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semisport
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
 Posted - 18/10/2013 : 20:29:48
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Over a period of a few years I have been collecting press cuttings and snippets concerning a Global circumnavigation attempt by two former RAF officers, a Captain Max Hay and W.E. Wolveridge. They made their attempt in a 1930 MG Midget RX 7367, which was described by Motor Sport as being in a standard configuration. They commenced their journey to much fanfare and a large gathering of press representatives and bystanders from the steps of RAC Club in Pall Mall towards the end of September 1930. Photographs appeared in the motoring press, not just in the U.K. but as far afield as Singapore and New Zealand. The attempt was sponsored by the Shell Oil Company who were apparently laying on fuel supplies in the far flung reaches of Empire and beyond. After all this initial fanfare I can find absolutely nothing more about their attempt. The trail goes completely cold. Does anyone possess documentary evidence or believe that they know what happened to the two intrepid gentlemen? Surely I can't be the first person to have asked this question? Did their attempt end in glorious failure or did they just give up after suffering a puncture on the A2? If they did succeed in their quest, then it must be one of motoring history's best kept secrets. Any information at all would be gratefully received. Perhaps the club possesses some information about their Midget, RX 7367?
Chris |
Edited by - semisport on 18/10/2013 20:31:35 |
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Vitesse
United Kingdom
234 Posts |
Posted - 18/10/2013 : 22:23:21
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If it's any help, Walter Ernest Wolveridge was born in Romford in 1905. Whatever the result of the trip, his wife divorced him in 1934 - he remarried almost immediately. He lived in Chalfont St Peter and later in Topsham and then London W4. Immediately post-WW2 he and the second Mrs W were regular trans-Atlantic fliers - he may even have worked for BOAC - and they seem to have emigrated to Australia (probably Western Australia as they disembarked at Fremantle) in 1950.
Info from Ancestry and The Times. |
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Matthew Magilton
Australia
179 Posts |
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 05:26:32
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W.E. and Marie Wolveridge were residents of Freemantle and Perth according to the electoral roll (Ancestry) with the last entry being 1972 for Walter. Another Wolveridge couple, Gillian and Michael, appear in Victoria in 1972 (it is possible Michael is a son??). Michael is in the white pages (online) currently in Queensland. He is the only Wolveridge listed in Australia.
Cheers,
Matthew. |
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Vitesse
United Kingdom
234 Posts |
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 09:33:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Matthew Magilton
W.E. and Marie Wolveridge were residents of Freemantle and Perth according to the electoral roll (Ancestry) with the last entry being 1972 for Walter. Another Wolveridge couple, Gillian and Michael, appear in Victoria in 1972 (it is possible Michael is a son??). Michael is in the white pages (online) currently in Queensland. He is the only Wolveridge listed in Australia.
Cheers,
Matthew.
... which would mean he's the former professional golfer and golf course architect. 
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/01/17/3671703.htm |
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semisport
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 11:04:33
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Many thanks Richard and Matthew. I have just sent Michael Wolveridge a request for information via Linkedin. I can only hope that he responds. I also believe Capt. Hay also survived their expedition as I have found a 1934 and a 1940 internet reference to a man of that name. I will also follow up these potential leads.
Chris |
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Vitesse
United Kingdom
234 Posts |
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 16:19:39
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Totally off the wall thought: could there be a connection to Whitney Straight? As I noted earlier, Wolveridge looks to have worked for BOAC after the war - when flying to the USA he gave BOAC's New York office as his address and his occupation is shown as 'civil aviation' on the voyage to Fremantle.
Pre-war, the Straight Corporation developed and ran Exeter Airport - which is only a few miles from Topsham - and Whitney himself joined BOAC as deputy chairman in 1946.
Could be coincidence, but stranger things have happened! |
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Vitesse
United Kingdom
234 Posts |
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 17:18:11
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Max Donald Hay (possibly originally Booth-Hay) seems to disappear during the war years. He was supposedly born in Scotland in about 1889 (can't find a record of that though!), served in the Durham Light Infantry and RAF and had worked as an engineer of some sort in the Straits Settlements - there's a travel record for him arriving in Britain earlier in 1930, accompanied by his wife and baby daughter. They later lived in Lewisham but disappear off the electoral roll after 1938.
After that - apparently zilch. No death records for either Max or his wife Olive May Hay and in 1958 his daughter placed a 'missing relatives' advert looking for him (but not her mother).
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Capt. Hay & W.E.
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