Chris_Baker Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 I am currently looking at the life of a soldier who served in the Motor Machine Gun Service (later MGC (Motors)) in 1914 to 1916. It has just occurred to me that he may be mentioned in "Motor Cycle" magazine. Can anyone confirm that soldiers of the MMGS were named in the magazine at any time, and where copies may be seen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Jacket Collector Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 Not quite answering your question, but the latest issue of 'Motorcycle rider' has a number of articles on the role of motorcycle riders in the Great War. Not my usual reading but I supplied them with the image of Watson's 'Adventures of a Despatch Rider', so they sent me a free copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilH Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 No idea if they were mentioned at the time or not. Might be worth having a word with you local library to see if the system has any. The National Motorcycle Museum at Birmingham always has a shelf full of the older magazines like that but I'd doubt if even they'd know what issues they have but might be worth a phone call or evewn a quick trip over as you're not far away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 2 April , 2014 Share Posted 2 April , 2014 Chris Individual MMGS men were mentioned and occasionally groups as shown in this example from May 1916. Sadly I don;t know where there is a collection of the magazines as they would be a wondeful source of information about the First Tank Crews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 3 April , 2014 Share Posted 3 April , 2014 Perhaps the National Motor Museum may be a source of the Motor Cycle magazines http://www.nationalmotormuseum.org.uk/About_the_Motoring_Reference_Library Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 3 April , 2014 Author Share Posted 3 April , 2014 Thank you all - good suggestions which I will follow up. Very good to see that page, delta - fingers crossed that my man will be mentioned at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 3 April , 2014 Share Posted 3 April , 2014 I'll keep mine crossed too. Can you reveal him or is it sensitive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagesunbeam Posted 26 August , 2014 Share Posted 26 August , 2014 Worth trying to access Motor Cycle on PDF which saves hours of searching. I've got an edition which, although incomplete, has yielded much useful material about motorcycle despatch riders, and I guess it would be the most useful way of checking a specific name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 26 August , 2014 Share Posted 26 August , 2014 I have been trying to locate the home of a collection of the Motor Cycle since your first post. It is not at the Herbert Museum nor at Coventry Transport Museum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagesunbeam Posted 27 August , 2014 Share Posted 27 August , 2014 I'm not clear whether you're looking for a motorcycle museum or documentary material. The National Motorcycle Museum near NEC, Solihull, is a private museum with a large collection of historic motorcycles. The Vintage Motorcycle Club is based at Burton-upon-Trent and has a library with much relevant archival material including runs of historic motorcycle papers and magazines. As a member I have free access to the library - if you're not a member you would need to enquire about access Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 27 August , 2014 Share Posted 27 August , 2014 Nick I was looking for the magazine Motor Cycle which was based in Coventry and edited by Geoffrey Smith; he supported recruitment of the MMGS through the magazine. There is an ecopy available fot the 1917 series but sadly Ihave not found more than a few pages for other years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 27 August , 2014 Share Posted 27 August , 2014 Copies of the Motor Cycle Magazine for WW1 were held at Coventry Central Library until a few years ago, until a very bad decision was made to send them, along with the Cyclist magazines for the period, to the National Motorcycle Museum. A large part of the museum was burnt down a few years ago so it may be they have not survived. Another collection of early motor industry documents, the Bartleet collection, one of national importance, was also disposed of at the same time, to the Warwick University library. This took it out of public view, and memory unfortunately. It might be that some copies were in that collection, but I believe there is a fee to be paid for members of the public to have access to the library. With regard to the magazine itself, I don't recall there being too many names mentioned in the magazine. It does have some interesting stories about "thrilling rides" through enemy lines lines accompanied by heroic pictures of the deeds. The publication, along with the Cyclist and Auotocar magazines, was owned by the Iiliffe family, also the owners of the Midland Daily Telegraph (later the Coventry Evening Telegraph). Geoffrey Green, mentioned above, personally interviewed dispatch rider candidates at the offices of the magazine in Hertford St in the early months of the war, as well supporting the MMGS. