1. Introduction

Green car lamps seem to be unique to Oxford. They were a device used by the University to enable it to identify cars that had been registered with the University authorities. They were also used to show that students had permission to keep a car in Oxford.

Students were bound by a number of regulations about how, when and where a car could be kept. The lamps also enabled the University and College authorities and the Police to identify students who were using their cars for illicit purposes.

The regulations for registering cars came into force in 1926 and each student had to pay a fee of 10 shillings. By 1932 a local garage was supplying green lamps to the University for sale to students to show that they had registered their cars.

The first undergraduate to have the green car lamp was said to have been Mr. Cuthbert Jones from Trinity College.

In 1967 the charge for registering cars and the need to buy a lamp to be displayed were dropped. Instead students had to apply for and display a sticker, these lasted until 1970 when disc parking was introduced in Oxford by the City Council.

2. The records in the Ashmolean

This lamp was donated in 1994 by David Hinton who was an Assistant Keeper at the Ashmolean.

The Museum's record describes it as:

Fe is the chemical symbol for iron and the lamp is certainly very heavy!

When Mr. Hinton donated it he said that ‘undergraduates who registered with the Proctors that they had a car in Oxford were required to fit the vehicle with a green light so that students could be identified. This practice was widely believed, outside Oxford, to be illegal’.

3. The development of the motorcar

Nicholas Cugnot built the first powered road vehicle in 1796, it was a steam truck to transport cannon for the French Army. The invention of the first car with an internal combustion engine is generally attributed to Karl Benz of Mannheim in Germany in 1885. By 1895 there were only 14 or 15 cars on the road in England and a year later John Henry Knight of Farnham, Surrey and George and Frederick Lanchester of Birmingham, began to build four-wheeled, petrol-engined cars.

Since 1896 motorcars have been manufactured at nearly 1,000 sites in England. By 1900 there were approximately seven or eight hundred cars on the road in England.

In 1902 the first car dealership showrooms opened in Britain. The 1905 Argyll Motor Company’s London premises had chandeliers, leather seats and potted plants! Tyre-makers too had flamboyant buildings; the Michelin Building on the Fulham Road still exists today. It was finished in 1909 and has been described as 'the most completely French of any Edwardian building in London' and its architectural style has been variously described as being Art Nouveau, proto-Art-Deco, Secessionist Functionalism and geometrical Classicism.

The cars in those days were often made of wood so it was recommended that they were cleaned and dried after each journey and the development of garages/covered areas became very important, changing the British landscape for ever.

A name that is still familiar today, Rolls-Royce, was founded in 1906 and by 1913 Henry Ford had introduced a conveyor-belt based production line in America and made over 200,000 cars. In the same year William Morris introduced the Morris Oxford, the famous ‘Bull Nose’ model, costing £175. This design continued in production until 1926.

In 1919 the largest road-building programme in England started since the start of the turnpikes.

By 1926 when the University regulations on Motor Vehicles were first introduced Morris Motors had been producing cars for 14 years.

In the same year the first fixed pedestrian crossing was established and a British Grand Prix was held for the first time using a road circuit at Brooklands, Surrey.

Also in 1926 the Benz car company merged with the Daimler car company and they called their cars Mercedes Benz (Mercedes was the daughter of an Austrian businessman who had bought a Daimler car in 1897 and set up a franchise having entered his car into a local touring competition under his daughter’s name).

In 1927 the first automated traffic lights were installed and in 1929 the Minister of Transport recommended that there should be consistency of red, amber and green used for the colours in the lights.

The million mark for private cars was reached in Britain in 1930, with 10 million in 1967. The first Highway Code was published in Great Britain in April 1931. In 1934 Percy Shaw from Halifax patented cats eyes and the compulsory driving test came into force on 1 June 1935.

4. Types of lamps, how they were made and their costs

There were three types of lamps made, the first was an acetylene lamp made by the Lamb and Flag Garage in Oxford (acetylene gas is made by dripping water onto calcium carbide and was commonly used in miners’ lamps as well as lamps for cars) the next two types were both electric.

A maths don at Christ Church who was Junior Proctor in 1926 is said to have been inspired to suggest the creation of the green car lamps by the design of the ‘Bull Nose’ Morris being made at Cowley. However, in ‘Fred of Oxford’ he said that the lamps were introduced at the suggestion of Bishop’s Garages because in 1927 the Proctors and their 'flying squad’ who were out patrolling ‘outlying inns…. to detect any undergraduate villainies….’ found that they were hampered because they couldn’t tell undergraduate’s cars from those of the ordinary public.

