Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 9 April 1927, page 1


LAST OF THE REINSMEN ——<>——

Man Who Drove the Queen to Buckland Park — MEMORIES OF BLAND HOLT AND RIGNOLD

Still driving horses for a living in Adelaide, Frank Adams, for 50 years in the service of John Hill & Co., and Fewster and Co., is one of the last of the old professional reinsmen.

During the past fortnight he has been

constantly in the streets of Adelaide driv ing an old landau for Duncan & Fraser, Limited, to direct attention to new aud old. methods of transport and to the merits of British production, whether of motor cars or of vehicles that are now as old fashioned as to be rare and picturesque. When the present Queen visited South Australia at the beginning of the century she went to Buckland Park in a landau driven by Frank Adams. Lord Tenny Fon accompanied the Queen, then the Duchess of York, and the only notable thing 'about the journey was its unevent ful ness. In 1895 Frank Adams drove the Maha rajah of Alwar from the City Baths on North terrace to see the famous stallion Gang Forward, at Sir Thomas Elder's stud, which is located at Morphettville. One bright, sunny morning in 1895 the Maharajah of Alwar. his military secre tary, and suite of 16 persons, presented themselves at the York Hotel,. Bundle street, in search of accommodation, only tojiie told politely but firmly that no ac commodation was available. Refusal also awaited the Maharajah of Alwar at the South Australian Hotel, and in desperae tion the Indian prince and his suite hied

MAKING ADELAIDE GAY FOR DUKE'S VISIT.— A start has been made with the festooning of Adelaide streets with flags to make the city gay for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. The photograph was taken yesterday in King William street.

MAKING ADELAIDE GAY FOR DUKE'S VISIT.— A start has been made with the festooning of Adelaide streets with flags to make the city gay for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York. The photograph was taken yesterday in King William street.

ihemselves to the railway station, there to ask advice of the railway officials as to lrhere to find accommodation. OLD TIME SCANDAL Because it was known that Mr. Charles Bastard, the lessee of the City Baths, had spent Borne time in India, it was suggested to the Maharajah that he would be a per0 con who might solve all difficulties. As it happened the Turkish baths were tem porarily out of commission, and the prince smarting under what he termed the in sults of South Australian hotelkeepers, established himself in the cooling rooms of the baths. Later South Australia awakened to the fact that it was entertaining an important personage unawares, and the Premier, Sir John Cox Bray, called in person upon the Maharajah. The Governor, Lord Kintore, also sent an emissary, but in spite of all attempts to get the princely visitor to change his place of abode, for the five days he was in South Australia he lived at the Turkish baths. So it was that Frank Adams drove him from there to Sir Thomas Elder's, and not from some well-known city hotel. An ironic sequel to this old-time story w-.is provided when, the Maharajah 'ar-rived in Melbourne. He was met by a mounted escort, and taken in great state to Government House, over whose desti nies Lord Hopetoun then ruled. It even tuated that the Maharajah had enter tained King Edward VII. when as Prince of Wales he visited India. When Gen. Booth, the great Salva tionist, -was in South Australia he stayed with Sir Samuel Way. Frank Adams was a sort of impromptu coachman to Sir Samuel, and in due course he was called upon to drive the distinguished visitor. Gen. Booth was then an old man, and at the conclusion of . one drive he showed signs of fatigue as he alighted from the landau. 'I work a lot harder than you do,' he said by way of explanation to Adams. SOME FAMOUS STARS Frank Adams has been temporary coach-man to many famous theatrical stars, and Melba and Paderewski have both been --------Printed and published by NEWS LIMITED, 116-126 North temee, Adelaide, South ---------

driven to concert assignments by him, and thirty or forty years ago there was hardly a star of any note whom he did not drive to and from the Theatre Royal. George Rignold used to employ a landau with Adams in charge to drive his wife and some members of his company to the theatre, while he himself rode alongside upon a white horse, upon which he was wont to appear some hours later as Henry V. Bland Holt was a famous actor with whom Adams was associated in more ways than one. Holt was a great stickler for realism upon the stage, and happen ing to be staging a piece called ''A Million of Money,'' in which it was re-quired to have a landau to appear upon the stage, he persuaded Adams to take a place in the cast. RANJI WAS LATE Nance O'Neill and the Earl of Aber-deen, to say nothing of two Princes of the Royal blood from the South Sea Islands whose names have been forgotten, were among those who employed Frank Adams as coachman, while most English and Australian cricketers have at one time or another sat in a vehicle presided over by his magic fingers.

One memory that Frank Adams cherishes is of Prince Ranjitsinjhi, who had missed the drag in Adelaide, galloping in a cab up the Norton's Summit road to join his comrades. The Prince refused point blank to pay the cab driver him self, maintaining that that was a responsi-bility for the manager of the team. After much good-natured banter the manager paid. Frank Adams was the driver of one of the coaches employed by James Marshall and Co. for a picnic, on returning from which a drag driven by Jack Lambert, a famous driver of the day, overturned when coming down Belair Hill. Lambert and one passenger were killed. This accident happened about three quarters of a mile from the top of Belair Hill, opposite a little white gate which still serves as an entrance to a sana-torium, and not, as is generally assumed, at the sharp bend half-way down that hill from iwhich such a fine view of Ade-laide is now obtained. STILL IN HARNESS Frank Adams as a boy of 12 rode with the mails from Willunga to Port Elliot and back each day. A year later he came to Adelaide and joined John Hill and Co., and today, 52 years later, he is still working and still driving horses when the occasion arises from the stables in which he worked as a lad of 13. The livery and letting stables in Ack-land street, Adelaide, now owned by Fewster & Co., have a peculiar history. A year or two after South Australia was proclaimed a province William Rounsevell established a livery and letting office- in Ackland street, and ever since the office he has often used for the same purpose. Famous firms and persons who have been associated with it are: — William Rounsevell. Cobb & Co. John Hill & Co., Limited. Graves, Hill & Co. Fewster & Co. Today Frank Adams does not get the opportunity to feel the surge of prancing leaders and polers as often as he would desire. There is still one of Hill & Co.'s old drags stationed at the stables in Ackland street, however, and when Ade-laide society goes hunting Frank Adams is still to be seen on the box seat of this vehicle.

OLD AND NEW. — This Landau, once the property of Lady Bray, returned to city streets last week to point a contrast between old and new methods of transport. It teas driven by Mr. Frank Adams.

OLD AND NEW. — This Landau, once the property of Lady Bray, returned to city streets last week to point a contrast between old and new methods of transport. It was driven by Mr. Frank Adams.