From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE FLYING LADY:
Originally she was called "Spirit of Speed" by her creator, Charles Sykes. Claude Johnson of Rolls-Royce described how Sykes had sought to convey "the spirit of ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and has alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies. She is expressing her keen enjoyment, with her arms outstretched and her sight fixed upon the distance."
As things turned out, it was as "The Spirit of Ecstasy" - or simply "The Flying Lady" that she went on to become the most famous car mascot of all time. But who was "The Flying Lady" model and who was Charles Sykes?
The answer to both questions lies in their connection with that most lavish of early car magazines, John Montagu's The Car Illustrated.
Sykes was the gifted chief illustrator of Montagu's magazine and a member of the Royal Academy. By 1909 he had established himself as something of an artistic all-rounder who could turn his hand successfully to commercial art, paintings and sculptures.
Strangely, although he became a superb motoring artist he was never a motoring enthusiast. Despite this he was commissioned by Claude Johnson of Rolls-Royce to paint several artistic impressions of Silver Ghosts in their natural upper-class habitat.
Johnson was very pleased with Sykes' efforts and turned to him in 1910 when a craze for car mascots developed. The problem for Johnson was that the vast majority of these mascots were, well . . . rather silly. Golliwogs and fat policemen were among the most popular.
Rolls-Royce owners were not immune from the mascot craze and Johnson discerned that they were negating his efforts to give the marque a position of pre-eminence among the world's cars. So he turned to Sykes to design an official mascot which would be in keeping with the dignity and prestige with which he wished Rolls-Royce cars to be perceived. Sykes produced the figurehead and it officially became the mascot of Rolls-Royce in March 1911.
But who was the model for the figurehead? Here too there was a connection with John Montagu - his private secretary, Eleanor Thornton, was one of Sykes' favorite models and had featured in several of his paintings and sculptures of lightly clad women. There is no definitive proof that Thornton was the model, but most experts agree that in all probability it was she who modelled for the figurehead.
Certainly all of the circumstantial evidence supports this contention and the head, for example, is identical to one on another of Sykes' statues which is known to have had her as its model.
Additionally, before going to work as Montagu's private secretary, Thornton had been Johnson's secretary at the Automobile Club.
Undoubtedly, Johnson briefed Sykes very precisely - he was that sort of man - on what he wanted from the new figurehead and knowing Thornton's talent as a model may well have asked that she be the model on this new commission.
If so, both Johnson and Sykes created a rare immortality for Thornton, which has spread around the world to wherever good cars are enjoyed.