six more cars, and set up a showroom in London from which to sell them. The first cars were ready by 1900, and so successful were they that Napier decided to move his company to larger premises in Acton, London. While Napier concentrated on the engineering Edge focused on the marketing and publicity. In 1902 he drove a Napier to victory in that year's Gordon Bennett Cup, the first British victory in an international motor race. Napier cars dominated the British luxury car market until 1906, but Napier was unconvinced that there was a sustainable long-term market for such vehicles, unlike Rolls-Royce, his main competitor. Napier therefore set up a new company to develop more popular cars. Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Napier's interest turned increasingly to aircraft engines. Initially Napier's built engines designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, but at his own expense Napier subsequently designed his own, the Lion. By 1924 about half of all British aircraft were powered by Napier's engine, and Napier automobile production had ceased. Later life Napier's health had broken down by 1915, probably as a result of cancer, and he moved to the south of France from where he continued working as a consultant to his company. He was unable to design a satisfactory successor to the Lion, and therefore Napier was overtaken in the aero-engine market by Bristol and Rolls-Royce. Napier died at his home in Cannes, Villa des Cistes, on 22 January 1931, aged 60. The income from his estate of more than £1 million was left to his nurse and reputed mistress, Norah Mary Fryer, for the duration of her life, after which the residue of the estate was to be given to cancer research. In 1903 he had married school governess Alice Caroline Mary, née Paterson, with whom he had two sons and two daughters; the couple were legally separated in 1922. References Citations Bibliography 1870 births 1931 deaths British automotive pioneers People from Lambeth English male cyclists