Contributors of the collection

Herbert J Butler was the author of Motor Bodywork: the design and construction of private, commercial and passenger types (London: Howell, 1924) and Private and Commercial Motor Body Building, (London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons Ltd, 1932).

He was, at one time, technical editor of The Automobile and Carriage Builders' Journal and a member of the Institute of British Carriage and Automobile manufacturers. He won third prize in a Coachmakers' Company competition in 1900 for drawings and essays when he was a 17-year-old pupil at the Polytechnic Day School.

Prince Marshall was born on 23 May 1937. He was educated at Highwood School for Boys, Mill Hill, London and was first employed by publishers Ian Allan Ltd in 1958. He founded Old Motor magazine in 1962, in two rooms at 17 Air Street, London above an Italian restaurant. It was an early example of a magazine devoted to classic cars and commercial vehicles. Old Motor featured rescue projects and was useful in linking readers with others who had found similar vehicles. It also had articles recording the history of vehicle makers with contributors such as R.A. Whitehead, G.N. Georgano, Mike Worthington-Williams, Arthur Ingram and Michael Sedgwick.

As the magazine carried very few advertisements, it became very expensive to produce. Publishing transport books was more profitable and Marshall, Baldwin and Harris was formed for the purpose of selling them. MHB soon had 15 titles available on subjects such as Malcolm Campbell, London buses, tractors, and Bedford military vehicles. Old Motor was sold and later relaunched in 1982 as Classic and Sportscar.

Nick Baldwin has credited Marshall with helping to start the automobilia flea market and swapmeet scene in Europe, initially at St Silas Hall, London. Marshall organised the Grand Transport Extravaganza at Crich (an autumn bank holiday event attracting 300 vehicles) and was involved in setting up the National Tramway Museum,. He also founded Obsolete Fleet, based at Nunhead, London: an independent operator that undertook contract work for London Transport such as providing open-top buses for sightseeing tours.

During his life, Prince Marshall was also Chairman of the London Bus Preservation Group, Vice-President: Historic Commercial Vehicle Club, and a founder member of the Transport Trust. He died at the age of 42.

His publications included:

ABC British Bus Fleets (London: Ian Allan, 1956) with Basil C. Kennedy and others

ABC London Transport buses, coaches, trolleybuses and service vehicles (London: Ian Allan, 1960)

Birmingham City Buses (London: Ian Allan, 1962)

The London Bus: 1933-1957 (London: Michael Dryhurst, 1957) with Basil C. Kennedy

Lorries, trucks and vans 1897-1927 (London: Blandford Press, 1972)

Wheels of London: The story of London's street transport (London: Sunday Times Magazine, 1972) edited by George Perry

Michael C. Sedgwick was born in 1926 and was educated at Winchester and Corpus Christi College Oxford where he attained an MA.

He held the post of Assistant Editor of Veteran and Vintage magazine from 1959 and soon after joined the staff of the Montagu Motor Museum (now the National Motor Museum) at Beaulieu. He was appointed Research Director of the museum in 1966 and remained in post until his death in 1983. While at Beaulieu, he created the museum's library's master index and wrote dozens of books on car marques and automotive history. He conducted extensive research for books compiled by Lord Montagu and G.N. Georgano on the subject of cars, commercial vehicles, motor sport and the social history of motoring.

Sedgwick wrote regularly for magazines published in UK, Australia, France, Germany and USA and was Auction and Sales Consultant for Christie's from 1972 until 1983.

His meticulously typed research notes and copy correspondence are a major part of the Nick Baldwin Collection. They will become an invaluable resource for researchers as well as illustrating Sedgwick's extraordinary capacity for work, research and thought.

