Woolf Barnato

Woolf Barnato
Spencer House, London
Died	27 July 1948(1948-07-27) (aged 52) London
Resting place	St Jude's Church, Englefield Green
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Children	Diana Barnato Walker
Parent	Barney Barnato
Nationality	British
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1928–1930
Teams	Bentley Motors Ltd.
Best finish	1st (1928, 1929, 1930)
Class wins	3 (1928, 1929, 1930)

Joel Woolf Barnato

The youngest son of Fanny Bees and Barney Barnato, who had made a fortune as a "Randlord" in South African diamond and gold mining, he was a relative of the Joel family of entrepreneurs.

He was born at

Barnato was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Sports

Barnato's attitude to a new sport that took his interests, was to immerse himself in the learning process, practising endlessly and taking lessons only from the very best instructors he could find. His desire to excel at whatever he attempted was considerable.

He collected prizes (including the 1925 Duke of York Trophy) for motor boat racing, using his Bentley-powered boat 'Ardenrun V'. A keen shot, he bred horses at his house Ardenrun, and hunted with the Old Surrey and Burstow Foxhounds. He was a strong swimmer, a good amateur boxer, and also played tennis to 'country house level'. He took golf lessons at Coombe Hill Golf Club, Kingston, Surrey, with the club professional

Career

Barnato served as an officer in the Royal Field Artillery, British Army in World War I. Serving in France, Egypt and Palestine, he attained the rank of captain in the latter stages of the war.

Having claimed a share of the business's profits from 1897 to 1916, in 1917 he broke off his business arrangements with the Joels. After a long legal dispute in South Africa, Woolf settled for £900,000 plus £50,000 in costs. He then sued his family for the £50,000, as well as £23,883 for disbursements.

Following settlement of the case, Barnato played first-class cricket, appearing as wicket-keeper with Surrey County Cricket Club from 1928 to 1930.^[1]

W. O. Bentley

Barnato purchased his first Bentley, a 3-litre, in 1925, 12 months before he acquired the business itself. With this car he won numerous

Inspired by the 1924 Le Mans win by John Duff and Frank Clement, Barnato agreed to finance Bentley's business. Barnato had incorporated Baromans Ltd in 1922, which effectively existed as his finance and investment vehicle. Via Baromans, Barnato initially invested in excess of £100,000, saving the company and its workforce. A subsequent agreed wind-up of the original Bentley company was agreed, with all existing creditors paid off for £75,000, but with existing shares devalued from £1.00 each to just 1 shilling, or 5% or their original value. Barnato held 149,500 of the new shares, meaning that he controlled the company, and became chairman. Barnato injected further cash into the business: £35,000 as a debenture in July 1927; £40,000 in 1928; £25,000 in 1929.

With renewed financial input, W. O. Bentley was able to design another generation of cars, the six-cylinder

The

As a driver, Barnato won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race three times:

• 1928 – with Bernard Rubin in a Bentley 4½ litre
• 1929 – with Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin in a Bentley Speed Six ("Old Number One")
• 1930 – with Glen Kidston in a Bentley Speed Six ("Old Number One")

As these were the only years in which he entered the race, he has a perfect wins-to-starts ratio. Bentley, under his chairmanship, also won the race in 1927, with

The Blue Train Races

In March 1930 at the

He set off from the bar of the Carlton Hotel at just before 6pm on 13 March, accompanied by his friend Dale Bourne as unofficial co-driver. They stopped for fuel at

• Dorothy Maitland Falk: 1915–1933, the daughter of an American stockbroker, two daughters Virginia and Diana
• Jacqueline Claridge Quealy: 1933–1947. The daughter of a wealthy American Wyoming colliery owner; the couple had two sons Michael Jay, and Peter Woolf (1934–1959; died of cancer, San Francisco)^{[citation needed]}
• Joan Jenkinson:^[6] December 1947 – his death.

Barnato's daughter Diana Barnato Walker learned to fly at the Brooklands Flying Club in 1938 at the age of 20. She went on to ferry Spitfires, Hurricanes and Wellingtons with the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II.

Residences

Barnato lived for most of the time in London, at his house at 39 Elsworthy Road, Hampstead, when married to Dorothy Maitland and, after his divorce, at his flat at 50 Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, on the south east corner of the square. Other Bentley Boys also had flats in the same block and, such was the number of Bentley cars parked outside, the location was known to taxi drivers as "Bentley's Corner".

He also owned Ardenrun Place, a country house situated near Lingfield, Surrey. Originally built in 1906–1909 by Ernest Newton for the Konig family, the house was the scene of many lavish motor racing-themed parties for Barnato and his friends, but was destroyed by fire on 14 March 1933. He also owned the nearby Nuthill Farm in Redhill, which was used by his ex-wife Dorothy and his daughters Diana and Virginia at weekends.

After the loss of Ardenrun, in 1938 he built a large castellated home named Ridgemead in Englefield Green, Surrey, at a cost of more than £100,000. Designed by Robert Lutyens, son of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Ridgemead featured innovations such as central heating, a "talkie" cinema and a drive lit by secret light rays. It had 25 bedrooms, a heated swimming pool and was set in 25 acres (10 ha) of land overlooking the River Thames at Runnymede. Upon Barnato's death in 1948, his wife Joan sold the house for £25,000 and it became a nursing home, which it remains.

During his final marriage, he purchased an 8 acres (3.2 ha) plot named Perot's Island, in Bermuda, "as an investment after my death".

Death

Barnato died at the London Clinic, Devonshire Place, on 27 July 1948 as a result of a thrombosis after an operation for cancer.

His funeral cortege was led by his Bentley "Old Number One", which was covered with flowers and wreaths. He is buried at St Jude's Church in Englefield Green, Surrey (grave 286, plot 25), next to his son-in-law Derek Walker (who had married his daughter Diana in 1944 and was killed in an aircraft crash in 1945) and next to his daughter Diana. Estimates of his wealth at the time of his death were between £1.5 and £5 million.

Posthumous honours

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) named its highest award in Barnato's honour; the first Woolf Barnato Award was presented in 1948, and has been presented every year from 1948 to the present (including the period it was renamed the Carl Haas Award, 1994–2001).^[7] Recipients are nominated by the past three winners and approved by SCCA's board of directors.^[8]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1928	Bentley Motors Ltd	Bernard Rubin	Bentley 4½ Litre	5.0	155	1st	1st
1929	Bentley Motors Ltd	Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin	Bentley Speed Six	8.0	174	1st	1st
1930	Bentley Motors Ltd	Glen Kidston	Bentley Speed Six	>3.0	179	1st	1st

Notes

References

Further reading

• Malcolm Bobbitt – W. O. Bentley: The Man behind the Marque (2003)
  ISBN 1-85983-352-7
• Diana Barnato Walker – Spreading My Wings: One of Britain's Top Women Pilots Tells Her Remarkable Story from Pre-War Flying to Breaking the Sound Barrier (2003)
  ISBN 1-904010-31-8
• Michael Hay – Bentley Factory Cars 1919–1931 (1993)
• Nick Foulkes – The Bentley Era (2006)
• Stanley Jackson – The Great Barnato (1970)
• Michael Hay – Old Number One (1999)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Woolf Barnato.

• Biography at Historic Racing
• Biography at Cricinfo
• Portraits of Woolf Barnato at the National Portrait Gallery, London