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Stanley Spooner
Born20 November 1856
Rosherville, Northfleet, Kent, England[1][2]
DiedApril 3, 1940(1940-04-03) (aged 83)
University College Hospital, London, England[3]
EducationKing's College London [4]
OccupationsJournalist, magazine editor, publisher, stockbroker, accountant
Known forFounding Flight magazine and The Automotor Journal[5]
Parent(s)Frederick William Spooner (father)
Sarah Ann Janes (mother)[6]

Stanley Spooner (20 November 1856[1][7][8] – 3 April 1940[9][10]) was an English editor and journalist who played a pioneering role in early British transport media. In 1896 he founded and edited The Automotor And Horseless Vehicle Journal,[10] which shortened its title to The Automotor Journal, in April 1902.[11] Recognizing the rapid dawn of aviation, Spooner established Flight, (now Flight International) in January 1909, creating the world's first weekly magazine dedicated to aeronautics.[12] After the success of Flight, his Automotor Journal was renamed The Auto. Spooner’s lifelong contributions to the automotive and aviation industries were formally recognized decades later when he was made a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers, on 15 January 1929. This automatically granted him the title of Freeman of the City of London.[13][note 1]

Family and early life

[edit]

Spooner was born at Campbell Lodge, in Rosherville, Northfleet, Kent, on 20 November 1856, [8][13][1] and his birth was registered on 1 January 1857.[7] He was the youngest son of Frederick William Spooner, an accountant, and his wife Sarah Ann (formerly Janes).[7][6][15] Spooner had four sisters, three brothers, and one half-brother. His older half-brother was born in Hoxton, and was named Frederick William.[16]

His father was a Freemason, who in 1854 was elected as the Worshipful Master of Enoch Lodge (No.11).[17] Spooner would later join the fraternity himself.[18] Frederick was an auditor and accountant of various different companies. Spooner initially followed in his father's footsteps, working as an accountant before establishing himself as a stockbroker.[19][20][18]

Frederick William Spooner had moved his family to Gravesend by October 1863. Catherine Sarah Spooner, his oldest daughter, was married to Thomas Toller Hurst Daniell.[21] Spooner would later work with Thomas.[20]

Spooner was educated at King's College School, London, beginning his attendance as a pupil in September 1870.[22] He was enrolled at the Lower School, and remained a student into the following year,[23] achieving academic success by winning the Upper Second Class prize for the Michaelmas term in 1871,[24] and the Landscape Drawing prize during the Lent term of 1872.[25] His education was supplemented with further studies in France and Germany.[26]

He had returned to Kent by late 1873; on 2 and 3 October Spooner served as a Steward at a Bazaar held at the Assembly Rooms in Gravesend on behalf of St. James's Schools. It was opened by Lady Darnley the wife of John Bligh, 6th Earl of Darnley.[27] His father died shortly after this on 28 November 1873 in Gravesend.[28]

Career

[edit]

Early career

[edit]

At the beginning of his career Spooner worked for a short period as a cashier at the Co-operative Credit Bank, Queen Victoria Street, London.[29][30] Before 13 January 1876, he was working as a clerk for Hudswell & Co., the firm serving as accountants for the bank. On this date he was sent to the offices of stockbroker Richard Pfungst, to correct a contract note regarding a sale of Union Bank shares for a client.[31] The bank collapsed, and on 5 February 1876, Spooner was called as a formal witness at the Mansion House, London during the high-profile fraud trial of the bank's manager, Richard Banner Oakley. Oakley was subsequently convicted of obtaining money and securities under false pretences.[19]

He became a Freemason and was initiated into the Chiltern Lodge (No. 1470) on 21 December 1880, at which time his occupation was recorded as an accountant.[18] By the 1881 Census, Spooner was working as a newspaper advertising manager based at Little Piazza, Tavistock Chambers.[32] When the Constitutional Club was formed in 1883, he was one of its original members.[2] In 1889, he joined the Anglo-American Lodge (No. 2191).[33] By January 1890, he was actively associated with individuals in the publishing sector, serving on a committee that presented a testimonial to Thomas Ward, the founder and managing director of the London Music Publishing Company.[34]

