The late 1880's and early
90's saw the development of the internal combustion engine as a means of power
for a self-propelled road-going vehicle. The Locomotives on Highways Act 1896
permitted the use of the faster and lighter petrol driven motor vehicles on
public roads and by the early 1900's interest in the motor car was increasing as
the number on the roads exceeded 5000. They created problems for other road
users as horse-drawn carriages were still in use, and there were the early
motor-cyclists and pedal-cyclists, animals being driven by herdsmen as well as
many pedestrians still unaware of road-safety procedures. Although few
regulations existed offences occurred and it was often not possible to identify
the vehicle or the driver involved.
The Motor Car Act 1903,
enacted on 14 August 1903 and becoming effective on 1 January 1904, provided the
principles for the means to identify both cars and drivers. The details were in
the Motor Car Act 1903 (Registration and Licensing) Order issued to the County
Councils and County Borough Councils in England and Wales on 19 November 1903.
Similar Orders were issued to the Councils in Scotland and Ireland.
Owners were now required to
register all motor vehicles at a cost of twenty shillings, five shillings for
motor-cycles, and to display registration marks in a prominent position.
Drivers were required to have a licence renewed annually for the sum of five
shillings.
County Councils and County Borough Councils were given the powers to
be Registration and Licensing Authorities and required to keep a register, in
the prescribed format, of registered vehicles and licensed drivers, to be
updated for change of ownership, when vehicles were scrapped, and for change of
address, and to make this information available for use by the police.
A system of registration
marks was created so that the County Council or County Borough Council where the
vehicle was first registered could be identified from the list of letters set
out in the First Schedule Part 1 of the Order 1903. In his book Riden[1]
states that these were allocated to Councils in descending order of population
established by the 1901 Census. However, neither the Act, nor the Order,
explains this to be the basis for the system, so I do not know where the
authority for his statement comes from. However, Moss [2]
does not mention this in his brief history of registration marks.
Registration marks for
England: Twenty four single letters,
omitting 'I' and 'Q' to avoid confusion with 'J' and 'O', were allocated to
County and County Borough Councils:
[3]
A – London CC; B –
Lancaster CC; C – West Riding of Yorkshire (Wakefield); D – Kent CC;
E – Stafford CC; F – Essex
CC; H – Middlesex CC; J – Durham CC; K – Liverpool CBC;
L – Glamorgan CC; M –
Chester CC; N – Manchester CBC; O – Birmingham CBC;
P – Surrey CC; R – Derby CC;
T – Devon CC; U – Leeds CBC;
W – Sheffield CBC; X – Northumberland CC;
Y – Somerset CC.
It is necessary to realise
that County and County Borough Council boundaries were then much different than
nowadays as old counties have been amalgamated and cities expanded. The London
CC was more aligned with the Cities of London and Westminster, as Middlesex CC
covered much of the area north of the River Thames and bordered with Essex CC to
the east, whilst south of the Thames, Surrey CC stretched northwards and Kent CC
which extended westwards, were the administrative Counties for areas long since
absorbed into the London conurbation. Similarly the counties of Lancashire,
Cheshire, Staffordshire, Durham, Glamorganshire and WR of Yorkshire covered most
of the urban and fringe rural areas now well within the major cities of
Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff and Sheffield.
Two-letter marks were
allocated to:
AA – Southampton CC; AB –
Worcester CC; AC – Warwick CC; AD – Gloucester CC;
AE – Bristol CBC;
AF – Cornwall CC; AH –
Norfolk CC; AJ – Nth Riding of Yorkshire; AK – Bradford CBC;
AL – Nottingham CC;
AM – Wilts CC; AN – West Ham CBC; AO – Cumberland CC;
AP – East Sussex; AR –
Hertford CC;
AT – Kingston-upon-Hull CBC;
AU – Nottingham CBC; AW – Salop CC; AX – Monmouth CC and AY – Leicester CC.
BA – Salford CBC; BB –
Newcastle-upon-Tyne CBC; BC – Leicester CBC;
BD – Northampton CC;
BO – Cardiff CBC; BP – West
Sussex CC; BR – Sunderland CBC;
BT – East Riding of Yorkshire;
BU – Oldham CBC; BW –
Oxford CC; BX – Carmarthen CC and BY – Croydon CBC.
CA – Denbigh CC; CB –
Blackburn CBC; CC – Carnarvon CC; CD – Brighton CBC;
CE – Cambridge CC;
CF – West Suffolk CC; CH –
Derby CBC; CJ – Hereford CC; CK – Preston CBC;
CL – Norwich CBC;
CM – Birkenhead CBC; CN –
Gateshead CBC; CO – Plymouth CBC; CP – Halifax CBC;
CR – Southampton CBC; CT –
Kesteven (Lincs) CC; CU – South Shields CBC;
CW – Burnley CBC;
CX – Huddersfield CBC and
CY – Swansea CBC.
DA – Wolverhampton CBC; DB
– Stockport CBC; DC – Middlesbrough CBC;
DE – Pembroke CC;
DF – Northampton CBC; DH –
Walsall CBC; DJ – St Helens CBC; DK – Rochdale CBC;
DL – Isle of Wight CC; DM –
Flint CC; DN – York CBC; DO – Holland (Lincs) CC;
DP – Reading CBC;
DR – Devonport CBC; DU –
Coventry CBC; DW – Newport (Monmouth) CBC;
DX – Ipswich CBC and
DY – Hastings CBC.
EA – West Bromwich CBC; EB
– Isle of Ely CC; EC – Westmorland CC;
ED – Warrington CBC;
EE – Grimsby CBC; EF – West
Hartlepool CBC; EH – Hanley CBC; EJ – Cardigan CC;
EK – Wigan CBC; EL –
Bournemouth CBC; EM – Bootle CBC; EN – Bury CBC;
EO – Barrow-in-Furness CBC;
EP – Montgomery CC; ET –
Rotherham CBC; EU – Brecknock CC; EW – Huntingdon CC;
EX – Great Yarmouth CBC and
EY – Anglesey CC.
FA – Burton-on-Trent CBC;
FB – Bath CBC; FC – Oxford CBC; FD – Dudley CBC;
FE – Lincoln CBC;
FL – Soke of Peterborough
CC; FN – Canterbury CBC; FO – Radnor CC and
FP – Rutland CC.
Riden mentions that during
1904 some Dorset motorists objected to 'BF' and by the December the Local
Government Board [4]
had been persuaded to remove 'BF' and issue 'FX' to Dorset CC instead.
Motorists were given the opportunity to retain or exchange their 'BF' mark.
'BF' is only now, since 2006, being re-allocated by DVLA for older vehicles.
The first registration
marks with one letter followed by one or two numbers were issued from December
1903, many being retrospective for cars already on the road. A Circular sent to
the Local Councils asked them not to issue numbers beyond '999' for any mark
with the provision that they would be allocated further sets of two letters once
the issue of their first allocation of letters had been completed. In practice
the Councils issued one and two letter marks with numbers up to '9999', which
provided the much needed extension of the registration system beyond that
initially envisaged with the 1903 Act, even though additional sets of two
letters were allocated up until 1920 to those Councils meeting the greatest
demands.
After the Order attached to
the Roads Act 1920 the registration system was continually extended to 'YY' as
many Councils were allocated several pairs of letters to meet the demand caused
by the ever increasing number of vehicles appearing on the roads in the 1920's
and 30's due to the developments by, and competition between, the many
manufacturers of cars and motor cycles.
Riden states that an
anomaly occurred as soon as the system was introduced in 1903 as some Councils,
without mentioning which, used analogous systems to register cars and
motor-cycles resulting in the same registration mark being issued to a car and a
motor-cycle, and that this problem continued until it was resolved by the Roads
Act 1920. However, the Motor Car Act 1903 clearly states "… and every such
council shall assign a separate number to every car registered with them." The
Order 1903 states at Part III Article XXI that "Except where the contrary
intention appears, the expression 'motor car' in this Order includes a motor
cycle." So how did the anomaly, if it existed, occur?
By the early 1930's the two
letters with four numbers format had been fully used in areas of high demand
despite several pairs of letters being allocated to those Councils, where a set
of two letters had often lasted less than two years. From July 1932
(Staffordshire - ARF) some Councils were able to issue registrations where the
original pair of letters was preceded by another letter, commencing with 'A',
giving the format of three letters followed by numbers 1-999. With numbers to
'999' often being issued within two to four months the preceding letter became
'B', then 'C', 'D' et seq.
As early as 1953 many
Councils in areas of high demand had used all their allocated letters, up to
'Y', for their three letter marks. A new format came into use when these
Councils placed the number, again using 1-9999, before one (only D, E, F, H, K,
N, R, U and W as above) and/or two letters. There were then two formats in use,
three letters followed by 1-999 and also 1-9999 followed by one or two letters,
but by the early 1950's the system was again saturated by demand as both of
these formats were nearly exhausted in many areas. However, Councils in areas
of low demand had not yet finished issuing the earliest two letter marks not
having reached '9999'. Bute CC was only ever allocated one set of letters and
the last mark,
SJ 2860, was issued in
December 1963 sixty years after registration began.
In September 1953 Middlesex
CC, although issuing 'H' preceded by four numbers, began issuing marks with
three numbers preceding three letters, and this format was used by all Councils
until late 1964. Between 1963 and 1965 another system, now with a suffix letter
denoting the year of registration, was introduced to meet the continually rising
demand as family, and company, vehicle ownership increased.
As well as 'BF', after
December 1904, not every combination of two or three letters has been issued as
some would form marks which were considered to be objectionable, mainly GOD and
WC, although VD and WOG appeared. Local Councils retained some individual
numbers and sequences of letters for special issue, eg. GPO a London CC mark was
issued to the GPO for many years. Other marks were kept as a stock for later
issue to a vehicle of that age. Since the earliest days of registration there
has been a market for prestigious marks and many have been held back over the
years and are now being sold by DVLA.
Registration marks for
Scotland: Although the majority of
new 'Sevens' were registered with Councils in England and Wales, there are
surviving 'Sevens' which were first registered elsewhere in the UK. The Motor
Car Act Registration and Licensing (Scotland) Order 1904 set out the marks for
identifying vehicles registered in Scotland. These included the letters 'G',
'S' and 'V', however there is again no obvious system for allocation, so the
Census 1901 may have again been the basis for allocation. Hence, the pairs of
letters allocated to the Scottish Councils in December 1903 went beyond the 'FP'
issued to the Councils in England and Wales.
Burgh Councils and County
Councils were given the powers to be Registration and Licensing Authorities and
single letters were allocated to: G – Glasgow BC; S – Edinburgh BC and V –
Lanarkshire CC.
Two-letter marks were
issued from Dec '03/Jan '04 unless stated otherwise:
AG – Ayrshire CC from Nov
'25; AS – Nairn CC and AV – Aberdeenshire CC from Sept '26.
BS – Orkney CC. CS –
Ayrshire CC from May '34. DS – Peeblesshire CC.
ES – Perthshire CC.
FG – Fife CC from Mar '25
and FS – Edinburgh BC from Apr '31.
GA, GB, GD, GE from Mar
'28 and GG from July '30 – Glasgow BC;
GM – Motherwell & Wishaw CC from Jan '20;
GS – Perthshire CC from Jan '28.
HS – Renfrewshire CC. JS – Ross & Cromarty
CC.
KS – Roxburghshire CC. LS
– Selkirk CC. MS – Stirlingshire CC. NS – Sutherland CC.
OS – Wigtownshire CC. PS –
Zetland CC. RG from Nov '28 and RS from ? – Aberdeen BC.
SA – Aberdeenshire CC; SB –
Argyllshire CC; SC – Edinburgh BC in Oct '27;
SD – Ayrshire CC;
SE – Banffshire CC; SF & SG
– Edinburgh BC; SH – Berwickshire CC;
SJ – Bute CC; SK – Caithness CC; SL – Clackmannanshire CC;
SM – Dumfriesshire CC; SN- Dunbartonshire CC; SO – Morayshire CC;
SP – Fife CC; SR – Angus
CC; SS – East Lothian CC; ST – Inverness CC;
SU – Kincardine CC;
SV – Kinross CC; SW –
Kirkudbrightshire CC; SX - West Lothian CC and
SY – Midlothian CC.
TS – Dundee BC. US – Govan
CC which issued 1-529, then Glasgow BC issued 530 onwards from Mar '33.
VA – Lanarkshire CC from
July '22 and VD from May '30; VS – Greenock CC.
WG – Stirlingshire CC from Nov
'30. WS was issued by Leith CBC from 1904 to 1920 then by Edinburgh CBC from
June '34.
XS – Paisley BC. YJ –
Dundee BC from Jun '32; YS was issued by Partick BC issued 1-39 from Jan '04
then Glasgow BC issued 40-9999 from Jan '35.
As several of the Councils
administered areas of lower demand they continued to issue two letter marks
until the end of 1964 and even then some did not issue marks to 9999. Apart
from 'SJ 2860' being the last mark issued by Bute CC, Nairn CC reached 'AS 4097'
by Dec '64, Orkney CC was able to issue 'BS 7777' and 'DS 6396' was the last
mark from Peebles CC, both in Dec '64. Sutherland CC reached 'NS 5683' by June
'64 and for Zetland CC the last mark issued was 'PS 4080' in Dec '64, whilst
Kinross issued 'SV 3722' in Dec '63.
The Councils meeting the
higher demands completed the issue of two letter marks to 9999 and the three
letters preceding three numbers format appeared in the mid-1930's with
Dumfriesshire issuing 'ASM' between June '33 and Feb '35. Fife issued 'AFG'
from Oct '34 to July '35 and Glasgow issued 'AGA' from Sept to Nov '36 with
Edinburgh's 'ASC' appearing in Oct to Dec '36. In most of the other areas three
letter marks did not appear until 1955 to 1964.
