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A Deaf Chauffeur circa 1920

By H Dominic W Stiles, on 30 May 2014

[3/2/2016 Updated]

Many thanks to Peter for helping identify the picture.

This picture by an unknown (deaf) photographer – probably one of the four we have mentioned here before – is from circa 1920.  Now the numberplate seems clear, and as Peter comments below, the vehicle is of a type originally used by the War Department in 1914-18, and the plate by the London County Council from 1920.   We thought it was a bus or a perhaps a charabanc.  It has headlamps but no obvious headlights.  What is the ‘Deaf Chauffeur’, as the picture is entitled, actually doing?  Is it just a pose, pretending to be doing something – which is what photographers so often do (it is not the camera which lies, but the cameraman!)…

I think this is from a deaf club or social group’s day trip.

MechanicThanks again to our Commer Car fan for helping pin this down.

http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/18th-november-1919/23/the-commer-car-programme-for-1920

One Response to “A Deaf Chauffeur circa 1920”

  • 1
    Peter Daniels, Salisbury UK wrote on 2 February 2016:

    This particular commercial vehicle is a Commercar ‘RC’ type, originally an army lorry used by the War Department during the Great War (1914-1918). The number plate letters ‘XA’ were kept as a reserved vehicle registration mark by London County Council, issued from January 1920, and was not associated with Kirkcaldy at that time. However the letters XA were used to register vehicles in Kirkcaldy from 1964 to 1974 but with a year suffix letter added. My name is Peter Daniels, an archivist of material featuring Commer (originally Commercar) commercial vehicles. I’ve not seen this photograph before, very nice!