Gwenda Hawkes

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

While researching Gwenda Hawkes, by coincidence I came face-to-face in the local library with Glubb Pasha by Trevor Royal, about the career of Sir John Bagot Glubb, MC, DSO, OBE, CMG, Commander of the Arab Legion. Apart from this book being a full account of the long and exciting life of this great military character, most interestingly described in its 525 pages, the gentleman was the brother of Gwenda May Glubb, the lady racing driver concerned.

From this book we learn that she was born in Preston, Lancashire, and educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, where she taught herself to drive in the car (make not named) belonging to the family of a school friend. When the First World War broke out, Gwenda joined the Scottish Women’s Hospitals organisation as a volunteer and was sent to the Eastern Front, where she drove ambulances under difficult and dangerous conditions, for which she was awarded the Cross of St George and St Stanislav by the Romanian Government. Trevor Royal recounts how the train journey to the Crimea took several weeks, as the occupants had to get out and chop wood for the engine every 20 miles or so… Her mother, Lady Glubb, who was then living in a flat in Kensington, did not see her daughter for long periods and postal communications were slow. After the war, when Lady Glubb was living at Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, Gwenda was still some way away, living near Brooklands. She undertook long-distance promotional rides for motorcycle manufacturers, first in November 1921, when she did a 1000-mile run for Ner-a-Car, covering 190 miles per day, and then by racing Trump machines at Brooklands. At Montlhery she co-rode a 350cc Rudge on a successful 24-hour record run (54.21 mph) and survived a bad accident when the back wheel of a Terrot-JAP collapsed.

Later, of course, Gwenda went to live at Montlhery, married Douglas Hawkes, after divorcing Col Janson and Col Stewart, and at the age of 42 was driving the Derby Special at speeds in the region of 150mph, on record-breaking and test runs. Trevor Royal quotes her lap-record of the French track at 145.94mph but not her subsequent one at 147.79mph, and he confuses her Brooklands Ladies’ lap-record of 135.95mph with the absolute lap-record, held at that time by Oliver Bertram and the 8-litre Barnato-Hassan at 142.60 mph. Before WW2 the Hawkes returned to Brooklands to run their business and during hostilities make military aeroplane components, after which they decided to follow the Glubbs to the Mediterranean and the Aegean on their yacht. After giving that up, Gwenda remained an enthusiastic traveller, driving back to Britain in her Dormobile or her 2CV Citroen in the 1960s. She died on May 27, 1990, only a few days short of 96th birthday.