Archive Article: 1997/12/12

12 December 1997

From John Lovett-Turner, Cheltenham, Glos

THE first tractor I drove was an Austin bought by my father in 1921 – at the time it was only the second one in the parish.

I had to wait until I was 11 years old until I was allowed to drive it, although I cant remember what particular task I was asked to do.

The tractor was used for cultivating operations and for towing the binder – for this latter task the tractor was deemed to be marginally faster than horses, much to the disdain of farm hands who often commented: "Gaffers gone mad again."

John Lovett-Turners brother and father use the Austin tractor and binder to harvest wheat near St Albans in 1932.