Spooner was admitted as a member of the London Stock Exchange on 24 March 1890.[35] Initially working as a clerk, he became a stockbroker and junior partner of Hurst, Daniell, Spooner & Co. in April 1891, a firm run by his brother-in-law, Thomas Toller Hurst Daniell.[20] On 15 May 1891, it was reported in the London Evening Standard that they were declared defaulters upon the stock exchange. This was caused after George James, a stockbroker from Southport for whom the firm acted as agents, absconded after failing to pay losses made on his account.[36] James had misappropriated £70,000 and was subsequently sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Liverpool assizes on 28 July 1891.[37]

Despite this financial setback, Spooner maintained his standing within London's prominent social and entertainment networks. On 15 August 1893, he was among those present at the Tivoli Theatre for a ceremony presenting a framed portrait, painted by Joseph Mordecai, to the notable music hall manager Charles Morton on the occasion of Morton's 74th birthday.[38] Following the death of the previous Worshipful Master, Joseph Potter, Spooner was installed into the chair as Worshipful Master of the Cricklewood Lodge on 18 October 1893.[39]

The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal

[edit]

By mid-1896, Spooner was associated with the publishing and advertising firm F. King & Co.[40] He represented the company publicly on 14 July 1896 at the Music Hall Sports event, where he personally distributed a prize on behalf of the firm.[41] A few months later, on 15 October 1896, a monthly journal created by Spooner, titled The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal, went on sale for sixpence.[42][43] It was published by the company at its offices in St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross,[note 2] and Spooner had become the company's managing director by May 1897.[45]

The inaugural issue included a portrait and biography of Sir David Salomons, alongside coverage of the 1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris Automobile race.[42] From its second issue, the journal carried the subtitle "A Record and Review of Applied Automatic Locomotion".[46] This went on sale three days after the commencement of the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896, which Spooner viewed as ridding the British motor car industry of absurd regulations. It included an article celebrating the legal liberation of the road as "Emancipation Day" and reported on the inaugural London-to-Brighton run that marked the occasion.[47]

In February 1897 Spooner denounced promoter Henry John Lawson's British Motor Syndicate enterprise as an overcapitalised "fiasco" built on a policy of "bluff". He refuted the syndicate's claims of holding all "master patents" for motor carriages in the country, revealing that they did not possess any. Spooner viewed their aggressive patent litigation against Charles Rolls as a hollow marketing stunt designed to fleece the public, and warned that the reputation of the genuine engineering industry was threatened by deceptive corporate manoeuvres like this.[48]

Over the years, the publication featured technical drawings, diagrams, book reviews, and reports on early automated transport. It also provided comprehensive updates on automobile legislation and motor club activities.

A regular Correspondence section was established to print letters from the public, which Spooner answered in subsequent editions.[49] He later adapted this interactive format for his subsequent publication, Flight magazine.[50]

The title of the journal was shortened to The Automotor Journal in April 1902.[51] It was sold weekly from 19 April 1902, and the price was reduced to twopence.[52][53][54]Around this time, the publication also introduced a dedicated Aeronautics subsection to document early achievements in flight.[10][12]

The journal consistently covered aviation milestones alongside automotive news until the launch of Flight magazine. In May 1903, it featured Alberto Santos-Dumont and his airship No. 9,[55] followed that September by a report on the Wright brothers' experiments.[56] Coverage expanded as aviation progressed; an October 1906 entry detailed Santos-Dumont's historic flight at Bagatelle in the 14-bis biplane,[57] and a January 1908 issue recorded Henri Farman winning the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize at Issy, France.[58] By April 1908, the journal published official technical diagrams of the Wright brothers' patented aeroplane design.[59] Spooner remained as editor of The Automotor Journal until 1931.[60]

Views on early automotive propulsion

[edit]

