While we usually focus on the machines that shape Ireland’s transport heritage, a different story emerged while filming with Alex Wilsdon in Kilkenny last summer. He pointed us toward the Galtee Motoring Frieze (coat), made by Pim Bros in Dublin from cloth woven by Mulcahy, Redmond & Co. of Ardfinnan. King Edward VII wore the first version of this specialised motoring coat when he drove his cars, usually Daimlers. In our research we also came across some of the Mulcahy family’s own vehicles, among them a Curved Dash Oldsmobile and a 14 hp Gladiator.
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ROYAL VISITS
Following his coronation in 1902, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra undertook major royal visits to Ireland in 1903 and 1904. Queen Victoria, who had died in 1901, remained widely regarded by many Irish people as the “Famine Queen” and leading cultural figures, along with Nationalist MPs, opposed the visits. Against this backdrop, the British monarchy sought improved public relations, presenting Edward, known as Bertie as a friend to Ireland.
Despite organised nationalist opposition and Dublin Corporation declining to extend an official welcome, the tours drew large and enthusiastic crowds in cities and towns such as Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny.
The 1903 visit also prompted a number of symbolic protests. One of the most notable involved nationalist activist Maud Gonne, whose Unionist neighbours displayed Union Jacks on their home during the king’s visit. In response, Gonne hung black petticoats from her own house on Coulson Avenue, Rathgar, an act that scandalised her neighbours and then she barricaded herself inside when police were called!
ARRIVING IN ROYAL STYLE
On Monday 20th July 1903 King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra arrived in Ireland, for a week-long tour. They travelled in style aboard the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, sailing from Holyhead in Wales to Kingstown Harbour, now Dún Laoghaire. The 420-foot, 4,700-ton royal yacht was accompanied by a formidable naval escort comprising two Cressy-class armoured cruisers, two Drake-class armoured cruisers and four torpedo boat destroyers.
TRAVELLING BY ROAD & RAIL
Once ashore, the King and Queen were conveyed through Irish cities in an open top carriage, likely a landau built by John Hutton & Sons of Summerhill, Dublin.
For the royal party’s rail journeys, the Great Southern & Western Railway built a new, state-of-the-art royal coach at its Inchicore Works in Dublin, with the interior completed by Sibthorpes of Molesworth Street specifically for the visit. Coach No. 351, now preserved as the Irish State Coach, was 50 feet long, mounted on two bogies and divided into three saloons: the Reception Saloon, the King’s Smoking Room and the Queen’s Boudoir. It featured a central entrance vestibule, a secondary vestibule with WC and washbasin and a range of modern amenities. The new carriage replaced an earlier six-wheel state coach dating from 1851, which was deemed no longer suitable for royal use.
On the west of Ireland network, the royal party travelled on a special train operated by the Midland Great Western Railway between Recess and Galway. This formed part of the company’s Tourist Express service and featured a distinctive blue livery with white lining, a significant departure from standard MGWR colours. Some locomotives were also repainted for the occasion and royal train included a twelve-wheeled dining car, an unusual sight on an Irish branch line at the time.
In Ulster, the Belfast and County Down Railway operated a special train carrying the royal party from Newtownards to its Belfast terminus on 27th July 1903.
MOTORING ACROSS IRELAND
During his visits to Ireland, first as Prince of Wales in 1899 and later as King in 1903 and 1904, Edward used several motor cars, primarily prestigious Daimlers a marque which he favoured, including a 12 hp model around 1899 and a larger Daimler Twenty-Two and a 35 hp during the later tours, alongside traditional horse drawn carriages. At a time when motor cars were still a novelty and only a few dozen were registered in Ireland in 1904, his use of them was notably modern.
The royal motor car, likely the 24 hp Daimler Twenty-Two, proved troublesome in 1903, breaking down in the wilds of Connemara and forcing the royal party to continue by carriage. The 1904 tour took in Dublin, Naas for the Punchestown Races, Kilkenny and Waterford.
THE GALTEE COAT
Capitalising on royal visits was a sure-fire way to do business and the same is true today. Anything with a royal connection carried prestige and sold well. Pim Bros. Ltd of South Great George’s Street, Dublin, pulled off a design coup when in 1906 they brought their new Galtee Motoring Coat to market made with cloth woven by Mulcahy, Redmond & Co. Ltd, woollen manufacturers of Ardfinnan, County Tipperary.
