Lambrook Alumni Magazine - Autumn 2019

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The Lambrookian - Issue 2 100 Years of Bentley – the Bentley brothers at Lambrook One hundred years ago, two Old Lambrookians were instrumental in establishing a firm which swiftly became renowned world-wide for excellence in engineering and for the highest achievements in competitive motor sport. There were only sixty boys in residence, all full boarders, but W.O. was never gregarious in temperament and remained rather aloof – a shy, quiet child who preferred independence. He had no special friends, nor any particular enemies, but did fight back against bullies and became a champion of the underdog. W.O. had seen his first cricket match at Lord’s during the summer before joining Lambrook, and from then on it became his passion. The fixture was between the M.C.C. and Yorkshire which, given the Bentley family heritage, was naturally the Today, their brand is still recognised for its elegance of design and remains synonymous with luxury. Furthermore, it continues to bear the family name of its distinguished founding brothers: Horace Millner Bentley and Walter Owen Bentley. The centenary of Bentley Motors Limited was celebrated this summer on Wednesday10th July, the company having been born in 1919 out of an earlier enterprise, Bentley and Bentley, which the two siblings had started in early 1912. These two Past Pupils, usually known more simply as H.M. and W.O., were the youngest of six brothers, all of whom attended Lambrook at the end of the 19th century. With three sisters in the family too, the Bentleys were a large household, originally of Yorkshire descent, and their home was in London near Regent’s Park. Born on 16th September 1888, Walter (as his parents always called him) was ten years old when he boarded the train to join Horace, three years his senior and already in his final year at Lambrook. Incidentally, 1898 also saw another significant arrival in the form of Orchard House, built that year as a hostel for the masters. 1934 - Drawing of the thatched Cricket Pavilion 14
100 YEARS OF BENTLEY The Lambrookian - Issue 2 Given the pleasure that W.O. derived from perfecting photographic techniques with complex gadgets, as well as from cycling on the quite advanced machines of the day, perhaps it is little surprise that Physics and Chemistry were the subjects that he enjoyed most. By his own account, though, he was a slow learner whose logical mind needed to understand each step of a process before moving on to the next. 1901: Whole School Photo county to which he swore his undying allegiance. At Lambrook, games of Cricket were played on four days every week during the summer and W.O.’s prowess developed from his first season. Nets were also available and the coaching was clearly effective – by the age of twelve he was already opening the batting for the 1st XI, scoring 79 not out against Park House School in Reading. Perhaps surprisingly, given this achievement, Sport never really came naturally to W.O. and he knew that he had to work hard in 1902: Whole School Photo order to succeed. Nevertheless, he was fully prepared to dedicate the necessary effort and duly reaped the rewards, not only in Cricket but also in Fives – winning the Singles Cup during his final year. If there was one home pursuit which W.O. really missed at school, it was Cycling. As a nine-year-old he had saved enough pocket money to buy a second-hand bicycle of his own (with a contribution from his mother) but pupils at Lambrook only went out for matches and organised walks. On Sundays they also marched to church at St Mary’s Winkfield, wearing top hats, and once a year to the horse races at Ascot. Claiming that his academic standard was too poor, W.O. felt that he did not deserve the award of a place at Clifton College in 1902 and that luck had been on his side. All five of his elder brothers had transferred there previously, and he may well have had the influence of E. D. Mansfield to thank too – the Lambrook Headmaster had originally held a post at Clifton before moving to Winkfield Row in 1883. Already nicknamed ‘the Bun’ on account of his shape and black-coloured eyes, W.O. arrived at the College to find H.M. well established as second-in-command at Tait’s, the house of choice for every Bentley brother. The Clifton career followed a very similar trajectory to that of his former life at Lambrook, including an early introduction to informal boxing, following a familial piece of advice from his elder sibling. Fives remained a favourite activity but it was Cricket, of all the sports, at which W.O. continued to excel. He was selected for the house team in his second year and during the 1905 summer season he opened the batting, just as he had done at Lambrook, scoring the second highest total of runs – ‘a very consistent batsman, who watches the ball well’. Since childhood, one of W.O.’s obsessions had been the railways with their steam engines and so, duly honouring his loyalty to Yorkshire, it was to Doncaster that he travelled in the autumn of 1905 – fulfilling his dreams by becoming an apprentice engineer at the Great Northern Railway locomotive works. An extended version of the article can be found here: https://www.lambrookschool.co. uk/w-o-bentley-at-lambrook/ Author: John Kimbell, School Archivist 15
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Lambrook Alumni Magazine - Autumn 2019

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