As an automotive editor and journalist, Spooner often evaluated different propulsion methods during the transition from horse-drawn transport. In the April 1899 issue of The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal, Spooner supported using compressed air for heavy city transit,[61] and praised the widespread use of the technology in the United States, adding that "there is a big future for compressed air, and we only wonder why so little has hitherto been attempted to utilise this form of energy for moto-vehicles."[62] As the technical challenges of utilizing compressed air for personal motor cars became apparent, Spooner's outlook shifted. In the 15 March 1900 issue, he printed an article titled "Electric Automobiles", which featured a paper by American inventor Elmer A. Sperry comparing compressed air to the electric battery. His data showed that the pistons used in air engines were "a long step backward" compared to smooth, spinning electric motors. And an electric battery could produce over four times as much power as an equally heavy compressed air tank without needing complex, heavy valves.[63] Spooner's scepticism was finalized in November 1900 following his review of the automotive exhibits at the Paris Universal Exposition in Vincennes, observing that the compressed-air cars on display exhibited "nothing of any commercial importance or of novelty", and noting that during an earlier visit to the exposition, one pneumatic vehicle had an "uncommonly noisy air compressor." This led him to conclude that such poor presentations failed to impress potential buyers.[64]

Analysing the early market for private electric cars in his 1904 contribution to Sir Alfred Harmsworth's Motors and Motor-Driving, he explained that early industry attempts to utilise them for long-distance touring and racing had largely ended. He pointed out that while early manufacturers hoped widespread charging infrastructure would allow electric cars to compete with petrol alternatives, practical experience had instead limited their use to short range urban trips. He identified it as a disadvantage, in comparison with other self-propelled vehicles, that the lead-acid batteries needed frequent recharging, were heavy, and often needed to be replaced due to their fragile nature. Furthermore, he noted that these vehicles sometimes required a level of care and occasionally highly skilled attention beyond what an average owner was typically willing or able to provide. Because of this, Spooner concluded that the electric vehicle was a luxury restricted either to rural owners with private electric-lighting plants, or to urban residents with access to specialized city charging depots. Within this urban sphere, however, he praised them as an ideal "town carriage" due to their "fool-proof" operation, lack of vibration, and near-silent, odourless mechanics. While acknowledging that their £500 annual fixed tariff was considered high by early motorists, he indicated that this cost was equivalent to maintaining a two-horse carriage in London. Spooner predicted steady, incremental improvements to battery technology.[65]

In a May 1906, publication of The Bystander, he evaluated electric, steam, and petrol power sources using the heavy motor-omnibus sector as a benchmark to test each system's durability, and concluded that petrol and advanced steam were vastly superior to electric options. Spooner dismissed electric propulsion generally, and noted that there had been no far-reaching improvements in rechargeable batteries for a decade. This left battery life too short and operating costs unsustainably high compared to petrol. Conversely, he praised the development of the "flash" type boiler systems engineered by the White Steam Car Company and British engineer Thomas Clarkson, finding that steam compared highly favourably with petrol variants in operating efficiency. While acknowledging that contemporary petrol engines produced odour, and were noisy, he anticipated that these engineering defects were short-term and would soon be overcome through advanced lubrication systems and superior construction.[66]

When the London Electrobus Company launched its prospectus and appealed for share applicants, Spooner initiated a public campaign opposing the venture due to the high costs of battery recharging and maintenance in comparison to running costs for petrol buses. He argued that these costs had been underestimated in the prospectus, viewed the operation of electrically-propelled buses as a commercial impossibility, and predicted the company's failure.[67][68] Enabled by his background as an accountant, Spooner publicly dismantled a financial challenge from Edward Cunliffe-Owen (Secretary of the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company) by utilising audited data from The Electromobile Company, London's largest electric vehicle operator, to prove the financial unviability of the proposed electrobus battery running costs.[68] He noted that the London Electric Cabs, and electric trams in Birmingham had previously failed as businesses, and to his knowledge, in the subsequent years there had been no radical developments in batteries which would warrant the electrobus being a success.[69] In March 1908 he praised the efficiency of their battery-swapping system, and admitted the service was popular with the public. But Spooner remained sceptical of the venture as a business model, arguing that data from a six or seven-bus trial could not be upscaled in a reliable way to a large commercial fleet, and warned that it was far too speculative for ordinary public investors.[70]

Automobile Club and early aviation ties

[edit]

Spooner was a founding member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club), having joined the organisation immediately upon its formation.[71] and served on its committee from 1900.[72][73] Through this committee, he befriended early motoring and aviation pioneers Charles Rolls, and John Moore-Brabazon.[74] When Rolls co-founded the Aero Club of Great Britain (later the Royal Aero Club) in 1901, Spooner joined as a foundational committee member, establishing close ties between the two organizations.[2] He also established a friendship with balloonist and pioneer aviator Griffith Brewer. On 8 October 1908 Brewer became the first Englishman to go up in an aeroplane.[75] This occurred when he was a passenger to Wilbur Wright at Camp d'Auvours near Le Mans, France.[76] Through Brewer, Spooner maintained a direct line of communication with the Wright brothers.[10] Brewer was a close friend of the Wrights, and also their British patent agent.[77]

