Travelling through time

IT was nearly 80 years ago that a young Tuam father took his last taxi fare and handed over his large black Armstrong car.

His short five-year career as a taxi driver mightn't have been his most memorable, but the ledger he kept itemising every person he carried in the three of his cars gives a unique insight into the town's social history.
The now heavily taped and yellowing pages of the ledger of William J McGrath begin on March 21, 1933 and conclude on Good Friday, 1938. It is just a small piece of memorabilia that one of his sons, Michael McGrath, has managed to hold on to over the years. Towards the end of last year the ledger was passed on to Michael's son, Alan.
William began his driving career in Castlebar when he was in his late teens where he was a chauffeur for a few local people. Some years later he was a delivery driver for Cloran's Bakery which was then on Shop Street, Tuam. However, his delivery days came to an end when he nearly lost his right arm in an accident en route to a shop in Williamstown.
William, or Bill as he was known, received compensation from the bakery and he decided to start his own taxi business. There were very few cars in the town at the time; even the garda station didn't have its own patrol car.
Bill's first car was a Willys Whippet Saloon which he purchased for £95 with 12,210 miles on the clock. Bill held a driver's licence but there was no such thing as driving tests or any sort of MOT – it was a free for all. The Whippet didn't stay around too long and by the end of September that year Bill sold it for £75 and upgraded to a Vauxhall which he documented cost £200 and had 22,000 on the speedometer.

Read the full feature in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald