PastImperfect: The remarkable Henri FarmanHenri Farman was born of English parents at Cambrai in 1874. His father was Paris correspondent for the London Standard and lived and worked in France throughout his life. Henri (he preferred the French spelling of his name) was the eldest of three brothers, and was sent to train as a painter to the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
While there he started to race and sell racing bicycles with his brother Maurice. At one time, the pair held the Tandem World Championship, and it was only natural that they should progress to racing and selling cars.
In due course, they opened the largest automobile showrooms in Paris, the Palais de l'Automobile on the Avenue de la Grande Armee, the premises today occupied by Renault.
At the same time, they took part in all of the great races, and it was Maurice who came upon the wreckage of his friend Marcel Renault's car in the 1903 Paris to Madrid Race. Of the two, Henri was the more successful, and came to Ireland as part of the French team in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Race.
In 1907, fascinated by the developing sport of flying, Henri bought a Voisin biplane and embarked on a second career as an aviator. In 1908, he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize for the world's first officially recognised circular flight of one kilometre, as well as competing in the 1908 French Grand Prix. The brothers now began to concentrate their efforts on aviation, and became manufacturers of aircraft and aircraft engines, establishing a factory at Billancourt.
During the first World War, they were leading suppliers of aircraft and aero engines to the French army and to the Royal Flying Corps. When the war ended in 1918, they again turned their attention to the motor industry, and set about producing the best cars in the world, more refined that the products of either Rolls Royce or Hispano Suiza.
Their first design, the Farman A6A was shown to widespread acclaim at the 1919 Paris Salon, and featured a highly advanced six-cylinder overhead camshaft engine of some 6795cc.
Their next design was not to follow for another 12 years, and was the NF Farman of 7071cc. A Farman chassis exhibited at the 1920 London Olympia Motor Show was the most expensive vehicle at the show at a cost of £2,360.
Each of the Farman designs made extensive use of their experience of aviation techniques and featured the use of light alloys and streamlining.
Farman cars quickly acquired a reputation second to none for luxury and advanced engineering, but they were not a financial success. In total, 120 Farman cars are believed to have been sold between 1919 and 1930 when the company folded. Today, just four survive.
Henri returned to his first love - painting - following the collapse of this venture and was awarded the distinction of Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur in 1955. He died, a naturalised French citizen, at his home in Paris in 1958.