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105 and lapping at 107.80 mph. In a similar race at
Brooklands in the autumn of the following year, she came second, lapping at 113.97 mph. After this particular race, in excitement she made several more very fast laps of the track, not stopping until a flagman stepped out in front of her 2.6-litre
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racing and became a major attraction. Then, in April 1928, on the opening of the new Leeds (Post Hill) speedway track, where she took part in a couple of races she changed course, favouring this latest form of motorcycling sports, which was very popular, more spectacular and it paid better. Already
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which had led to the end of the Royal Irish
Constabulary, her father's employer. Her mother was terminally ill and Taylour looked after her and the home until her mother died in 1925. She had learned to drive a car at the age of 12 and learned how to ride a motorcycle in her new home. Following her
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she won against the local champion Reg West. She became popular with racing promoters as she could attract crowds of over 30,000 people to watch her race. Her popularity led to her appearing on cigarette cards, wearing scarlet racing leathers emblazoned with an Irish flag, and appearing on radio
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Taylour became the only leading woman driver from pre-war days to resume racing after the war, when she returned to racing on circuits around the world, although her appearances became fewer. Usually, however, she was the only woman to take part. Her fascist affiliations were omitted from her
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In 1928 she spent ÂŖ500 of her own money to travel to race in
Australia and New Zealand. She was the first rider from Europe to compete in Australia and New Zealand, ending her first race in Australia equalling the track record and beating Western Australia champion Sig Schlam. In
289:. Her racing clothes were a jumper and a tweed skirt, according to a newspaper report of the event. Taylour said, that the day she met a man who was more difficult to handle than a racing car, she would probably give up racing. She remained unmarried.
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Webb) (1868/9â1925) and
Herbert Fetherstonhaugh Taylour (1868/9â1952), a former colonel in the British army. Her family was well off by the standards of the time: her father was a district inspector in the
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and they lived at
Oxmanton Hall in the centre of Birr. One of her maternal aunts, Hilda Webb, was an active suffragette and a young Fay was taken to visit her when she was imprisoned in
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travelling the world, she became a familiar speedway competitor and a big attraction for the crowds in both
England and Australia. One of her main racing rivals was Yorkshire woman
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332:, as a danger to the state. She was held without trial, first at Holloway gaol, where her aunt had once been imprisoned for suffragette activities, then in 1942 in a camp on the
271:. For this she was fined and disqualified. Taylour went to India in 1931 where she won her first major car race, setting a new course record for the Calcutta to Ranchi event.
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shows. Her motorcycle racing career came to an end when women were banned from competing in speedway, in the UK and then in
Australia and New Zealand.
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Fay
Taylour died from a stroke at the Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, on 2 August 1983. She left her body to medical research.
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mother's death, she used the prize money she had earned in school - a ÂŖ50 prize for housecraft - to buy her first motorcycles.
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143:. After the war, she managed to enter some races in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Australia and took up midget car racing in
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336:. She was released in 1943 on the condition that she live in neutral Eire, where she continued to be monitored by MI5.
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She raced in
Ireland, England, Italy and Sweden. She also raced in the United States. Her last major race before the
241:, against whom she regularly raced in hill climbs, grass tracks and, towards the end of the 1928 season, speedway.
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Trumpf. She was the only woman competitor in the race, as she had been when she drove a works Aston Martin in the
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After leaving college, Taylour went to
England and started to race motorcycles. During the 1920s, she took up
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and many other members of the party she was interned in Britain between 1 June 1940 and 5 October 1943 under
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In 1934, she came home to Ireland and won the Leinster Trophy road race, in a front wheel drive
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457:"Taylour, Helen Frances [Fay] (1904â1983), racing motorist and political activist"
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Stephen M. Cullen, 'Fay Taylour: a dangerous woman in sport and politics' (2012)
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626:"Hurrah for the Blackshirts" Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars
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She switched to racing cars in 1931. Competing in a women's handicap race at
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Fanatical Fay Taylour; Her Sporting & Political Life at Speed, 1904â1983
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racing on dirt tracks. During the 1950s, she was still racing with a 500 cc
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gaol. Her uncle maternal George Webb, was a mathematician and fellow of
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Stephen M. Cullen, 'Taylour, Helen Frances (1904â1983)' (2013,
541:"Taylour, Frances Helen ('Fay') | Dictionary of Irish Biography"
285:. She also took part in 1934 in the Craigantlet hill climb in
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now stands. She left school in 1922 and joined her family in
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Female racing ace hoarded pictures of Hitler during wartime
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Taylour was educated at Miss Fletcher's boarding school in
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511:"Miss Hilda Webb / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources"
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After retirement in the late 1950s, she went to live at
415:"Brooklands Museum: Tales from Brooklands: Fay Taylour"
640:"Fay Taylour: a dangerous woman in sport and politics"
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155:Helen Frances Taylour, known as Fay, was born in
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466:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
312:In the late 1930s, she became a follower of
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119:(5 April 1904 â 2 August 1983), known as
724:Article about her political affiliation
691:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
463:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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207:, then in Earlsfort Terrace, where the
759:Sportspeople from Birr, County Offaly
590:Fay Taylour. ; Queen of Speedway
147:until she retired in the late 1950s.
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127:in the late 1920s and a champion
360:at major British circuits like
135:in 1931. She was interned as a
89:Herbert Fetherstonhaugh Taylour
593:. Panther Publishing Limited.
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799:Irish prisoners and detainees
94:Helen Allardice Webb (mother)
656:10.1080/09612025.2012.657887
515:www.suffrageresources.org.uk
497:UK public library membership
51:Birr, County Offaly, Ireland
789:Irish female racing drivers
454:Cullen, Stephen M. (2013).
308:Second World War internment
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804:Expatriate speedway riders
734:The 500 Owners Association
566:"Miss Eva â Speedwaylife"
324:. Like Mosley, his wife,
322:British Union of Fascists
262:in the autumn, driving a
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419:www.brooklandsmuseum.com
302:South African Grand Prix
68:Dorset County Hospital,
779:Irish motorcycle racers
717:12 October 2012 at the
628:, Pimlico, 2006, p. 142
340:Post war and later life
131:rider. She switched to
699:Women's History Review
644:Women's History Review
587:Belton, Brian (2003).
472:10.1093/ref:odnb/97894
348:In 1949, she moved to
330:Defence Regulation 18B
320:leader and joined the
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178:Trinity College Dublin
163:, to Helen Allardice (
794:Irish speedway riders
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29:Personal information
712:Irish Times article
682:Stephen M. Cullen,
224:Motorcycling career
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702:, 21 (2), 211-232
197:Fitzwilliam Square
774:Irish sportswomen
600:978-0-9547912-4-7
495:(Subscription or
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568:(in Danish)
366:Silverstone
334:Isle of Man
296:was with a
287:County Down
139:during the
133:racing cars
117:Fay Taylour
23:Fay Taylour
743:Categories
545:www.dib.ie
499:required.)
394:References
354:midget car
269:Alfa Romeo
260:Brooklands
254:Car racing
234:grasstrack
192:. Dublin.
190:Stillorgan
151:Early life
121:Flying Fay
70:Dorchester
39:Flying Fay
672:154220406
664:0961-2025
609:744530318
550:2 October
520:2 October
381:Blandford
350:Hollywood
247:Melbourne
213:Berkshire
186:Ella Webb
76:, England
715:Archived
174:Holloway
129:speedway
91:(father)
35:Nickname
572:24 June
487:3 April
424:3 April
318:fascist
280:Italian
145:America
137:fascist
82:Parents
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385:Dorset
358:Cooper
267:Monza
264:Talbot
201:Dublin
74:Dorset
668:S2CID
298:Riley
276:Adler
107:Sport
102:Sport
660:ISSN
605:OCLC
595:ISBN
574:2020
552:2022
522:2022
489:2022
476:ISBN
426:2022
372:and
364:and
232:and
157:Birr
58:Died
44:Born
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184:Dr
170:RIC
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