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Coincidences
Mid-October 2022, my son Peter and I visited the VMCC’s East Herts section and enjoyed meeting members and friends, including Scott man Glyn Chambers.
During the evening, the former London fireman pressed into my hands a number of items, including a paperback written by former TCM (and other classic motorcycle magazines) contributor, the late Peter Dobson, entitled ‘Honey and Gemma (Dobber’s dogs)’ and the accompanying picture of Captain (later Admiral) Sir Robert Arbuthnot (1864-1916).
A couple of weeks later, the December 2022 issue of TCM dropped through our letterbox. Flicking through the pages, I spotted Andy Withers’ evocative report of the year’s Arbuthnot Trial organised by the Salisbury Motorcycle and Light Car Club. (TCM, December 2022, pages 41-43).
Andy summarised Sir Robert’s life and death at the battle of Jutland (nearest land was Denmark) on May 31, 1916, as Arbuthnot went down with his ship HMS Defence, along with his Triumph, which travelled at sea in his (Captain’s) day cabin. And the Triumph returns us to in this photograph.
Quite probably racing the illustrated 476cc Triumph (or a similar machine), Sir Robert finished third at 38.22mph in the 1908 IoM Single Cylinder class TT to victor Jack Marshall (Triumph, at 40.49mph) and Charlie Collier (Matchless, 40.01mph) on the St John’s Course. Earlier, Arbuthnot had competed in the 1904 Bexhill Speed Trials driving a Sunbeam, as a
