on 18 May 1889 and easily beat a number of superior riders mounted on solid-tyred cycles. Among the defeated riders were the sons of William Harvey Du Cros, who, being impressed with the possibilities of the new tyre, made the acquaintance of the inventor and eventually, late in 1889, refloated with him the business of Booth Brothers, cycle and agricultural implement agents, of Dublin, as the Pneumatic Tyre and Booth’s Cycle Agency. Dunlop, who had been on the point of retiring from his practice, made over his patent to Du Cros for a moderate sum and took 1,500 shares in the company, the capital of which (£25,000) was not at first fully subscribed. In 1892 Dunlop removed to Dublin.
Dunlop continued to play an important part in the business for several years, but was overshadowed by Du Cros, whose ability helped to guide the company through many struggles. It was found that the pneumatic principle had already been patented in 1846 by a certain Mr. Thompson, a fact which invalidated the Dunlop patent. The company had, however, secured valuable patents for rims, valves, and fixing methods; and, after a brief fight with the short-lived cushion tyre and much litigation, it prospered, and in time pneumatic tyres achieved worldwide popularity. The pneumatic tyre revolutionized cycling and made possible the motor road vehicle. Dunlop himself did not profit greatly from the success of his invention, and he took no further part in its development after the original company had been sold in 1896 for £3,000,000 to the financier, Ernest Terah Hooley, who refloated it for £5,000,000. Eventually it became the Dunlop Rubber Company, Ltd., with a huge capital and many subsidiary companies. Dunlop lived quietly at Balls Bridge, Dublin, his only business interest being in a drapery establishment there. He died there 23 October 1921. He married in 1876 and had a son and a daughter (Mrs. McClintock); the latter in 1923 published some of her father’s reminiscences as The History of the Pneumatic Tyre.
[Jean McClintock, History of the Pneumatic Tyre, 1923; private information; personal knowledge.]
EADY, CHARLES SWINFEN, first Baron Swinfen (1851–1919), judge, was born at Chertsey 31 July 1851, the second son of George John Hady, surgeon, of Chertsey, by his wife, Laura Maria, daughter of Richard Smith, physician, of Chertsey. He was educated privately and at London University, where he took the degree of bachelor of laws in 1874, The year before this he had been articled to a Mr. Jenkins, solicitor, of Chertsey. He was admitted a solicitor in 1874 but soon determined to enter the higher branch of his profession. He was accordingly admitted as student of the Inner Temple in 1876 and was called to the bar in 1879. He read as a pupil in the chambers of (Lord) Cozens-Hardy, into whose shoes he was destined to step on more than one occasion. Eady had great capacity; his experience as a solicitor had given him confidence, and he speedily built up a good practice on the Chancery side. In 1893 Cozens-Hardy ‘went special’, thus creating a vacancy for a Q.C. in the court of Mr. Justice North. Eady at once applied for and obtained a silk gown, and quickly succeeded to Cozens-Hardy’s place. For the next six years he had the leading practice before Mr. Justice North. His arguments, although a little prolix, were lucid and learned, and he was always master of the facts of his case. In 1899, on Cozens-Hardy’s elevation to the bench, Eady himself ‘went special’, and in 1901 was selected by Lord Halsbury to fill the Chancery judgeship left vacant by Cozens-Hardy’s promotion to the Court of Appeal. In the same year he was knighted. Although he fell short of greatness Eady proved an admirable judge, being expeditious, learned, and courteous.
In 1913, on the resignation of Sir George Farwell, Eady was promoted to the Court of Appeal and created a privy councillor. In the Court of Appeal he rendered effective service in common law as well as Chancery cases. After the death of Lord Justice Kennedy in 1915, Eady frequently presided in the second Court of Appeal, and in May 1918, on Cozens-Hardy’s resignation, was selected to succeed him as master of the Rolls. In 1919 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Swinfen, of Chertsey. But his health soon began to fail, and after the Easter sittings of 1919 he was unable to resume his duties. In the autumn he resigned, and a few weeks later, on 15 November 1919, he died at his London house.
Eady married in 1894 Blanche Maude, younger daughter of Sydney Williams Lee, of Dereham, Putney Hill. He had one son and two daughters.
The Times, 17 November 1919; Law Journal, 22 November 1919; private information. Portrait, Royal Academy Pictures, 1902.]
168
