D'Arcy Baker

D'Arcy Richard Baker (1877-1932) was a British businessman and racing driver.

Baker was managing director of Fiat in the UK.[1][2]

In the early 1900s he extensively renovated Hedsor House, a mansion he owned in Hedsor, Buckinghamshire, but the expense led to his bankruptcy, and on his death his estate passed to his bankers, and then to the Shepherd family in 1934.[1][3]

In 1908, at Brooklands, Frank Newton drove a 90hp Napier motor car for its Australian owner Selwyn Edge, who had a £500 bet with Baker that his car could go faster than Felice Nazzaro's Fiat, but the Napier suffered from mechanical trouble.[4][5]

In 1911, he was aged 33, living at 18 Clarges Street, Mayfair, single, with two servants, and had one visitor, a Royal Navy officer, Oscar Valentin de Satge, son of Oscar de Satge.[6][7]

He died in 1932 in the Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire, and his obituary was published on 15 March 1932 in the Gloucestershire Echo.[8][9]

References
  1. Powell, Rosalind (6 November 2017). "The family home where George Clooney films, Mark Ronson parties and the drawing room is a makeshift Cabinet Office". Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  2. "Correspondence. - 11th April 1907 - The Commercial Motor Archive". archive.commercialmotor.com. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  3. "Are you unwittingly driving a Formula 1 inspired car?". hedsor.com. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  4. Tanya A. Bailey (15 May 2014). The First American Grand Prix: The Savannah Auto Races, 1908-1911. McFarland. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0-7864-7697-8. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  5. Nye, Doug (1 June 2007). "A different way of racing - and the foreigners invade". Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  6. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW2T-59C
  7. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89N8-QNZG?i=87&cc=2228170
  8. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVH6-WP7L
  9. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q26M-BFGH


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.