury?  

Thanks

Paul

Edited by P0wderf1nger, 08 December 2021 - 16:38.

[Roryswood]

Always nice to learn about a new source, Vitesse, and if you don't ask you don't get, so I will give that a go, thanks.

I have a copy of a five page article by Michael Wylie, 'The Wild Man of Ards', published in a magazine called Wheels. I can't see a date, but the covering letter which I didn't copy appears to be from late 1978. It doesn't mention the post-mortem.

[Roryswood]

Wheels magazine ceased publication , in 1974 , I have a full set ,I will check the date ,Mike Wylie the writer of the article died some years ago

[P0wderf1nger]

That's good of you, Roryswood, as I can be more precise when including it in the bibliography.

I regret if I've misled anyone over the date. Wylie was in correspondence with Whitney In Nov 78, and sent him a copy of the article which now resides in the Beaulieu archives. I accept that doesn't necessarily mean the article was written then.

 

Anyway, thanks. 

Paul

[JohnBrinkmann]

Can anyone help find "Why Hugh Hamilton was given a state funeral in Berne" by Sammy Hamill, published in the Northern Ireland Motor Racing Year 1981/1982? I have tried for years to find a copy. Hamilton was the original owner of my car, a 1932 MG J3. The second owner, a British-born German countess, told me many stories of him. She also knew Hamilton's fiancée, who is namelessly mentioned only once in press reports of his funeral.

Glad to see this topic active once again.

John.

[P0wderf1nger]

Can anyone help find "Why Hugh Hamilton was given a state funeral in Berne" by Sammy Hamill, published in the Northern Ireland Motor Racing Year 1981/1982? I have tried for years to find a copy. Hamilton was the original owner of my car, a 1932 MG J3. The second owner, a British-born German countess, told me many stories of him. She also knew Hamilton's fiancée, who is namelessly mentioned only once in press reports of his funeral.

Glad to see this topic active once again.

John.

Hi John

 

I'd be happy to help you. Wolfgang, the man who started this thread, emailed me a copy only yesterday. Barring the post-mortem story, it's largely based on a much more detailed article by Michael Wylie, which I can also send you.

 

Please send me a private message with your email address and I'll get both articles across to you.

 

Best wishes

 

Paul

[P0wderf1nger]

An update on this.

 

I’m told that a 1930s pathologist could certainly have found evidence of a blocked artery, several signs of poor ‘heart health’ or an aortic rupture, and concluded that Hammy’s death caused the accident, as opposed to being caused by it.

 

Sadly, neither the State Archives nor the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Bern have a copy of the post mortem.

 

Sammy Hamill writes that the Maserati ‘appeared to make no attempt to follow the fast sweeping curve. It charged straight across the short grass verge and crashed heavily into a stout tree.’

 

Whereas Louis Chiron, who was following and witnessed the accident, told Dick Seaman that it happened on a ‘lumpy’ bend where he himself had nearly lost it several times: ‘Hammy got a wheel in the loose stuff on the right-side of the road, the car skidded and hit the trees on the other side of the road.’

 

That’s from a letter Seaman wrote to Whitney Straight from Bern, contained in Whitney’s papers at Beaulieu. Richard Williams used it in his excellent A Race With Love and Death, and when John Watson read the book and came across Hammy for the first time, Sammy Hamill wrote a piece in the Belfast Telegraph, repeating the claim about Hammy’s heart.

 

I’ve sent him messages via Facebook and Twitter, and twice asked the sports desk of the Belfast Telegraph to forward emails to him, though I am aware he recently retired from the paper. He may, of course, be completely unaware I’m trying to reach him.  

 

If anyone knows him, could you put me in touch with him?

 

Thanks, Paul

Edited by P0wderf1nger, 12 March 2022 - 13:18.