Here is a copy of a message I have just sent to Ross D Herbert, which may be
of general interest to Cardens.
Dear Ross,
Chuck has sent me a copy of your query.
Sir John Valentine Carden did indeed build cars at Ascot. He built the
cheapest car exhibited at the 1921 motor show, costing �100. My brother has
one, which was at our Carden Gathering last year and is now at the Beaulieu
motor museum. He was a highly spoken-of designer of tracked military
vehicles, and it is believed that the Valentine tank which enabled us to
beat Rommel in the Western Desert in the war was posthumously named after
him. He also designed the "flying flea" light aeroplane. Sadly he died in
his prime in an air crash in 1935, and some believe this was an
assassination by the Germans. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1933, like
me part of the Tipperary branch of the family.
A book about him is being written by John Cartledge, whom I have recently
met. John has managed to meet Valentine's son Sir John Carden and obtain
plenty of information and photographs.
Perhaps you knew all that.
Arthur Carden. CardenAE1(a)cs.com
In Ireland to early December 1999, then Portugal.