Registration marks for
Ireland:
The County Councils and
County Borough Councils were given the powers to be Registration and Licensing
Authorities under a similar Order within the Motor Car Act 1903. The first
marks were allocated by listing the Councils in alphabetical order, and were in
the format 'I-' issued in Dec'03/Jan '04 with additional marks in the styles of
'-Z' and 'Z-' allocated to meet later demand. The only single letter mark was
'Z' allocated to Co Dublin CC and issued from Mar 27. The two letter marks were
issued from Dec '03/Jan '04 unless stated otherwise.
AI – Co Meath CC; AZ –
Belfast CBC from Feb '28. BI – Co Monaghan CC;
BZ – Co Down CC from Apr '30.
CI – Co Laoighis (or Laois) CC; CZ – Belfast CBC from May '32. DI – Roscommon
CC;
DZ – Co Antrim CC from Mar
'32. EI – Co Sligo CC; EZ – Belfast CBC from Oct '35.
FI – N. Riding of
Tipperary CC; FZ – Belfast CBC from Jan '38.
HI – S. Riding of Tipperary;
IA – Co Antrim CC; IB- Co
Armagh CC; IC – Co Carlow CC; ID – Co Cavan CC;
IE – Co Clare CC from Sept '22;
IF – Co Cork CC; IH – Co Donegal CC;
IJ – Co Down CC; IK – Co Dublin CC;
IL – Co Fermanagh CC; IM –
Co Galway CC; IN – Co Kerry CC; IO – Co Kildare CC; IP – Co Kilkenny CC; IR – Co
Offaly CC; IT – Co Leitrim CC;
IU – Co Limerick CC; IW – Co Londonderry CC;
IX – Co Longford CC; IY –
Co Louth CC and IZ – Co Mayo CC.
JI – Co Tyrone CC; KI – Co
Waterford CC; LI – Co Westmeath CC;
MI – Co Wexford CC;
NI – Co Wicklow CC; OI – Belfast CBC; PI – Cork CBC; RI –
Dublin CBC;
TI – Limerick CBC; UI – Londonderry CBC from Aug '04;
WI – Waterford CBC.
XI – Belfast CBC. YI – Dublin CBC.
ZA – Dublin CBC from May
'33; ZB – Co Cork CC from Apr '35; ZC – Dublin CBC from Feb '37 and ZI – Dublin CBC from Apr
'27.
The remaining marks in the '-Z' and 'Z-' styles were issued after the production
of Austin Sevens had ceased.
Most of the Irish Councils
did issue marks with numbers into the c 9000's and several moved on to
the three letters preceding three numbers format, commencing A - -, in the
1950's and early 60's. 'ARI' was issued by Dublin CBC in May to June '54 and S.
Riding of Tipperary issued 'AHI' from Sept '54 to May '55.
Summary:
Registration marks on
pre-war vehicles is a fascinating subject without even entering the domain of
block allocations to large nationalised organisations, or blocks of numbers that
were only issued for use on motorcycles, commercial vehicles or cars. Some now
have a high market value because they are rare as not many were issued and few
of those are likely to have survived on the original vehicle. How many historic
vehicles, for example, retain an original 'SJ' mark from Bute CC?
Pre-war marks are now much
sought after as personalised plates as people want their initials with a low
number, or with the Irish 'I' in the letters. Such is the need for modern-day
status symbols that owners try to manipulate the plate lay-out, or read numbers
as letters to form a name, in what has become a contrived market. Other marks
are much cherished, having been in a family for decades and transferred on to
every new car. Many 'Seven', and other classic vehicle, owners are of course
pleased to own, and will forever retain, the original mark with their vehicle
which is linked to the year of manufacture.
This article is as
comprehensive as possible, but may contain inadvertent errors due to lack of, or
sometimes conflicting, information found in the sources of reference.
Other References: Motor Car Act (Registration
and Licensing) Orders 1903;
The RAC Guide and Handbook
1962-3;
Glass's Index of
Registration Numbers 1929-1965, published by Glass's Guide Service Ltd.
[1] Riden, Philip (1952) 'How to trace the history of your
car: a guide to motor vehicle registration records in the British Isles.'
2nd Edition. ISBN: 1898937257. Pub: Merton Priory Press,
Whitchurch, Cardiff CF14 1DD. (Now out of print but should be available in
local reference libraries).
[2]
Moss, Dave (2003) 'Number plates: a history of vehicle registration in
Britain. Shire Publications Ltd., Cromwell House, Church Street, Princes
Risborough, Buckinghamshire HP27 9AA.
www.shirebooks.co.uk
[3]
County and County Borough Council names are as given in the Order 1903.
[4]
The Local Government Board was a Central Government Department.
This article, written by Doug Castle, originally appeared in CA7C Seven Focus in
June and July 2006.
