nobility

Howey Place, Howey Court, Howey House, Howey Hotel, Presgrave House, Capitol Theatre and Manchester Unity Building come down to this vanished family.

On the road to Moscow in 1958. Johnie drove his South Australian registered 'Mk1' Jaguar.

A picnic break with his South Australian registered Mk2 and a friend's Porsche.

For his tilt at the 1939 Monte Carlo Rally Johnie stands with his V12 Lagonda at the dock in England prior to shipping.

He kept the same car for many years and here watches one of his numerous locomotives about to pass. Only 189 of these Lagondas were built between 1938 and 1940.

Melbourne. His older brother John Werge Howey arrived there in 1835the year 'founded' by John Batman! Tragically, Hugh, was drowned at sea with all of his young family sailing from Sydney. He was a mere 34 years old, and a year before purchased five blocks at the first land sales held in Melbourne. His main lot - 100 metres by 75 metres, was bounded by remote Collins and Swanston Streets - but became the heart of the CBD. He also bought land in William Street.

With gold making the State of Victoria exceedingly prosperous, by the mid1880s Melbourne was the richest city in the world next to London. From a cost of £140 for the four blocks, they were valued in 1888 by the Argus newspaper at £1,139,500 - an increase of 10,000 fold!

So a lack of money was never an issue for Johnie, but it is not difficult to see the responsibilities were a heavy burden which brought him and his wife Gladys little relief. He owned astounding cars including C-Type '004/001', Lagondas, XK120 and '150s in both Australia and the UK, founded his own train line, raced at Brooklands and in three Monte Carlo Rallies.

He mixed with royalty and the most famous with ease, but was happiest working on his immensely expensive railway or modifying his exotic cars. He was a mentor to 'Jumbo' Goddard who went to Eton with Johnie's only son. Jumbo owned equally exotic Jaguars he modified in Johnie's style. Both had a passion for Australia, and spent large swathes of time there. After taking control of the family properties on his 21st birthday in 1907, Johnie sailed to Melbourne four times by 1925. For four years during WW1 when he was shot down and became a German POW.

Younger brother Richard was killed hill climbing a Ballot in France in 1926, and Johnie's mentor, John Parry-Thomas, to whom he was to be apprenticed, was killed during a speed run in Wales in 1927.

His closest friend, Count Louis Zborowski, raced powerful cars too and, likewise, had a passion for miniature steam railways. In what was announced as his last race, the Count died at Monza in 1924 at just 29. His mother was an Astor and owned swathes of New York. The pair had begun to build a commercial miniature railway, so Johnie continued with it as a tribute to him.

Johnie's his marriage was unconventional and not particularly close, especially after early 1943 when their only son, Lieutenant Anthony, a zoologist and adventurer, was killed along with 17 others. He was piloting a Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm at Inverness in Scotland. The bomber went out of control, crashed into the sea, and nothing was found. 'Tony' gained his flying licence in 1936 and was 30 when he died. His parents never recovered, and sister Gloria died at 49 an alcoholic widow. She was disowned despite her and Tony having been gifted significant portions of the Melbourne estate. Gloria's War hero husband died at just 43.

Johnie quit serious racing following the death of his brother, but still entered his red supercharged Mercedes-Benz

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'Sparrow', is the exact Handley Page aircraft Anthony Howey was piloting when it went out of control and crashed. All 18 personnel were killed. 100 were built, 10 crashed and 41 people were killed.

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Howey's granddaughter Philippa in Jumbo's OKV1, 1957.

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Typical of Manchester Unity extravagance - the doors to the lifts.

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Johnie

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A bit of fun checking train arrivals.

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SSK in the 1930 'Monte', followed by a factoryprepared S.S. Jaguar in the 1937 event and then his V12 Lagonda in 1939. He bought the Count's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1, a Mercedes-Benz powered by a 23 litre Maybach engine, along with Chitty 3. He owned houses in London's ultra-posh Belgravia and Sunningdale. Johnie competed in 61 events at Brooklands between 1923 and '29, winning eight and setting 10-Mile World Records averaging 116.4 mph. But he set his focus on the railway, and declared it must be at least seven miles long and flat. It would be a paying venture (in theory), and connect with the main line service in Kent.

In a prelude to its 1927 opening, Johnie took the Duke of York (later King George VI) for a two mile long ride.

The system became a dual track operation in 1928, and Johnie built a oneperson 'motor roller skate', powered by a JAP engine. He completed an 8.5 mile long trip in 8.5 minutes, and topped over 70 mph!!

Then his precious 1914 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was converted into a locomotive which, following a crash, was replaced by a similar car from Australia.

He went to New Zealand with Jumbo to celebrate Bentleys, and in the mid1950s Johnie and Gladys seriously contemplated relocating to Melbourne. They got through a socialite stage of their lives in the

1920s only to become almost reclusive. Jumbo's colour images, which we have published, showing C-Type XKC001/ 004 when it was owned by Johnie are the only ones known. There is less than a handful in black and white. They had a huge staff running their businesses in Australia, and slipped in and out unnoticed on dozens of occasions.

They kept a house in Melbourne and South Australia, and had a fleet of Jaguars there including a MkVII, XK150, a 3.4 Litre ('Mk1') and Mk2 which wore the South Australian plates '2234'. Johnie shipped the Mk1 to England when he, grand daughter Philippa and Jumbo drove to Moscow in 1958 as part of the celebrations for British European Airway's new run between London to Moscow. He built iconic buildings in Melbourne, including the spectacular, and extravagantly art deco Manchester Unity skyscraper opposite the Town Hall. It boasts the first escalator in the city - 60,000 rode it on the first day. He created the first air conditioned building in Melbourne and the first with an iron frame. We have attempted to contact Melbourne-born Philippa in England, but she too flies beneath the radar. Johnie, Gladys and Jumbo led the 'good life' without fuss. They were the last in their line who prospered in Australia, and blazed a pioneering trail which hasn't been documented in detailuntil right now.

We revealed the first C-type built still survives. NoW the oWNer of the body from le maNs iN 1951 tells hoW he disCovered aNd restored it.

Words - roy Palmer - les. HugHes

Images - roy Palmer - Jaguar magazIne sPecIal t Hanks to scott sHearman oWner of WaPPenbury Hall