A.R. Payne, the Proctors’ Secretary, wrote (in 1936) that Mr. W.R. Bishop proprietor of Bishop’s Garages ‘was the only person who would undertake the preparation of patterns and other preliminary work’ to make the lamps and he was paid £15 and 14 shillings towards the costs of plant and expenses. His initial order was for 800 lamps.

The lamps had to be positioned on the front of the car near the headlights. The students were supposed to wire the lamp into the sidelight’s circuits but some students had them on a separate switch.

It is interesting to see a selection of the manufacturers, suppliers and the costs as they changed over the years. Here is a compilation of extracts from the University Archives.

In the University Archives there is a note from the 1930s saying that Bishop’s Garages made the lamps in the 1920s but in a newspaper article in the 1960s it says that the Lamb and Flag Garage made them!

This may be easily explained because the 1926 Kelly’s Directory of Oxford, Abingdon, Woodstock & District lists the Lamb and Flag Garage with the proprietor being W.R. Bishop, motor engineer of 12 St Giles Street.  It also lists Bishop (Wilfrid) as a motor car proprietor at 71 Kingston Road.

The comparable entries in the 1928 directory are:

• Bishop, Wilfred R. motor car proprietor, 71 Kingston Road & 12 St Giles’ Street.
• Lamb & Flag Garage (W.R.Bishop) motor engineer, 12 St Giles’ St & Museum Road

In the 1937 edition, the entry under Bishop reads:

Bishop’s Garages, motor engineers, 12 St Giles’ Street & Museum Road and there is no longer any entry under Lamb & Flag in this edition. 

5. Rules, regulations and fees

The rules governing student conduct and discipline (including the licensing of motor vehicles and issue of car lamps) are published by the University in the Proctors’ Memorandum.

Proctors are elected annually by the colleges and have to make sure that the University operates according to its statutes (their role was founded in 1248). They deal with student discipline, complaints about University matters, the running of University examinations and they also carry out ceremonial duties, e.g. at degree ceremonies.

There are some gaps in the records of the Proctors’ Memorandum in the Bodleian Library so we cannot be certain when the requirement for displaying green lamps came into force.

In the 1926 Proctors’ Memorandum on page 3 it states that:

MOTOR VEHICLES

As at 1st October 1926 there were 30 licensed garages.

In the same Memorandum there was a rule about ‘Aviation’ that said that ‘an undergraduate may not make an ascent by aeroplane, airship or balloon, except with the written consent of his parents or guardian. This consent, countersigned by the Dean of the College must be shown to the Proctor before the ascent is made’.

In 1944 there was an addition to the rules about parking only in authorised places.

In 1951 the rules state that ‘every motor vehicle must be registered in the name of the undergraduate owner(s) at the Proctors’ Office, and must obtain there and carry at all times a green lamp. This lamp is to be placed in a conspicuous position on the front near side, and must be connected with the lighting system and clearly lighted during lighting-up time’.

Students were expected to pay 10 shillings for the registration fee and they were not allowed to have their car out of the registered garage between midnight and 8am without written leave of the Proctors.

In 1956 they didn’t have to have the green lamp on if they were ‘in a place where parking without lights was authorised’ or if they were ‘using a roof parking light’.

1n 1959 they could re-register their car free of charge if they returned a card from the Proctors within a week at the start of the new academic year.

In 1961 the registration fee became £1 and in 1962 they also had to bring along a driving licence and certificate of insurance.

In 1963 ‘except on Sundays, a registered motorcar must never at any time be parked in the city centre, even in places where the city allows such parking’.

In 1967 the charge for licenses was dropped but a sticker had to be displayed.

6. Numbers of cars registered

In 1935 there were 415 entries in the register. The impact of the Second World War can be seen from the numbers of entries for the years 1939 to 1946.

7. Infringements of the regulations and the consequences

Even before the introduction of the regulations requiring students to register their cars there were problems.

On Thursday 15th June 1920 some students were summoned to appear in court in Oxford for breaches of the Motor Car Act. The charges were:

Students weren’t always in trouble about the use of their cars. The Proctors were asked to give permission for a ‘Social run’ on Monday 11th June 1951 from Oriel College, forming up in St Giles to drive to the Trout. The students assured the Proctors that there would be ‘no decoration of cars or undue interference with other traffic’ and that the cars would return independently.