Flight

[edit]

Spooner concluded that by 1908, the aviation sector had progressed enough to warrant a dedicated standalone publication. When he consulted Claude Goodman Johnson, the managing director of Rolls-Royce, Johnson strongly objected to the idea, arguing against the commercial viability of launching a journal exclusively devoted to flying. Scepticism also came from other critics. Nevertheless, Spooner was undeterred and personally funded the magazine's inception, which during its first few years endured a challenging financial period.[10] To establish legal copyright ahead of its launch as an independent weekly publication, the aeronautical sections of The Automotor Journal were bound inside Flight covers for eight weeks starting in November 1908.[78][12] On 2 January 1909 the first issue of Flight went on sale.[12][79] It was the official journal of the Aero Club of the United Kingdom.[80] Spooner was on that club's committee in 1909. The inaugural front cover featured a photograph of John Moore-Brabazon piloting his aeroplane during his flights at Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, on 3 December 1908. Beneath the main title, the cover carried the sub-heading "A Second Englishman Flies".[81] The magazine credited Henri Farman as being the first Englishman to fly a heavier-than-air machine.[79] Henri was born in France to English parents. He became a French citizen in 1937.[82]

The first letter printed in Flight's Correspondence section was from aeronautical pioneer Frederick W. Lanchester, who objected to Spooner's editorial support for the word "aerodrome" being used to describe "a big open space for flying machines."[83] Early publications documented the formation of flying clubs in the United Kingdom, and some of their activities, such as kiting, ballooning, and model aircraft flying,[84] alongside technical developments in aviation.

In March 1916, Spooner clashed with independent MP Noel Pemberton Billing after he publicly accused the government of "murdering" British officers by deploying substandard aircraft. Spooner fiercely counter-attacked in print, repeatedly accusing Billing of adopting "yellow journalism", and describing his indictment as "the irresponsible ravings of third-rate sensational journalism rather than the measured views of a man in earnest for the welfare of his country". He claimed Billing had lost the sympathy of many men who were otherwise prepared to listen to his claims, and support the urgent calls of aviation.[85]

By 1917 the Flight offices had moved from St. Martin's Lane, to 36, Great Queen Street, opposite Freemasons' Hall, London.[81]

During his time as editor, the magazine recorded the aerial accomplishments, among others of Charles Rolls, Louis Bleriot, Roland Garros, and Charles Lindbergh.

He retired as editor of Flight in April 1934, and sold the magazine to Iliffe & Sons.[86] Spooner had already sold his magazine The Auto before this date.[10] On 18 December 1934 at 36, Great Queen Street, an Extraordinary General Meeting was held. At this meeting a special resolution was passed that the publisher F. King & Co. Ltd was to be wound up voluntarily and Spooner was appointed official liquidator for this purpose.[87]

Marriage

[edit]

Spooner married Bessey Maddox on 12 September 1907 at the Register Office, St. George Hanover Square, London. Bessey was a widow, and a daughter of John Craggs, a deceased leather merchant. [note 3][91] Bessey died in 1926, and was buried at Brookwood Cemetery on 16 September 1926.[92]

Death

[edit]

