The Spirit of Ecstasy

In a previous entry I mentioned the Rolls Royce hood ornament that inspired my first published story. Much like Isadora Duncan, Eleanor Velasco Thornton was a young lady with beauty, spirit, and intelligence (not unlike Bizzy Holt, the libertine chanteuse in The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince). And, like Duncan, Thornton would inspire the creation of one the most recognizable symbols in automotive history.

The Spirit of Ecstasy

Eleanor (“Thorn” to her companions) had a small problem, though. She lacked the social status to marry the man she loved. John Montagu-Scott was the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, and Thorn was a commoner who worked as John’s secretary. Further complicating matters, Baron Montagu was already married. He didn’t let that stop him from getting Eleanor pregnant, though.

Eleanor Thornton

Like Wright Williams, our hero in The Purple Menace, Baron Montagu was a Rolls Royce man. With no way to publicly declare his love for Thorn, he commissioned the creation of a mascot to adorn the radiator of his 1909 Silver Ghost, a commission that was filled by Charles Robinson Sykes, a London sculptor and close friend and confidant of John.

Baron Montagu

Charles knew of John’s love affair with Thorn and chose the young secretary as his model for the sculpture. Like the lovers themselves, Charles used the utmost discretion as he worked. He named the original piece of art The Whisper, having sculpted Thorn with one forefinger against her lips, symbolizing their forbidden affair. Subsequent sculpts, sans the secret gesture, were rechristened Spirit of Ecstasy and Eleanor’s likeness has graced every Rolls Royce since. But poor Thorn didn’t live long enough to see it.

The Whisper

Baron Montagu and Thorn — as well as a treasure of gold and jewels bound for the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh in India — were aboard the SS Persia when it was torpedoed off the coast of Crete by a German U-boat on December 30, 1915. Baron Montagu survived. Thorn, along with hundreds of other passengers, drowned in the Mediterranean. Thorn’s sister, Rose (you can’t make this stuff up) administered her will. Amongst her effects was an original silver model of the Spirit of Ecstasy.

Charles Robinson Sykes fared a great deal better than his muse. After World War I, he worked as an illustrator under the pseudonym “Rilette,” producing numerous fashion drawings for the Sunday Dispatch, Woman magazine, as well as designing travel posters and advertisements for De Reszke cigarettes.

Illustration work by Charles Robinson Sykes

After his death in 1951, a memorial exhibit, including over a hundred drawings, paintings, and bronzes, was held in London. The original sculpture of The Whisper is on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, England.

For more chrome ladies and debauched debonair dudes, check out The Purple Menace and the Tobacco Prince.

-WEB3