His publications include:

Veteran Motor Cars (Salmon / Beaulieu, 1960)

Early Cars (Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1962)

Cars in Colour (Batsford, 1968)

Cars of the 1930s (Batsford, 1970)

Veteran and Vintage Cars in Colour (Batsford, 1968)

Cavalcade of Motoring (Macmillan, 1972)

Fiat (Batsford, 1974)

Passenger Cars 1924-1942 (Blandford, 1975)

The Motor Car 1946-1956 (Batsford, 1979)

Cars of the Thirties and Forties (London: Hamlyn, 1974)

Veteran Cars (London: Ward Lock, 1980)

Vintage Cars (London: Ward Lock, 1980)

Bedford – GM's British Commercial (Dalton Watson / Beaulieu Books, 1980)

Vauxhall (Dalton Watson / Beaulieu Books, 1981)

Cars of the Fifties and Sixties (Feltham: Temple Press, 1983)

The Veteran Car Club – 50 Years Pictorial History (The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain, 1981) with Elizabeth Nagle

A-Z of cars 1945-1970 (Temple, 1986) with Mark Gillies

A-Z of cars 1930s (Bay View, 1989) and Mark Gillies

Antique Cars (John Wiley and Sons, 1980)

Cars (Piccolo, 1986)

Edward John Barrington Douglas Scott Montagu, Baron Montagu, The Gordon Bennett Races (Cassell, 1963) research by Sedgwick

Denis Jenkinson, The Schlumpf Obsession (Hamlyn, 1977) Sedgwick was 'historical consultant'

Edward John Barrington Douglas Scott Montagu, Baron Montagu, Lost Causes of Motoring - Europe (Cassell, 1969-1971) research by Michael Sedgwick, in 2 volumes

Edward John Barrington Douglas Scott Montagu, Baron Montagu, Lost Causes of Motoring (Cassell, 1960) research by Michael Sedgwick

Ernest Hall Siddeley was born on 19 October 1895. He was the son of John Davenport Siddeley (1866-1953), 1st Baron Kenilworth, who founded Siddeley Cars. Ernest followed his father into the industry in 1913 and was Technical Director of Armstrong-Siddeley Motors from the mid-1920s. He resigned in 1937.

John Frederick Moon was Technical Editor at Commercial Motor between 1958 and 1964. His career began as a trainee with Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon Company Limited in 1945 and moved on to Morris Commercial Cars Ltd two years later as an apprentice. He later became a writer for Diesel and Gas Turbines Worldwide and Diesel and Gas Turbine Progress.

His publications include:

Rudolf Diesel and the diesel engine (London: Priory Press, 1974)

John Ward was a graduate member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers and began his career with an indentured apprenticeship with AEC Ltd in 1930. He was assistant to the manager of AEC Marine and Industrial Department in 1936 and an ordnance mechanical engineer during the war.

After leaving the army, he became Deputy Manager of AEC Diesel Engines' Technical Sales Department. He joined All Wheel Drive in 1958 where he was Technical Sales Officer and later Vehicle Sales Manager, He became Vehicle Sales Manager for Vickers-Onions Ltd in 1964 before moving to Belgium to become Sales Engineer for MOL special vehicles.

Bernard Tuckwell worked for Chrysler Motors in Kew, Surrey from 1926. He was responsible for testing and rectifying faults to new cars before delivering them to customers. After a spell as a garage manager, he joined Garner Lorries in Park Royal, Middlesex. At Garner, he was involved in developing and testing new commercial vehicles and remained with the company throughout the War when it turned to designing all terrain vehicles for military use. Tuckwell was also involved in motor sport competition during the 1930s, entering hill climbs, endurance trials and track races.

John Howard Baldwin, father of Nick Baldwin, was born on 31 May 1908. He was educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield and at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he attained a BA Hons. in modern languages. He was first employed at Magdalen College School, Brackley as a modern languages master before embarking on a career as a motoring writer when he joined the staff of Motor magazine in 1932.

During World War Two, John Baldwin was an intelligence officer for RAF Fighter Command and in 1946 became Advertising Manager for Jowett Cars Ltd. He was responsible for advertising, sales promotion, publicity literature and public relations and press activities. His language skills were much needed in the 'export or die' era. Baldwin worked until 1954 when he was appointed Publicity Manager for the Rover Company Ltd, fulfilling a similar role to the one that he held at Jowett. He retired from Rover in 1966.