Spooner died of thrombosis at University College Hospital, London, on 3 April 1940. He was buried on 6 April 1940 at Brookwood Cemetery.[10][93][94] Probate was granted on 10 June 1940, with the value of his effects coming to £116,064, 6 shillings and 9 pence.[9] Having actively supported the scientific development of flight since joining the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain (later the Royal Aeronautical Society) during its turn-of-the-century revival era,[2] he maintained a lifelong dedication to the organization. To ensure the continuation of this work, £5,000 of his estate was bequeathed to the society to establish the Stanley Spooner Scholarship for aeronautical research.[95]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ Aviation pioneer Frederick Handley Page, Hugo Massac Buist, editor of The Autocar and Frederic Stanley Bennett (then the manager of the Nash Motor Company and vice-president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) were also made Freemen of the City and liverymen of the company on the same day.[14]
  2. ↑ The offices had moved to 44, St. Martin's Lane before 1903.[44]
  3. ↑ This address had been the premises of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland from May 1902 until it became the Royal Automobile Club in March 1907 following a royal decree by King Edward VII.[88][89][90]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "Births". The Era. 30 November 1856. p. 16. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. On the 20th inst., at Campbell-Lodge, Rosherville, next Gravesend, the wife of F. W. Spooner Esq., of a son
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sprigg, T. Stanhope; Sedorski, M. Glen (1933). "Spooner, Stanley". Who's Who in British Aviation. London: Airways Publications Ltd. Retrieved 9 June 2026 – via Grace's Guide.
  3. ↑ "Obituary: Mr. Stanley Spooner". The Aeroplane. Vol. 58. 1940. p. 505 – via Google Books. Mr. Stanley Spooner... died on April 3 in University College Hospital at the age of 84.
  4. ↑ Royle, Tony (2020). "Flight". The Flying Mathematicians of World War I. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0228003731 – via Google Books. Spooner was educated at King's College, London, and he came into aeronautics from the world of motor cars, having founded The Automotor Journal and Horseless Vehicle in 1896
  5. ↑ "Obituary: Mr. Stanley Spooner". The Aeroplane. Vol. 58. 1940. p. 505 – via Google Books. He was the founder of our contemporary Flight and its editor until 1934... His first journalistic production was The Automotor Journal, more popularly known as "The Auto."
  6. 1 2 "Deaths: Spooner". The Times. No. 48583. 6 April 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 27 May 2022 – via The Times Digital Archive. Stanley, youngest son of the late Frederick William and Sarah Ann Spooner, of "Dashwood," Gravesend, Kent
  7. 1 2 3 "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008: Stanley Spooner, 1857". FamilySearch. General Register Office, Southport, England. Retrieved 9 June 2026. Stanley Spooner, Aylesford, Kent, England, 1857 Reg Qtr 1, Volume 2A, Page 271, Line number 33
  8. 1 2 "Stanley Spooner in England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, database". 5 February 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2024 – via Family Search.
  9. 1 2 "Stanley Spooner in England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995, image". 10 January 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2024 – via Probate Search Service.gov.uk.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Stanley Spooner: Obituary". Flight. 37 (1633): 333. 11 April 1940. Retrieved 10 August 2020 – via Grace's Guide.
  11. ↑ "Lot 324 - The Automotor Journal: Description". 11 May 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via Dominic Winter Auctioneers.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Stanley Spooner (3 January 1930). "About Ourselves". Flight. 22 (1097): 10. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  13. 1 2 "Stanley Spooner in London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1930, database". 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2018 – via Ancestry.co.uk.
  14. ↑ "Motor Pioneers Made Freeman Of The City Of London". The Yorkshire Post. 16 January 1929. p. 12. Retrieved 19 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ↑ "Spooner, Stanley (1857) Mother's Maiden Surname: Janes. M Quarter, in North Aylesford Volume 02A, Page 271, from GRO Online Indexes, database". 9 September 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024 – via General Register Office.
  16. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837–2008: Frederick William Spooner, 1837". FamilySearch. General Register Office, Southport, England. 12 May 2026. Retrieved 9 June 2026. Frederick William Spooner, Shoreditch, London, England, 1837 Reg Qtr 4, Volume 2, Page 244, Line number 35
