By
lease of 14 Feb 1907,
Edward M. Le Flufy and Trevor E. Winkworth
took out a 99 year lease of the site
from the Grand Canal Company
of what is apparently an empty site on the canal bank.
It was this lease that was transferred to successive occupants,
rather than the freehold, which remained with the
Grand Canal Company (later amalgamated into CIE)
Le Flufy and Winkworth constructed a garage, and commenced trading.
"Le Flufy and Winkworth, automobile engineers"
are listed at the site in
[Thom's, 1910, p.1789].
See
Haddington Rd
in 1911 census.
Census numbers match the actual house numbers.
Think no entry for garage since no one living there.
"The Motor and Accessories Co." is listed there in
[Thom's, 1914, p.1818].
Baggot St Bridge on
OS map, would be 1897 to 1913.
1 Victoria Buildings ("Bank") has been built on Upper Baggot St.
Thomond garage site is to RHS of bank, on Haddington Road.
Old photo from
Archiseek
showing view from the W.
1 Victoria Buildings exists, so this is after 1897.
Bridge House does not yet exist.
Hard to see what is going on at site of Thomond garage.
Extracts from
[Thom's, 1910].
Left: Parsons and the bank shown on Upper Baggot St on p.1781.
Right:
"Le Flufy and Winkworth, automobile engineers"
shown on Haddington Road on p.1789.
It looks at first like Le Flufy and Winkworth are at the tail end (E end) of the S side of Haddington Road,
running from the bridge to Shelbourne Road.
But Shelbourne Road is not on the canal bank, so you realise they are at the start of the N side of Haddington Road.
Brian Hogan
remembered that there used to be a little quay on the canalside,
between Baggot St Bridge and Jones' garage, where barges would unload turf.
"The Motor and Accessories Co." is listed at the site in
[Thom's, 1914, pp.1818-1819].
Anthony Murray
thought Jones was an agent for Citroen
at one stage.
Even if he was, no showroom was ever built.
One of the family photos shows Jim and Norah sitting in a Citroen tourer
somewhere in Co.Wicklow, mid-1920s.
Henry Barlee remembered that for quite some time, Jones advertised his business as Thomond Motors Ltd. He had cut-out letters on a big wire hoarding on the wall to the E side (Murray's car rental) proclaiming: "J.A. Jones - Thomond Motors".
Jones is still listed there in
[Thom's, 1938, p.683].
In 1938, Benny Parsons left Jones to start up his own
garage a hundred yards away on Mespil Road.
By Deed of 5 May 1939,
"James Jones of Thomond Motor Works"
sold out his lease to Thomas Redmond and James Conway, motor engineers.
Brian Hogan said that in Jones' time the garage had a rounded haybarn-style roof
with a rusty iron covering.
It may have been a two-span roof like in this sketch.
See full size.
It was certainly changed a lot during the war,
after Jones left.
Ad for Jones' garage in
[Thom's, 1923, p.2297].
See full size.
Thomond no.2, probably 1932-1933.
At the garage on Haddington Rd,
with Jones
on the right.
Jones listed on
p.683
of
[Thom's, 1938].
Dick Humphreys
died in Sept 1968, still running his small
tyre and motor accessories business in
36 Pearse St
at the end.
The family held on to the premises, but no one took over
the business, which was very quiet at the end.
In May 1971, Mike Dover, a student in TCD at the time
and a motor enthusiast, came upon the premises at 36 Pearse St (opposite TCD)
being cleared out by the builders. He went in and talked to them
and asked if he could look around.
The "wicker work" myth:
Dover found two Edwardian-style wickerwork basket seats with leather
upholstery around the edges. It is unclear what these were.
These would never have been used
on a car as late as the 1920s. Whatever Dick was doing with them,
no doubt they were nothing to do with the Thomond.
Dover also found,
scattered round the floor, bits of Thomond letterheads,
all identical, and all torn.
He could more or less piece together a complete one.
And either he or Michael Sedgwick pieced it together as:
"Specialists in all kinds of wicker work".
In fact, what it actually said
was:
"Specialists in all kinds of machine work".
Presumably there was a rip though the word 'machine'
and they connected the seats with the Thomond
and made a guess.
"Specialists in all kinds of wicker work"
is what
got printed in Veteran and Vintage magazine.
Of all the people I have spoken to who have seen and worked
on Thomonds, not one remembers any wickerwork.
Indeed it became a running joke in my family as I carried out
my research.
Sedgwick also mis-spelled Mike's surname as 'Dove' which made him hard to track down.
I spent a year searching for the elusive 'Mike Dove'
before I met Kieran White
and he told me "Dover! That's the one!"
Despite the confusion,
Dover's discovery and the Sedgwick article did introduce a photograph of the Thomond
to motoring historians, who previously had no known picture.
(Dick's 1963 article
having gone unnoticed by a wider audience.)
In 1946, W.G. Wilkinson Ltd bought the garage.
See 1947 article.
They sold
Morris and
Rover cars,
and bought this as a service property.
The new premises on Haddington Road, 'W.G. Wilkinson Ltd,
garage and service station', complemented their showrooms
on 26 Lower Pembroke St.
Wilkinson demolished the Jones garage around 1947.
A new architect-designed building was erected by 1949.
It is now called No.2 Haddington Rd.
In 1957, W.G. Wilkinson Ltd
and the Shelbourne Motor Co. Ltd. amalgamated.
They ran a number of outlets including
2 Haddington Rd.
Both names were used since W.G. Wilkinson Ltd ran the car sales, repair
and petrol sales, while Shelbourne Motor Co.Ltd. operated limousine,
coach and car hire departments.
In
1967, a new, separate company called
Shelbourne Car Hire Ltd
purchased the Haddington Rd garage.
Final end of Wilkinson involvement.
Shelbourne ran a car hire and chauffeur drive service.
Previous information from W.G. Wilkinson
and Joan Newman.
Paddy Beattie
said a lot of the machinery would have been sold
in 1967, as Shelbourne Car Hire Ltd only carried out small repairs
on their cars.
In 1971, Shelbourne Car Hire Ltd, in financial trouble,
sold the garage.
The garage was purchased by the Bank of Ireland (next door),
who demolished it. They extended their premises by about 15 feet
onto the site, and paved over the rest as a car park.
Previous information from
Anthony Murray
and Paddy Beattie
and Jim Barr.
The garage as bought by Wilkinson.
From 1947 article.
Shortly before demolition.
See larger
and full page.
Wilkinson's new, architect-designed garage.
From Motoring Life, Dec 1949.
See larger
and full size.
The Thomond garage still exists on
p.341
of [Thom's, 1971].
The Thomond garage is gone on
p.366
of [Thom's, 1973].
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