8. Suspension of the use of green car lamps

The only time their use was suspended was in the war because green lamps were used to identify military convoys. In February 1941 the Proctors wrote to ‘All Proctorial Motor Licence Holders and Garages’ to say that ‘The Rule is suspended for the duration of the war. Lamps should be removed or put out of action by disconnection or removal of the bulb’.

In May 1945 General Hawes wrote to the Proctors to say that he saw ‘no military reason whatever why you should not reimpose the requirement that undergraduates should fit green lights on their cars’.

9. Concerns about the use of cars by students in Oxford

In the 1920s there were concerns voiced in The Times (from the Oxford University correspondent) that the owners of cars and their friends would ‘destroy the social life of the colleges’ and that ‘some think that the evil should be mitigated by a further restriction on the hours during which cars might be out’.

Concerns continued into the 1930s and there were calls for private under-graduate motorcars to be forbidden. The Road Accident Emergency Council (a national body) was concerned that undergraduates were being killed and killing others with their cars and that Oxford had become ‘a sort of hotel from which to visit London, Henley or Maidenhead’.

The Road Accident Emergency Council said that nationally, up to June 1937, 98,737 people had been killed in or by cars and 2,798,699 had been wounded.

Many parents wrote to the Proctors to voice their concerns that the students were ‘going to the dogs’ (probably not literally!) and that they were going to the London season parties and driving back to college at 4 or 5 in the morning. In addition it was said that ‘many undergraduates drive cars after drinking a glass of sherry or so’!

In 1938 the University of Michigan were in touch with the Oxford Proctors to say that they had banned undergraduates from using cars for the previous 10 years and had therefore had ‘no student motor fatalities during the academic sessions’.

On Coronation Day the Oxford Times reported that ‘a student was charged with being under the influence of alcohol to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control. A cycle was caught on his running boards being dragged along the ground for about 30 yards and then it dropped off’. He claimed to have been unjustly arrested!

In 1955 the Chief Constable contacted the Junior Proctor to ask if the formal restrictions (like the pre-1950 midnight to 8am ban) could be extended to 1pm because of Oxford traffic problems.

In the same year the Junior Proctor said that the Oxford City Registration and Licensing Authority had been most helpful in assisting the Proctors in connection with the problems concerning the registration of undergraduate motor vehicles.

10. Negotiations with the Ministry of Transport

In August 1926 the Ministry of Transport was in touch with the Proctors about ‘the ready identification of motor vehicles kept by undergraduates of the University of Oxford’. The University had suggested that student’s cars could have ‘a special plate with the letters O.U. inscribed thereon in addition to the statutory plates inscribed with the index mark and registration number of the vehicle’. There was no objection to this as they said it was provided for in paragraph 23 (3) of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing Regulations) 1924. They also had no concerns about a special coloured light being placed on the bonnet as long as it wasn’t dark blue or red.

However they did have concerns that people might ‘masquerade’ as undergraduates by putting lights on their cars!

Despite the Ministry of Transport agreeing that Oxford students could have these lamps on their cars problems often occurred when students travelled out of Oxford with their cars.

One student recalls having been pulled over by Gloucester police for having an ‘illegal’ lamp on his car and they only let him off having contacted the local Oxford police force.

The editor of The Isis wrote to the Proctors to ask permission to run a story in November 1951 called ‘The green light question’ about police outside of Oxford stopping students.

11. The end of the green lamps

In February 1967 the Junior Proctor wrote to the Chief Constable to say that they were planning to abolish the green car lamps towards the end of the current term. He also wrote to The Right Honourable Barbara Castle MP who was the Minister of Transport at the time. He said that:

‘in spite of changes in lighting regulations, the Ministry has so far been tolerant of this Oxford eccentricity.

Having reviewed the position however, we have decided that the traditional green lamp has outlived its usefulness and has no real advantage over a windscreen sticker. We therefore propose to discontinue the use of the green lamps as from the end of the current term.

We should like to thank the Minister for having permitted the system to survive so long’.

An article from The Oxford Mail in 1967 said ‘Green lamps go out’.

The final statement of lamp stock on 13th March 1967 was:

The new stickers were pink for undergraduates and yellow for post-graduates.

In 1970 the City Council introduced disc parking in Oxford so the Proctors wrote to the Deans of Colleges to say that it was now down to them to decide if they wanted to give permission for undergraduates to bring their cars to Oxford.