  17. ↑ "Metropolitan: Enoch Lodge (No.11)". The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 1. 1 January 1855. p. 30 – via Masonic Periodicals Online. This being the day of election for W.M., Bro. F.W. Spooner was unanimously elected to that distinguished position
  18. 1 2 3 "England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751–1921: Entry for Stanley Spooner, Chiltern Lodge, No. 1470, Folio 173". Ancestry.co.uk. United Grand Lodge of England. 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2020. Chiltern Lodge, No. 1470, fol. 173, image p. 179: Profession: Accountant. Initiated 21 Dec 1880
  19. 1 2 "The Co-Operative Credit Bank. The Charges Against Richard Banner Oakley". The Standard. 7 February 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 23 May 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  20. 1 2 3 "Money Market and City News". Morning Post. 4 April 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  21. ↑ Foster, Joseph (1885). "Daniell, Thomas Toller Hurst". Men-At-The-Bar: A Biographical Hand-List of the Members of the Various Inns of Court, Including Her Majesty's Judges, Etc. London and Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson and Viney Limited. p. 114.
  22. ↑ King's College London Calendar for 1871–1872. John W. Parker. 1871. p. 397.
  23. ↑ King's College London Calendar for 1872–1873. John W. Parker. 1872. p. 404.
  24. ↑ King's College London Calendar for 1872–1873. John W. Parker. 1872. p. 392.
  25. ↑ King's College London Calendar for 1872–1873. John W. Parker. 1872. p. 396.
  26. ↑ "1903 Bio Note: Stanley Spooner". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland. 26 February 1903. Retrieved 23 July 2018. Reprinted from the Automobile Club Journal: "Born in 1856, and educated at King's College, London, France, and Germany
  27. ↑ "The Fancy Bazaar". Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser. 27 September 1873. p. 4. Retrieved 17 September 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ↑ "Funeral of Mr. F. W. Spooner". Gravesend Journal. 6 December 1873. p. 2 – via British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 18 June 2026 (Subscription required.)
  29. ↑ "The Co-Operative Credit Bank. The Charges Against Richard Banner Oakley". The Standard. 7 February 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 18 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive. Mr. Wontner: Did you ever act as cashier? — Witness: A long time ago.
  30. ↑ "Trial of Richard Banner Oakley. (t18760808-345, 8 August 1876)". Old Bailey Proceedings Online. 9.0. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  31. ↑ "Law Intelligence: The Co-operative Credit Bank". The Review. 7 (186): 75. 9 February 1876 – via Google Books. STANLEY SPOONER, of 55, Great Percy-street, examined by Mr. Wontner: He was clerk to Messrs. Hudswell & Co., accountants, and was in the accountant's office at the bank. On the 13th of January he went to the office of Messrs. Pfungst
  32. ↑ "1881 England Census: Entry for Stanley Spooner". Ancestry.co.uk. The National Archives. 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2021. Class: RG11; Piece: 333; Folio: 29; Page: 17; GSU roll: 1341072
  33. ↑ "Anglo-American Lodge (No. 2191)". The Freemason. 1 June 1889 – via Masonic Periodicals Online. Bro. S. Spooner, 1470, was unanimously elected a joining member.
  34. ↑ "Testimonial to Thomas Ward, Esq". The Musical Times and Singing-Class Circular. Vol. 31, no. 563. 1 January 1890. p. 62. Retrieved 30 June 2026 – via Google Books.
  35. ↑ "London, England, Stock Exchange Membership Applications, 1802–1924: Entry for Stanley Spooner". Ancestry.co.uk. The London Archives. 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2018. Admission date: 24 March 1890
  36. ↑ "Money Market and News". London Evening Standard. 15 May 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  37. ↑ "A Stockbroker Sentenced To Penal Fortitude". Western Morning News. 29 July 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  38. ↑ "Presentation To Charles Morton". The Era. 19 August 1893. p. 14. Retrieved 30 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  39. ↑ "Masonic: Cricklewood Lodge". Hendon and Finchley Times. 20 October 1893. p. 5. Retrieved 30 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  40. ↑ "Music Hall Sports". Music Hall and Theatre Review. 26 June 1896. p. 9. Retrieved 30 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  41. ↑ "Music Hall Sports". The Era. 18 July 1896. p. 16. Retrieved 30 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  42. 1 2 "Men And Matters". Globe. 16 October 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  43. ↑ "Untitled". Lincolnshire Chronicle. 20 October 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive. The first number has just appeared of The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal, a sixpenny monthly paper, which, in its own words, 'anticipates the field which will doubtless soon exist for its operations.' Its originators are convinced that in the near future the auto-car industry must become one of the leading features of the United Kingdom...