From research provided by Mr Mulcahy from Ardfinnan Woollen Mills we know that in 1904 King Edward would have driven by the mills in his Daimler on his way to Lismore Castle and it is recalled that he became familiar with the Mulcahys when he paid them a visit on his return. The Duke of Devonshire knew that Frank Mulcahy owned a motorcar, at a time when nobody else between Ardfinnan and Lismore had one and may well have mentioned this to the King. It is also likely that the King was introduced to the quality of the Ardfinnan tweed, which was produced for the Duke’s nearby Devonshire estate in County Waterford, home to the sister castles of Lismore and Ardfinnan.
Advertising their stand (No. 37) at a 1907 Dublin Motor Show, most likely held at the Royal Dublin Society showgrounds, the firm promoted a range of specialist motoring garments. Chief among them was a Gentlemen’s Motor Overcoat made from the new “Galtee Motor Cloth,” as supplied to His Majesty King Edward VII. The Galtee Motoring Coat was priced at £8:0:0, the equivalent of approximately €1,443 today.
Pim Bros. noted in their advertisements that once the Galtee Motoring Cloth was introduced, it drew immediate royal interest. The cloth was supplied to the King’s Savile Row tailors and they proudly claimed that King Edward VII owned the very first motoring coat made from it.
An advertisement published in Motor News by R. J. Mecredy, a book promoting cycling, health and outdoor pursuits including motoring, highlighted the qualities of the new “Galtee” cloth. It was described as “a scientific combination of wool and mohair,” and claimed to be “the warmest cloth ever made for motor coats and motor rugs.” The advertisement noted that when dry, the cloth was slightly porous and therefore hygienic, making it superior to both furs and mackintosh coats. When the outer surface became damp, the pores were said to close automatically, rendering the cloth fully waterproof and suitable for all weather conditions. Interestingly, R. J. Mecredy said in his 1909 book Health’s Highway that he wore a Galtee Motoring Coat in bad weather from its introduction in 1907 to 1909 and said he never once got wet!
THE MOTORING MULCAHY’S
The Mulcahy family, owners of Ardfinnan Woollen Mills, were enthusiastic motorists in their own right. Their Galtee cloth was proven in real working conditions on the family’s own vehicles, on trips extending from the Galtee Mountains to the ring of Kerry. The cloth was made warm by the layer of luxurious frieze perfected since Frank’s grandfather famously showcased Irish frieze at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851. A photograph taken around 1902 outside the mill shows Frank Mulcahy’s American-made Oldsmobile Curved Dash, with Ardfinnan travelling rugs draped over the body. With its 1.6-litre, 4.5 bhp engine, the car was designed for unmade roads and was well suited to the road surfaces of rural Tipperary at the time.
According to Mr Mulcahy, Frank Mulcahy’s Oldsmobile was the 14th car registered in South Tipperary. He told us that early vehicle registration was based on the order of applications rather than the arrival date of the cars themselves, meaning that Frank’s Oldsmobile was among the very first motor cars operating in the County Tipperary.
Back in the early 1900s Frank Mulcahy was a local politician and a committed advocate of motoring. As an early adopter, he actively campaigned for improvements to road conditions in County Tipperary, recognising that the future of motoring depended as much on infrastructure as on machinery.
GLADIATOR 14HP
By 1904, the Mulcahy family had moved on to a Gladiator 14hp, fitted with a 3.2-litre four-cylinder engine. Gladiator was a French motor car maker active from the late 1890s until around 1920. While French in origin, Gladiator found its largest market in Britain and Ireland. By 1903, these two markets were absorbing an estimated 80% of production, with annual output exceeding 1,000 cars.
Frank Mulcahy is photographed wearing the Galtee Motoring Coat sitting alongside his wife Kitty Crean. The Mulcahy family’s ownership of a Gladiator places them firmly within the first generation of Irish motorists, operating a modern European car at a time when private motoring was still a rare activity.
Our thanks to Alex Wilsdon for suggesting this story, to Simon Thomas for researching the photographs of the cars and to Mr Mulcahy for sharing his family history.
If you have an idea for a story, please email Kevin Reid at [email protected]
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Sources of Information, Photo & Video Credits:
Bonhams
Cracow Museum of Municipal Engineering
Galway City Museum
Irish Independent
National Museums Northern Ireland
Seamus Dubhgaill Blog – Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock Arkansas, USA
Tatler
The Royal Irish Constabulary Forum
