Major's Garage

When I was young, I remember my grandma telling me about her own childhood, and how the appearance of a car in the neighbourhood was always a big event.  It seems alien to us now, with several cars per household and vehicles clogging up every artery of the road network, that there was ever such a time, when the roads were peaceful, and driving was an activity of pleasure and leisure.  I can only imagine Newton Abbot on a soporific 1920s morning - beach-goers waiting at the railway station for a locomotive to Torquay, children skipping in Courtney Park, the gentle pulse of the market town - shattered suddenly by the hum of an Austin 7.  And if that did happen in this corner of town, the chances are that the driver of this iconic vehicle would pull in for a refill at Major's Garage.

Cecil Major - my great-grandfather - developed a career which saw a lifelong relationship with motoring.  By the age of 18, he began working as a motor engineer and chauffeur in the employ of Sydney Williams, who owned a garage on Quay Road, Newton Abbot.  The mechanical knowledge he gained in this role led him into the First World War, where he served in the Royal Army Service Corps (ASC) in France, between 1915 and 1918.  The ASC were responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, the supply of food, water, fuel and domestic material, and the supply of technical and military equipment.

Cecil in his ASC uniform

Returning from the war, Cecil was able to establish his own garage in Oak Place, Newton Abbot, where he specialised in repairs and overhauls, and produced the beautiful business card seen below, in which Cecil highlighted his promise of the best possible service.  He was then approached by Mr Hendy, the landlord of a nearby property on Queen Street, and asked to start a new garage, a few doors up from the town's railway station.  Alterations were made to the property behind the house at 157 Queen Street to create Major's Garage, and Cecil arranged with local petrol companies to install the hand pumps and petrol tanks.  Major's Garage was also known around the town as Station Garage.  My grandma always said how hard Cecil worked, and how he put in long hours to ensure the business was a success.  

Business card from Cecil's first garage at Oak Place, Newton Abbot

Cecil worked his garage, and the family lived in the upstairs building, for 20 years, during which time the re-alignment of street numbers meant that the property was re-numbered 177-79 Queen Street.  The property was leased under "Queen Anne's Bounty," an historic scheme offering assistance to poorer living.  This came to an end in 1946, and due to his age - and the fact that his son Derek seemed unlikely to pursue a career in the same business - Cecil declined the opportunity to purchase the property.  When the lease ended, a Mr Cecil Jackson and a Mr Albert Carpenter paid Cecil for the goodwill of the business of Major's Garage, the electric petrol pumps, oil cabinets, electric battery charger, tools and equipment, and also paid his legal costs in connection with the sale.  The money was enough for the family to buy the house at 8 St Michael's Road in Decoy, Newton Abbot.

Cecil at the pumps with his son Derek - my grandfather - in the car.  c.1935

Major's Garage was marked on the OS maps of the time

Thus ended the family's connection with garage work and mechanics.  After Cecil had sold the business, it became Ted's Garage for many years, before being demolished.  The site is now home to flats and a sewing shop, betraying nothing of its automotive history.