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 27 August , 2014 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2014 Thank you, Terry. I never did track down a copy. In the end it did not make too much difference as we built up a very good picture of the soldier's story, but I have a suspicion he is lurking in the magazine somewhere if only copies could be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 27 August , 2014 Share Posted 27 August , 2014 The British Library holds a publication catalogued as "The Motor Cycle" , published in London, from 1903. I don't know whether this is the same as above, which is stated to be based in Coventry. Title: The Motor Cycle. Publication Details: London Uniform Title: The Motor Cycle (London, England : 1903) Identifier: System number 013941371 Related Titles: Later Title:Motor Cycle Weekly 3 Dec.1977-1 Oct.1983 Creation Date: 1903 Cheers Maureen Edit: I think the British Library publication is probably what is required https://www.flickr.com/photos/madeinbirmingham/1640393195/sizes/m/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 27 August , 2014 Share Posted 27 August , 2014 Thanks for the leads, gentlemen. I shall follow them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tharkin56 Posted 3 September , 2014 Share Posted 3 September , 2014 transport coventry museum have a copy of the institution of automobile engineers proceedings it lists members etc i have a 1916 1917 proceedings it lists all members and address etc. The herbert has alfred herbert news, the rudge record, if you have a name I have indexed photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 4 September , 2014 Share Posted 4 September , 2014 Trevor Thank you. On MMGS character I am trying to follow up is Roland George Elliott from Foleshill; he became the best friend of Walter Atkins. He was a butcher's assistant pre-war but, after the war, he returned to Coventry and, from 1938 until 1962, he ran Queen Mary’s Road garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frispy819 Posted 5 September , 2014 Share Posted 5 September , 2014 Delta - I was wondering if by any chance you have you any information on MMGS 1463 Gnr J Moffat or the movements of No 4 Battery MMGS in 1916 & 1917. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 5 September , 2014 Share Posted 5 September , 2014 Regret not; sorry I am so useless to you Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tharkin56 Posted 5 September , 2014 Share Posted 5 September , 2014 no photos in the coventry herald/graphic. I may have a photo coming of messrs atkin, contact from a relative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 6 September , 2014 Share Posted 6 September , 2014 Trevor That's most kind; I have a picture of Walter from the Herbert archives but would love to see anything you receive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frispy819 Posted 6 September , 2014 Share Posted 6 September , 2014 No problems Delta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 1 December , 2014 Share Posted 1 December , 2014 Available on Archive.org http://archive.org/details/motorcycle152lond_ 1907 Jan-Dec (v.5) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle61lond_ 1908 Jan.- Jun. (v.6 pt.1) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle62lond_ 1908 Jul.-Dec. (v.6 pt.2) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle72lond_ 1909 Jul.-Dec. (v.7 pt.2) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle81lond_ 1910 Jan.-Jun. (v.8 pt.1) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle82lond_ 1910 Jul-Dec. (v.8 pt.2) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle91lond_ 1911 Jan-Jun. (v.9 pt.1) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle92lond_1911 Jul-Dec. (v.9 pt.2) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle101lond_ 1912 Jan-Jun. (v.10 pt.1) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle102lond_ 1912 Jul-Dec. (v.10 pt.2) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle112lond_ 1913 Jul-Dec. (v.11) Volume 12 not in catalogue of Boston Public Library, the originating library (USA) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle132lond_ 1914 Jul-Dec. (v.13) Volume 14 not in catalogue of Boston Public Library, the originating library (USA} https://archive.org/details/motorcycle05lond_ 1915 Jul-Dec. (v.15) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle16lond_ 1916 Jan-Jun. (v.16) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle17lond_ 1916 Jul-Dec. (v.17) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle18lond_ 1917 Jan-Jun. (v.18) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle19lond_ 1917 Jul-Dec. (v.19) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle20lond_ 1918 Jan-Jun. (v.20) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle21lond_ 1918 Jul-Dec. (v.21) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle22lond_ 1919 Jan-Jun. (v.22) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle23lond_ 1919 Jul-Dec. (v.23) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle24lond_ 1920 Jan.-Jun. (v.24) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle25lond_ 1920 Jul.-Dec. (v.25) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle26lond_ 1921 Jan.-Jun. (v.26) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle27lond_ 1921 Jul.-Dec. (v.27) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle28lond_ 1922 Jan.-Jun. (v.28) https://archive.org/details/motorcycle29lond_ 1922 Jul.-Dec. (v.29) Strangely. one of these volumes came up in an unrelated Google search, but none of them came up searching within Archive.org. I was able to locate a couple more by Google searches, but luckily the later URLs are a standard format, archive.org/details/motorcycleyzlond_ where yz is the Volume number. There may be issues past 1922. Unfortunately the editions do not seem to be complete. The example posted above May 18 1916 does not appear to be there (unless it is out of order) May 11 and May 25 are there, but I couldn't see May 18 1916. One explanation may be that perhaps issues such as May 18 1916 which mentioned recruits to the Army became "restricted" for security reasons and were not sent to subscribers located in overseas countries. The library from which the digital copies were taken was Boston Public Library in the USA. Cheers Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 2 December , 2014 Share Posted 2 December , 2014 Maureen You are a complete star. Within 5 minutes of scanning I found reference to GF Bainbridge who was one of the First Tank Crews Thank you so much for locating this "treasure trove" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 2 December , 2014 Share Posted 2 December , 2014 Maureen - thanks for that excellent link. I shall look forward to reading these magazines from the pioneer days of motorcycling. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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