Welsh Journals

enabled him to break the world land speed record in 1888. The American, Gardner, financed his factory. Young George Tinsley was a mechanical engineer and it was probably his enthusiasm that inspired his father to purchase this first steam car, and also a second one two years later. After the death of Serpollet in 1907, petrol-engine cars began to take over. James Tinsley had been a pioneer of travel in the area. He retired to Beaufort, high above Ebbw Vale, out of the grime of the valley. He had come a long way from the humble area of his birth. The Author: Helen Holmes was born in Atherton, Lancashire, a small town which, then, had coal and cotton mills. She was always aware of the interesting photos of James Tinsley in her mother's collection. Jane (1898-1976) was the daughter of Richard Tinsley, a colliery electrician killed in an accident at Bickershaw Colliery, Leigh, in 1916. James Tinsley was his half-brother. In difficult circumstances Helen's mother had kept, with pride, the photos of her relatives in Ebbw Vale showing the lovely Bridge House, the daughters in their fashionable dresses and, of course, the car. A graduate of Sheffield University, Helen spent most of her career teaching French. Her interest in history led to an M.A. at Keele University, 30 years after her first degree! For 40 years she has lived in Stone, Staffordshire, and Tywyn, Merioneth. The family's interest in the Talyllyn Railway has widened into a busy retirement full of local history research both in England and Wales. She has developed an interest in the exchange/migration of workers between the Ebbw Vale area and the Wigan coalfield and in comparisons between the two industrial areas. This may lead to publication in the future.