  44. ↑ "Front Cover". The Automotor Journal. 8 (1): 1. 3 January 1903. Retrieved 19 September 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  45. ↑ "Alleged False Pretences. An Advertisement Agent Charged". The South London Press. 28 August 1897. p. 6. Retrieved 10 August 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  46. ↑ "Front Cover". The Automotor Journal. 1 (2): 37. 17 November 1896. Retrieved 10 August 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  47. ↑ "Emancipation Day". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 1 (2): 66–73. 17 November 1896 – via Internet Archive.
  48. ↑ "The Shuffling Trickery of the British Motor Syndicate". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 1 (5): 191–192. 17 February 1897 – via Internet Archive.
  49. ↑ "Correspondence". The Automotor Journal. 1 (2): 49. 17 November 1896. Retrieved 5 June 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  50. ↑ "Correspondence". Flight. 1 (1): 27. 9 January 1909. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  51. ↑ Daily News (London), 24 April 1902. p.8. Via British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 16 September 2021
  52. ↑ "1902 (Part 2) Automotor: Issues". 5 October 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021 – via Grace's Guide.
  53. ↑ "Automotor Journal". 21 November 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2024 – via Grace's Guide.
  54. ↑ Harmsworth, Sir Alfred Charles William (1902). Motors and Motor-Driving (2nd ed.). London: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd. p. 398. Retrieved 16 June 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  55. ↑ "Aerial Progress". The Automotor Journal. 8 (20): 503–504. 16 May 1903. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  56. ↑ "Royal Aeronautical Society And Flight. Complimentary Dinner To Mr Stanley Spooner". Flight. 22 (1098): 100. 10 January 1930.
  57. ↑ "Santos Dumont's Record Flight". The Automotor Journal. 27 October 1906. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  58. ↑ "Henry Farman Wins the Grand Prix". The Automotor Journal. 18 January 1908. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  59. ↑ "The First Power-Driven Machine". Flight. 54 (2079): 506. 28 October 1948. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  60. ↑ "Deaths: Spooner". The Times. No. 48583. 6 April 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 27 May 2022 – via The Times Digital Archive. Founder (1896) and Editor (1896-1931) of The Automotor Journal (The Auto)
  61. ↑ "Compressed-Air Moto-Vehicles". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 3 (31): 371. April 1899. For omnibus traffic compressed air is unquestionably superior to either steam or electricity.
  62. ↑ "Compressed Air". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 3 (31): 379. April 1899.
  63. ↑ "Electric Automobiles". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 4 (42): 257–258. 15 March 1900.
  64. ↑ "Compressed-air Cars". The Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal. 5 (50): 58. November 1900.
  65. ↑ Stanley Spooner (1904). "Chapter XIII: Electric Cars". Motors and Motor-Driving. By Harmsworth, Sir Alfred Charles William (3rd ed.). London: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd. pp. 316–318. Retrieved 10 June 2026 – via Internet Archive.
  66. ↑ Miller, Douglas (2 May 1906). "Automobile Topics: Electricity v. Petrol". The Bystander. Vol. 10, no. 135. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 10 June 2026 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  67. ↑ Hamer, Mick (2017). A Most Deliberate Swindle: How Edwardian Fraudsters Fleeced Flying Pioneers, Conned the Motor Industry and Sparked a First-Class International Scandal. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 978-1408873526.
  68. 1 2 "Passing Events: The Electrobus Flotation". The Automotor Journal. 11 (278): 533, 546–547. 5 May 1906.
  69. ↑ "The Electrobus and Its Financial Prospects: Battery Changing". The Automotor Journal. 11 (277): 519. 28 April 1906.
  70. ↑ "Electric Vans, Buses and Cabs. The Present Prospects of Electricity For Industrial Road Vehicles: London Electrobuses". The Automotor Journal. 13 (377): 411–412. 28 March 1908.
  71. ↑ "1904 Entry: Stanley Spooner". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Motoring Annual and Motorist's Year Book. 1904. Retrieved 23 July 2018. 44, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C. Is editor of The Automotor Journal... Was a convert to the horseless vehicle long before the passing of the Act of 1896, and joined the A.C.G.B. & I. immediately on its inception
  72. ↑ "Circle of 19th Century Motorists". 14 July 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024 – via Grace's Guide.
