Searching the oldest.... I might have the oldest license plate in existence in the United Kingdom. It is a pretty bold statement right? After Guinness book revoked the title from number 6 British Columbia plate from it`s list, you have to be careful. You will be the judge. The first question is when was the exact date when vehicles required a license plate. Also what is a vehicle or automobile and a license plate. License plate: When a certain number designated to a certain vehicle and owner to link them together for numerous purposes. They were so called marker plates even earlier but they were not registered as a license plate plate would be. Vehicle: For me when a machine is mobile by it`s on power such as steam, electric or friction engine and not on a fixed track or water then it`s an automobile. There were a series of bylaws in the UK they were called the locomotive acts. As many articles claim the first license plate was issued in 1904, it was issued in 1896 in the UK. It would be classed as "pre state" license. The first law was the locomotive act of 1861 when you could find the first mention of some kind of plate. There is not an existing example in existence. "displayed the name of the owner with the vehicle weight" there were no numbers..so technically it's not a license plate. then 1865 It also bolstered the identification rules by requiring both the owner's name and residence to be displayed and ..."shall be affixed thereto in a conspicuous manner" Still no number.... Then 1896, And this is the first..... It also legislated for the first time "The council of a county shall on the grant of a licence provide the person to whom the licence is granted with a licence plate, having marked upon it the date and number of the licence and the name of the council by which it is granted ..... The licence plate shall be fixed in a conspicuous position to the locomotive in respect of which it is provided, and shall not be removed, whilst the licence is in force, without the consent of the council by whom the licence has been granted" Any surviving example is unknown. 1898 Locomotive act was in respect of license plate the same as 1896 "The council of a county shall on the grant of a licence provide the person to whom the licence is granted with a licence plate, having marked upon it the date and number of the licence and the name of the council by which it is granted ..... The licence plate shall be fixed in a conspicuous position to the locomotive in respect of which it is provided, and shall not be removed, whilst the licence is in force, without the consent of the council by whom the licence has been granted". The Motorcar act 1903 followed when the numbering system was introduced with designated letters for each county.This is where most documents on the internet are stating the beginning of the registration numbers. The 1904 A1 plate Is not the first plate. However this was the first law when registration was mandatory. Before that there were so called "pre state" license plates issued by the individual countirs. Thete were exemptions for which machines needed a registration.(for example county owned machines were exempt and under 5t also were exempt.) It was issued in London and registered to Earl Russell. We are not going to discuss in deep details what the acts were about but it came to existence as a increasing public safety concerns from citizens (increased road traffic, accident and damages caused by these monster machines) and regulated the speed limits, bridge uses etc. All acts are available in digital copy format. In this digital copy you can see 1865 section 7 states name and residence of owner only. The earliest I ever seen to surface was in a 2014 auction known as an act of 1898 plate number 10 from cornwall county. The 1898 act required the county, the date and the number displayed. Another known to exist was listed and auctioned at Auction-net number 93,257,525, from essex county 1898 act. Non of the acts required a specific size, shape or color, but mine as well circular white on green enamel. Numbers were sequential starting 1 at each county.When I find this image later than this article was written I was surprised that one of them is red and includes issue and expiry date as well. This is resonates with Eric Taylor www.porcelainplates.net opinion which is : "My only thought is this – might it be possible that the plate is not actually from 1898, but is rather issued later – say March of 1902, perhaps, based on those numbers written on the reverse? The reason I say this is that the authorization for the plate to exist is the Locomotives Act of 1898, and maybe we’re supposed to read it more like – issued in whatever year, pursuant to the laws and regulations laid out in the Locomotives Act." It does make sense and I will go with his logic. In this group of three image shows the council might changed color scheme between 1898 and 1903 and also displayed issue date on later plates. The earliest granting dated is 1913 as far as I know.Unfortunately non of the images are good enough to see them. There is an excellent source at kitheadtrust, they held a mindblowing registration record prior 1945, but they don't seems to have record from that particular county. A recent inquire by me from Cambridgeshire county archives revealed that they don't have any records prior 1904. Here is mine: number 1 from isle of ely county. Isle of Ely county was abolished in 1965. Now part of Cambridgeshire. Authenticity: I am certain that this is an original plate. The back of the plates has typical smears and control,batch or date number as well. Front sporting the different heights of layers of enamel. Reverse side has a typical red marking 92 or 32 which was a known practice with early enamel plates for dating a plate. In this case it does not make sense, it might be the day and month. Probably made by Patent of Birmingham or Chromographic of Wolverhampton. www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/metalware/chromo.htm Any more information will be appreciated To this day I still don`t know when this plate was issued. My speculation is between 1898 and 1913. |
Update 2017 December
I came across an image of another loco act plate, and finally on this plate the grant date is visible.Number 1061 was granted in 1920. Which brings more confusion to my own one where there is no date for granting...... |
Some more enamel licenses and registrations from the UK
2018 august update:
I find more locomotive act 1898 registration images:
I find more locomotive act 1898 registration images:
Update 2019:
Another one surfaced on ebay.uk
Another one surfaced on ebay.uk
A rectangular one from 1920 front and back.
2020 May
These three was discovered. What an amazing find!
Because of these three I have getting a better understanding to date the type 1 plate. It can be dated now between 1898 to 1903. Type two ran from 1903 to approximately 1920. Type 3 can be dated from 1920 onward.
These three was discovered. What an amazing find!
Because of these three I have getting a better understanding to date the type 1 plate. It can be dated now between 1898 to 1903. Type two ran from 1903 to approximately 1920. Type 3 can be dated from 1920 onward.