Sir (Albert) Noel Campbell Macklin (28 October 1886 – 1946) was an innovative

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

car maker and boat designer. He founded Eric-Campbell in 1919,

Silver Hawk ''Silver Hawk'' is a 2004 Hong Kong-Chinese superhero film directed by Jingle Ma and starring Michelle Yeoh, Richie Jen, Luke Goss, Brandon Chang, Adrian Cooper Lastra and Michael White. Yeoh plays the title character, a masked comic book s ...

in 1920, Invicta in 1925 and Railton in 1933. In 1939 he founded

Fairmile Marine Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin. Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to ...

and supplied boats to the Royal Navy throughout World War II, for which effort he was honoured with a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

. He was the father of

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

and

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing driver

Lance Macklin Lance Noel Macklin (2 September 1919 – 29 August 2002) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952. He was infamously involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaste ...

Early life and education

Macklin was born in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, the eldest son of Charles Campbell Macklin (1866–1918), barrister, and his wife, Ada Louisa, née Lockyer (1863/4–1935). The family had moved to

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

by 1891 and Macklin was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

. He was a successful amateur jockey; from 1908-1910 he represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

Princes Ice Hockey Club Princes Ice Hockey Club were one of the most influential early European ice hockey teams and is sometimes considered the first ice hockey club in Britain. Founded in late 1896, the team was based at Prince's Skating Club in Hammersmith. They ini ...

at ice hockey and in 1909 he raced a Mercedes at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfie ...

. In February 1914 he led an expedition to film big game in the Sudan.

Career

World War 1

Macklin was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1914, where he served as a captain in the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but was badly wounded in France and invalided out in 1915. Thus he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) and further served with the

Dover Patrol The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dove ...

. On his transfer to the RNVR he enlisted Violette Cordery as his driver.

Car manufacture

Macklin was co-founder of the Eric-Campbell car manufacturer in 1919, whose name was a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsSilver Hawk ''Silver Hawk'' is a 2004 Hong Kong-Chinese superhero film directed by Jingle Ma and starring Michelle Yeoh, Richie Jen, Luke Goss, Brandon Chang, Adrian Cooper Lastra and Michael White. Yeoh plays the title character, a masked comic book s ...

car marque. In 1925 he founded the Invicta car manufacturer (with financial backing from Oliver Lyle) which traded until circa 1935, although by 1933 he was focussed on his new Railton marque.

Boat manufacture

After achieving some fame as a designer of sporty motor cars he turned his attention to motor boats. The Fairmile Engineering Company took its name from Macklin's country estate, Cobham Fairmile in Surrey, where he used the garage for manufacturing and assembly. In 1939, inspired by an article on the need for small boats for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

he founded

for the design and serial manufacture of small naval boats for the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

. Since the company did not have the necessary capital to meet the Admiralty needs it became a semi-independent department of the Admiralty coordinating the supply of parts to build the vessels at boatyards around the country. For the loss of his company Noel was paid a large sum and given a salary. Fairmile boats provided the Royal Navy with motor boats, gun boats and

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

s throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

WW2 administration

As the war came to the end Macklin was made Director for the disposal of the small boats in RN service.

Family life

In March 1912 Macklin married Esmé Victoria (b. 1887), daughter of Hinton Stewart of Strathgarry, Perthshire, but they were divorced in 1919. His second marriage was to (Lucy) Leslie Cordery (1896–1980), the sister of his RNVR driver Violette Cordery. The

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

notes that Lucy's name was variously given as Leslie Lane Cordery and Leslie Cordery Lane, daughter of Henry Lane, farmer. The marriage produced two daughters and a son,

the Formula 1 Racing driver.

Honours

After the war Macklin was knighted for his war effort, although the Admiralty did not return his Cobham site which they had requisitioned.

References

* ''Noel Macklin - From Invicta & Railton to the Fairmile Boats'' by David Thirlbu ()

External links

Invicta inventor lives on

Anti submarine craft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macklin, Noel 1886 births 1946 deaths People educated at Eton College British automobile designers British Army personnel of World War I Royal Horse Artillery officers Royal Navy officers of World War I