Brooklands Ladies

Some more biographical detail on Brooklands Lady racers:


Mrs Bill Urquhart-Dykes, maiden name Pauline Ruth Hegarty, daughter of Dr. Hegarty of Clonbur, County Galway, she died 9th April 1981 in Cobham, Surrey, aged 86.

The Hon. Mrs Chetwynd, maiden name Joan Gilbert Casson, afterwards Mrs Findlay, probably born circa 1899 and possibly in India where her father was in the Indian Civil service. When her husband inherited his title she became Viscountess Chetwynd.

Victoria Worsley, later King-Farlow, the daughter of Sir William Worsley 3rd Bt. of Hovingham Hall and hence an aunt of the present Duchess of Kent.

Violette Cordery, later Hindmarsh and thus Roy Salvadori's mother-in-law, died the night of 29th December 1983 at Oxshott, Surrey. It does seem to be Violette and not Violet as most sources have it.

Barbara Skinner who married John Bolster and was killed January 3rd 1942 in a traffic accident.

What about Coleen Eaton? I think she was born 1901 in Kent the daughter of Captain Harley Hixson of the Royal Australian Navy and that she remarried in 1938 to a Mr Norman.

With less than a hundred Maconochie's on the UK electoral roll there has to be a good chance that the Miss M. J. Maconochie who raced at Brooklands circa 1928 was Margaret Jean Maconochie, born in London in 1905. Her father A. W. Maconochie had built up the family firm, Maconochie Foods, from a Lowestoft fish paste producer into one of Britain's premier food manufacturers. A.W. died in 1926, so no doubt Miss Maconochie was doing her bit to dissipate the family fortune, successfully it seems, since Maconochie Kippers are no longer the household name they once were. Margaret later married a Mr Parry and moved to Rutland.