Car Registrations – Driven To Write

Think of a Number, Add a Letter

Andrew Miles talks alphanumerics.

Would the elder brother of Bertrand Russell really have camped out all night by the London council offices? Or, as one would back in the autumn of 1903, simply sent ones butler? History on this occasion just may be bunk.

For although A1 is the perceived and openly referenced original British number plate, with one Earl Russell being the purchaser, DY1 is in fact the first officially registered number plate in England. DY1 is recorded as being issued on 23rd November 1903 in Hastings, A1 in London the week before Christmas 1903. 24/11/1903, BH1, Buckinghamshire. 25/11/03 Y1, Somerset.

Records show that Russell was indeed an early motoring enthusiast, just not the owner of A1. But it makes for a good story. Continue reading “Think of a Number, Add a Letter”

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