The British Motor Boat Club silver trophy won by Napier II, 1903

The British Motor Boat Club silver trophy won by Napier II, 1903. This large bowl is of circular form with a central frieze inscribed ‘Presented to British Motor Club by Mr Edward Kenealy’ on one side and ‘Won by Napier II J Scott Montagu, Lionel de Rothschild’ on the other.  It has two scrolled handles and a stepped foot and is assayed for William Mammatt & Son, Sheffield, 1903.

Provenance: Lionel de Rothschild and J Scott Montagu £2,850

Edmund de Rothschild

Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, OBE (1882 – 1942) was part of the famous de Rothschild banking family.  However, he described himself as ‘a banker by hobby – a gardener by profession’ and is best remembered as the creator of Exbury Gardens in the New Forest, Hampshire. In 1910, he was elected to the House of Commons and co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews in 1917.  His eldest child, Rosemary (1913–2013), was the first wife of Major Hon Denis Gomer Berry. 

John Scott Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, (1866-1929) was an MP who campaigned worked tirelessly to promote motoring.  He was the first to drive a car into the yard of the House of Commons, was instrumental in the introduction of vehicle registration plates and launched the weekly journal: The Car Illustrated subtitled A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea and Air.  His son Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron, founded the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu in his memory.