November 3, 2010

A LIMOUSINE that allegedly belonged to Sir Winston Churchill made a guest appearance in Henley this week.*

The 1925 Rolls-Royce 20/25 limousine was outside the Kenton Theatre to greet people who had come to hear a lecture on the Enigma machine.

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The Enigma was the portable encryption device used by the Germans during the Second World War and an example was on display in the foyer of the New Street theatre.

The Rolls-Royce was once owned by Frank Jenner, who had a taxi business in Westerham, Kent, and one of his regular customers was Sir Winston, who lived at nearby Chartwell.

The car is currently owned by Alan Dyson, who runs a vintage car company at Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford.

He said: “Sir Winston bought the car but it was registered in Mr Jenner’s name as the prime minister did not wish to appear ostentatious driving around in a Rolls-Royce.”

Mr Jenner continued to chauffeur Sir Winston to and from Downing Street until his retirement in 1964.

Mr Dyson, who bought the car in 1998 and restored it, hires it out for weddings and special occasions.

The lecture, called Keeping Secrets? The Story Of Enigma, was given by engineer and publisher Mark Baldwin. He explained the working of the German machine and how the Poles, and later the British, managed to crack the huge variety of ciphers it produced.

Desmond Shawe-Taylor, surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, will give a lecture at the Kenton called The Masterpieces Of Windsor Castle on Monday, November 29 at 8pm.

Read the complete article here at the Henley Standard

©Henley Standard

*Comment by the Churchill Centre and Museum: From time to time we hear of a car purportedly owned by Churchill, only to find that he rode in it a few times, maybe. Having consulted family and historical sources, we offer the following:

Assuming its registration papers track this Rolls-Royce 20/25 to Westerham liveryman Frank Jenner, it is quite possible that the car once carried Churchill. But there is no way to prove that Churchill secretly owned the car and registered it in Jenner’s name to disguise the fact that he owned a Rolls. (If he feared appearing ostentatious, why would he want to be seen in it?)

It is likely that Churchill was a regular passenger. Jenner’s cars did shuttle guests and packages back and forth between Westerham and Chartwell, and took Mary Churchill to school in Limpsfield, about six miles away. But the Churchills had their own chauffeur (or a government car and driver when WSC was in office), and used Jenner only in the absence of their usual transportation.

Nor does the 1925 car have any association with Enigma or World War II. Churchill’s friends provided him with a Daimler in 1932, and during the war he was usually chauffeured in government Humbers.