A letter from the Editor – September 2026

Quite inexplicably, at the Election Court on 1st September, no-one rolled a black ball across the floor of Tallow Chandlers’ Hall and so I find myself both an Assistant to the Court and Chairman of the Communications Committee.

My first task is to thank former Chairman Assistant Lyn Litchfield for her energy, enthusiasm and attention to detail during the past three years; I’d like also to thank all the members of this hard-working committee for the vital work they do.

As for my credentials, I started as a journalist in the motoring sector, first as Editor of a motor trade magazine – a position I resigned on receipt of a mendacious libel writ from the Chairman of Nissan UK – and then worked as a freelance for the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Today (who remembers that publication?) Motor magazine, Fast Lane and Car Australia amongst others. Then I moved into publishing, mainly for automotive clients, before selling up and starting a video production company in 2005 which continues to thrive – and still with predominantly automotive clients.

So now begins a new dawn, that of supporting our new Master in making this historic 350th anniversary year a truly memorable one.

But before taking up those reins, I enjoyed a relatively relaxed sunny summertime, as I hope you all did too. For me the absolute highlight was attending the 100th anniversary of the first Grand Prix on British soil, held at Brooklands in August 1926. It was an awesome event and I cannot congratulate enough Liveryman Alex Patterson, CEO of the Brooklands Museum and his team for bringing together an extraordinary gathering of more than 100 Grand Prix cars mustered on Brooklands’ historic Finishing Straight, re-creating a century of Grand Prix history at precisely 2pm on 8th August – the time at which the first Grand Prix of the Royal Automobile Club had been flagged away 100 years earlier.

100 Grand Prix cars at Brooklands, representing 100 years of motor racing in the UK

I’d visited Brooklands many times over the years but have never seen such a magnificent event, and nor had I thought of visiting the on-site bus museum. But I did have a look around and couldn’t help but notice that the very first exhibit is a 4-light ‘garden seat’ horse bus from around 1890. At that time London had more than 2,000 horse buses, pulled by 25,000 horses, plus of course a small army of grooms, blacksmiths and saddlers.

London horse-drawn bus from the 1890s in the Brooklands Bus Museum

I discovered that the very first horse bus to operate in London appeared in 1829, following their invention in Paris. This latter fact pleases my French wife Michelle greatly, mainly because when I’m feeling brave I gently point out that it was the British who brought wine-making to the Bordeaux region; who introduced the whole concept of winter sports in the Alps; and who created the playground of the Côte d’Azure along with the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

George Shillibeer brought the concept from Paris

But back to coaches. London coachbuilder, George Shillibeer (1797-1866), worked in Paris in the 1820s, where he was commissioned to build two horse-drawn coaches for the French coach operator Jacques Laffitte. On his return to the UK, Shillibeer was inspired to introduce London’s first regular bus service with the same type of vehicle, starting on 4th July 1829. It was such a successful concept that in a few years, Shillibeer was out of business, overwhelmed by competitor coach makers.

And so he turned to making horse-drawn hearses and maybe made his own last journey on Earth in one of them.

My very best wishes to all Coachmakers.

Shillibeer’s final business