Post by administrator on Sept 8, 2009 11:44:18 GMT 1
THIS article is a tentative statement of work in progress. There are so many loose ends that an alternative title might well be ‘Jean Reville: International Man of Mystery’.
Our hero was a racing driver and racing car maker, based in Merton Park. He was briefly famous during 1934 and 1935 in the brand new sport of midget car racing. This enjoyed a short-lived vogue in Britain before the War, employing tiny purpose-built cars which hurtled round three or four laps of a small oval dirt-track course.
Early Days
‘Jean’ Reville was his preferred publicity name. His given names, as reported in Merton and Morden Voters Lists, were Eric Jene (consistently so spelt). Here I shall refer to him as Jean. We do not know where he was born, but from his 1928 marriage certificate we learn that his father, James Jocelyn Reville, was a flour miller and manager, and that Jean was then 28 years old, so born c.1900. However, the family do not appear to be in the 1901 census or those parts of the 1911 census available at present. (Is immigration more probable than name change?)
Jean married Daisy Florence Epsom ‘otherwise Palmer’ of Croydon, at Hammersmith Register Office in 1928, describing himself as a confectionery salesman. By May 1929, the couple had moved into 3 Merton Park Parade, a confectionery shop. There they joined Arthur Thomas Palmer and his wife Elizabeth Jane, who had been in residence and keeping the shop since 1914. (I believe that, to hold a lease or own a freehold, Arthur must have been over 20 years old in 1914, so he would be at least 35 in 1929.)
Intriguingly, in 1929 Jean and Daisy married again, this time in St Mary’s Church in Merton Park, with Jean now a ‘motor engineer’. (What was the impediment to the first wedding ?) I presume that Daisy was a relation of the Palmers. It is curious that she is entered in the Voters List for October 1929 under her maiden name of Epsom, with her qualification being that of the wife of a resident. In the 1930 Voters List, Daisy is safely ‘Reville’ and remains so while in Merton.
At this point we should note that the Merton Park Parade of shops, with flats above, curves round from Kingston Road into Watery Lane. Nos.1–12 form a continuous terrace and were built in 1907. Then there is an open plot (thus avoiding any need for a no.13), and then a detached showroom, no.14, which was added in 1930 with an unusual triangular ground plan. The open plot and no.14 have always been occupied together, by motor engineers and/or traders.
In 1930, Arthur and Jean started a new venture called Palmer Reville & Co. This offered ‘motor hire services’ based on 3 Merton Park Parade. The following year they raised sufficient capital (from whom?) to move this business to no.14, while Arthur retained and continued the confectionery shop at no.3. In 1931 they were joined by Dennis James Reville and his wife Grace Gladys, who occupied 14A Merton Park Parade, the flat above the showroom.
I believe that Dennis was a younger (?) brother of Jean, who assisted at Palmer Reville & Co. I presume they erected some sort of temporary workshop and garage on the open plot, where they began to modify BSA front wheel drive sports cars, which they offered for sale under the tag of ‘Palmer Specials’. They were sufficiently successful in this that by the end of 1933 they could offer three different versions – the ‘Ulster’ 2-seater and ‘Le Mans’ 4-seater for touring, and the ‘Brooklands’ 2-seater for more dedicated sportsmen.
The Sport
There were many car-based competitions in the 1920s and 1930s – time trials, rallies, hill climbs, economy runs, even a few road races on private land. All over the country young men with spanners modified and tuned some of the immense variety of small cars available. Motorcycle racing on dirt-tracks began in the mid-1920s; car races with standard roadsters on the same tracks were occasional events that became more frequent during the early 1930s.
The first dirt-track meeting for midget cars featuring specially-designed vehicles was held in June 1933 in Sacramento, California. This exciting new sport rapidly became widely popular across the USA and then crossed to Britain in 1934. Chiefly performed at greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway stadiums, the sport was calculated to attract a more numerous, working-class, paying audience than traditional motor racing, where fans tended to be more upper-class. Normally a programme contained a dozen or more races.
First Racing Car
I suspect that Jean acquired his racing experience in amateur sports over the period 1929-1933. He certainly drove in dirt-track races during 1933 (eg. at Wembley Stadium in early August), using a BSA sports car ‘of somewhat special attributes’. Since the firm’s later cars were known as Palmer Specials rather than Palmer Revilles, I speculate that at the same time Arthur was developing expertise in car modification.
Arthur Palmer and Jean Reville decided that they could exploit the new midget racer arena, and so created a single-seat midget Palmer Special towards the end of 1933. This was a variant of their existing designs, with small wheels and a low, narrow and rather crude body, in which the cylinder heads of the ‘Vee’ engine protruded through the bonnet. The driver’s seat was moved to the centre-line, but the steering wheel remained in its original position, so that the steering column pointed at the driver’s right shoulder. Versions were offered for sale for £180 ‘including engine mods’. This was raced during the 1934 season, and was evidently improved and ‘cleaned up’ as time went on. A few (two or three?) further examples were produced.