  73. ↑ "Election Of The New Club Committee". The Automotor Journal. 9 (10): 276. 5 March 1904. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  74. ↑ "Royal Aeronautical Society And Flight. Complimentary Dinner To Mr Stanley Spooner". Flight. 22 (1098): 99. 10 January 1930. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  75. ↑ "1948 Obituary: Griffith Brewer". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. The Engineer. 12 March 1948. Retrieved 8 June 2021. (From The Engineer): "the flight made on October 8, 1908, gained Mr. Griffith Brewer the distinction of being the first Englishman to go up in an aeroplane.
  76. ↑ "Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology – Flight Log: 1908 Camp d'Auvours, Le Mans, France". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved 8 June 2021. Oct 8: Griffith Brewer, passenger, first Englishman to fly
  77. ↑ Hopwood-Lewis, Jonathan (June 2013). "Griffith Brewer, "The Wright brothers' Boswell": Patent management and the British aviation industry, 1903–1914". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 44 (2): 259–268. doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2012.11.006.
  78. ↑ "Now We Are Fifty". Flight. 75 (2606): 13. 2 January 1959. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2026.
  79. 1 2 Stanley Spooner (3 January 1930). "Untitled". Flight. 22 (1097): 11. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  80. ↑ Merriam, Frederick Warren (2022). "Thanks To The press". Echoes from Dawn Skies: Early Aviators: A Lost Manuscript Rediscovered. Air World. p. 157. ISBN 978-1526726209 – via Google Books. The two pioneer weekly aviation journals, Flight (the first aeronautical weekly in the world) and The Aeroplane, the first established in 1909 and the second in 1911, were founded and edited by the late Messrs Stanley Spooner and Charles G. Grey respectively...The former was, and still is, the Official Organ of the Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom.
  81. 1 2 Kingsley-Jones, Max (22 February 2019). "110 Years of Flight: Flight International refresh – and our first decade". Retrieved 9 August 2020 – via Flight Global.(registration required)
  82. ↑ Taylor, Ron; Lambert, Mark (1979). The Mechanical World. Macdonald Educational. p. 117. ISBN 978-0356070056 – via Google Books. Farman , Henri ( 1874- 1958 ) was a British - born aircraft builder . He built his first aircraft in France in 1909 and became a naturalized French citizen in 1937.
  83. ↑ "What Is An Aerodrome?". Flight. 1 (1): 13. 2 January 1909. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  84. ↑ Pixton, Stella (2014). Howard Pixton: Test Pilot & Pioneer Aviator: The Biography of the First British Schneider Trophy Winner. Pen and Sword. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-4738-3494-1.
  85. ↑ For the original quotes and "yellow journalism" critique, see: "Editorial Comment". Flight. 8 (379): 251–252. 30 March 1916 – via Internet Archive. For the broader historical context of the press reaction to Billing, see: Morrow, John H. (1993). The Great War in the Air: Military Aviation from 1909 to 1921. Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 176–178. ISBN 978-1560982388 – via Google Books..
  86. ↑ "The Future of Flight. It's New Ownership". Flight. 26 (1320): 1. 12 April 1934. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  87. ↑ "No. 34116". The London Gazette. 21 December 1934. p. 8320.
  88. ↑ "Fatal Accident At Woodhatch". Surrey Mirror. 2 May 1902. p. 3 – via British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 15 September 2021 (Subscription required.)
  89. ↑ "Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 15 September 2021. 1907. The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland (A.C.G.B. & I.) became the Royal Automobile Club.
  90. ↑ "Honour Conferred By The King". The Referee. 10 March 1907. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 15 September 2021 (Subscription required.)
  91. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837–2005: Entry for Stanley Spooner and Bessey Craggs Maddox, 1907". FamilySearch. General Register Office, Southport, England. Retrieved 5 September 2021. St. George Hanover Square, London, volume 1A, page 1225, quarter 3
  92. ↑ "England, Surrey Parish Registers, 1536–1992: Burial entry for Bessey Spooner, 16 September 1926". FamilySearch. The London Archives. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2021. Brookwood Cemetery, Brookwood, Surrey; FHL microfilm 1,751,648
  93. ↑ "England, Surrey Parish Registers, 1536–1992: Burial entry for Stanley Spooner, 6 April 1940". FamilySearch. The London Archives. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024. Brookwood Cemetery, Brookwood, Surrey
  94. ↑ "Deaths: Spooner". The Times. No. 48583. 6 April 1940. p. 1. Retrieved 27 May 2022 – via The Times Digital Archive. ...Funeral at Brookwood Cemetery, to-day (Saturday).
  95. ↑ "Wills And Bequests". Chelmsford Chronicle. 14 June 1940. p. 5. Retrieved 26 July 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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