In 1981 the Department of Metallurgy and Science of Materials wanted to buy 2 lamps (as advertised in the Gazette) but the University Marshall replied to say that they had sold out.

12. The rules in Cambridge

Cambridge did require students to apply for a license to borrow or hire a car in 1926 and it cost £1 for the year but they don’t seem to have required any lamps or other form of identification to be placed on the vehicles.

13. Another example of a green lamp, this time actually on a car!

This photograph shows how the lamp was positioned. It is on a 1930s ‘M’ type MG owned by a student who went to Christ Church from 1954-1957. He came to the University with his 1930’s MG Midget that his father had bought for him two years earlier for £100, for the sole purpose of taking his younger brother to school.

He had been a scholarship boy at Magdalen College School and was only able to have a university education because he worked as a library clerk. The position dated back to the 19th century whereby the holder of the job became a member of ‘The House’ (as Christ Church is known) and received free tuition and 1 pound, 13 shillings and 3 pence a week in return for working in the library in the mornings and from 7-9pm on weekday evenings.

14. The car

The ‘M’ type MG was made between 1928 and 1932 by Morris Motors, just over 3,000 of them were made. It is estimated that only about 150 to 200 have survived.

It was based on the Morris Minor and launched at the Motor Show at Olympia in October 1928. The body was very simple and light being made of fabric on a wooden frame with a distinctive boat tail design. It was assembled at the MG factory in Abingdon and was on sale for £185.

It was said to be sports car history in the making. Autocar are quoted as saying, "Sixty or Sixty Five miles an hour are not adventure but delight, acceleration is very brisk, altogether an extraordinary fascinating little vehicle."

A small racing department was formed at Abingdon and MG Midgets made many prestigious wins (including at Brooklands) and broke many speed records. A notable customer of these fast little cars was Henry Ford’s son.

15. William Morris (Lord Nuffield)

Morris Motors was a local Oxford company founded by William Morris (1877- 1963). William had left school at 15, repairing and making bicycles. His workshop was in a brick shed at 16, James Street, Oxford. He opened a cycle shop at 48 High Street and, in 1901, started to make motorcycles.

The first Morris Garage opened in 1902 on Longwall Street and there is a display in the window about its history. He opened his car factory in Cowley in 1912 and pioneered mass production in Britain, having admired the methods of Henry Ford in America. MG cars became known around the world. His showroom in St. Aldates is now used at the Oxford Crown Court.
Through his wealth he became a great benefactor. During the 1930s Lord Nuffield turned over half the production line of the cars to the making of iron lungs (used in the treatment of polio) and gave one to all of the hospitals in Britain and the Empire.

Morris also founded Nuffield College in Oxford (in 1937) on the site of the disused canal basin. It scored a number of ‘firsts’:

• both women and men were housed together
• it consisted solely of graduate students
• it had a defined subject focus (the social sciences).

In 1943 he founded The Nuffield Foundation with a gift of 10 million pounds worth of shares in his company and in 1949 The Times described Lord Nuffield as "the greatest benefactor of the University since the Middle Ages".

16. Cowley in the Second World War

In the Second World War parts of the Morris car factory were converted into aircraft workshops. It was essential to get aircraft repaired and back into service as quickly as possible. Aircraft that were irreparable became sources of metal, rubber and plastic.

The artist Paul Nash (who had moved to Oxford because of fear of bombing in London) saw the aircraft salvage dump at Cowley and painted 'Totes Meer' soon after the Battle of Britain.

See the painting on the Tate website.

This is his description of what he saw.

'The thing (the salvage dump) looked to me, suddenly, like a great inundating sea. You might feel – under certain circumstances – a moonlight night, for instance, this is a vast tide moving across the fields, the breakers rearing up and crashing on the plain. And then, no, nothing moves, it is not water or even ice, it is something static and dead. It is metal piled up, wreckage. It is hundreds and hundreds of flying creatures which invaded these shores (how many Nazi planes have been shot down or otherwise wrecked in this country since they first invaded?). Well, here they are, or some of them. By moonlight, the waning moon, one could swear they began to move and twist and turn as they did in the air. A sort of rigor mortis? No, they are quite dead and still. The only moving creature is the white owl flying low over the bodies of the other predatory creatures, raking the shadows for rats and voles. She isn’t there, of course, as a symbol quite so much as the form and colour essential just there to link up with the cloud fringe overhead.’