Our hero was a racing driver and racing car maker, based in Merton Park. He was briefly famous during 1934 and 1935 in the brand new sport of midget car racing. This enjoyed a short-lived vogue in Britain before the War, employing tiny purpose-built cars which hurtled round three or four laps of a small oval dirt-track course.
Early Days
‘Jean’ Reville was his preferred publicity name. His given names, as reported in Merton and Morden Voters Lists, were Eric Jene (consistently so spelt). Here I shall refer to him as Jean. We do not know where he was born, but from his 1928 marriage certificate we learn that his father, James Jocelyn Reville, was a flour miller and manager, and that Jean was then 28 years old, so born c.1900. However, the family do not appear to be in the 1901 census or those parts of the 1911 census available at present. (Is immigration more probable than name change?)
Jean married Daisy Florence Epsom ‘otherwise Palmer’ of Croydon, at Hammersmith Register Office in 1928, describing himself as a confectionery salesman. By May 1929, the couple had moved into 3 Merton Park Parade, a confectionery shop. There they joined Arthur Thomas Palmer and his wife Elizabeth Jane, who had been in residence and keeping the shop since 1914. (I believe that, to hold a lease or own a freehold, Arthur must have been over 20 years old in 1914, so he would be at least 35 in 1929.)
Intriguingly, in 1929 Jean and Daisy married again, this time in St Mary’s Church in Merton Park, with Jean now a ‘motor engineer’. (What was the impediment to the first wedding ?) I presume that Daisy was a relation of the Palmers. It is curious that she is entered in the Voters List for October 1929 under her maiden name of Epsom, with her qualification being that of the wife of a resident. In the 1930 Voters List, Daisy is safely ‘Reville’ and remains so while in Merton.
At this point we should note that the Merton Park Parade of shops, with flats above, curves round from Kingston Road into Watery Lane. Nos.1–12 form a continuous terrace and were built in 1907. Then there is an open plot (thus avoiding any need for a no.13), and then a detached showroom, no.14, which was added in 1930 with an unusual triangular ground plan. The open plot and no.14 have always been occupied together, by motor engineers and/or traders.
In 1930, Arthur and Jean started a new venture called Palmer Reville & Co. This offered ‘motor hire services’ based on 3 Merton Park Parade. The following year they raised sufficient capital (from whom?) to move this business to no.14, while Arthur retained and continued the confectionery shop at no.3. In 1931 they were joined by Dennis James Reville and his wife Grace Gladys, who occupied 14A Merton Park Parade, the flat above the showroom.
I believe that Dennis was a younger (?) brother of Jean, who assisted at Palmer Reville & Co. I presume they erected some sort of temporary workshop and garage on the open plot, where they began to modify BSA front wheel drive sports cars, which they offered for sale under the tag of ‘Palmer Specials’. They were sufficiently successful in this that by the end of 1933 they could offer three different versions – the ‘Ulster’ 2-seater and ‘Le Mans’ 4-seater for touring, and the ‘Brooklands’ 2-seater for more dedicated sportsmen.
The Sport
There were many car-based competitions in the 1920s and 1930s – time trials, rallies, hill climbs, economy runs, even a few road races on private land. All over the country young men with spanners modified and tuned some of the immense variety of small cars available. Motorcycle racing on dirt-tracks began in the mid-1920s; car races with standard roadsters on the same tracks were occasional events that became more frequent during the early 1930s.
The first dirt-track meeting for midget cars featuring specially-designed vehicles was held in June 1933 in Sacramento, California. This exciting new sport rapidly became widely popular across the USA and then crossed to Britain in 1934. Chiefly performed at greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway stadiums, the sport was calculated to attract a more numerous, working-class, paying audience than traditional motor racing, where fans tended to be more upper-class. Normally a programme contained a dozen or more races.
First Racing Car
I suspect that Jean acquired his racing experience in amateur sports over the period 1929-1933. He certainly drove in dirt-track races during 1933 (eg. at Wembley Stadium in early August), using a BSA sports car ‘of somewhat special attributes’. Since the firm’s later cars were known as Palmer Specials rather than Palmer Revilles, I speculate that at the same time Arthur was developing expertise in car modification.
Arthur Palmer and Jean Reville decided that they could exploit the new midget racer arena, and so created a single-seat midget Palmer Special towards the end of 1933. This was a variant of their existing designs, with small wheels and a low, narrow and rather crude body, in which the cylinder heads of the ‘Vee’ engine protruded through the bonnet. The driver’s seat was moved to the centre-line, but the steering wheel remained in its original position, so that the steering column pointed at the driver’s right shoulder. Versions were offered for sale for £180 ‘including engine mods’. This was raced during the 1934 season, and was evidently improved and ‘cleaned up’ as time went on. A few (two or three?) further examples were produced.
(c) DAVID HAUNTON 2009