From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
LORD WAKEFIELD: Finding the money to undertake record breaking and racing has been a subject which has preoccupied almost all those who have participated in these activities on land, sea and air since their beginning.
In this commercial world, finding a sponsor, or sponsors, has always been a prerequisite of success. To some extent it has always been so for without a benefactor or substantial private means few have been able to participate at the highest level of their chosen activity. Of all those individuals who have given support to such activities, one name stands head and shoulders above all others: that of Lord Wakefield.
Charles Cheers Wakefield was the youngest son of a Liverpool Customs official and was born in December 1859. Educated at the Liverpool Institute, he did not fancy becoming the civil servant his parents intended, and after an angry scene with his father, he left to make his own way in the world. Before long he found employment in the office of an oil broker. He soon rose to a high level of responsibility, and was only 32 when a leading American oil company asked him to move to London and become their British agent. In 1898, following a disagreement, he founded his own oil company, CC Wakefield & Company, with a staff of just nine at year end.
It is said that Lord Wakefield never learned to drive a car, but it was his awareness of the coming importance of the motor car which made his company successful. Wakefield understood that good lubricants suited to the needs of motor cars and the newly appearing aero-engines were required and saw the potential of racing at the Brooklands track to publicise his products.
The great success of 'Castrol', the start of the first World War and the subsequent need for top quality specialist lubricating products made CC Wakefield & Co very successful, and after the war ended, Wakefield turned to record-breaking to publicise his products.
The first such event was assisting the Rolls-Royce Vickers Vimy of Alcock and Brown in their successful flight across the Atlantic, followed by the other great flights of the Ross brothers and Sir Alan Cobham. The Mollisons, Bert Hinkler and Jean Batten all depended on Lord Wakefield for the financial support which enabled them to make their epic flights.
But it is the breaking of land speeed records with which Wakefield's name is most associated. Both Sir Malcolm Campbell and Sir Henry Segrave were funded by him in their competition with each other which so captured the public's imagination throughout the 1920s as they pushed the World Land Speed Record higher and higher. Others who benefited from Wakefield's generosity included Parry Thomas, Sir Henry
Birkin and Captain George Eyston, who joined the Castrol Board.
When Segrave turned his attention to seeking the Water Speed Record, Wakefield had a special boat, Miss England, built for the attempt, on which he spent more than £40,000 - a vast amount at the time.
Wakefield also sponsored many motor races and presented to Irish motor racing 'Wakefield' Trophies which were competed for in the Phoenix Park in the 1930s and at the Curragh in the 1950s. Lord Wakefield, unparalleled benefactor of motor racing and record-breaking, died in January 1941 at the age of 82.