Hopes' Motor Services

The information on this page about the business and the buses was kindly supplied by John Bennett (jbloughborough@hotmail.co.uk), a volunteer at the The Bus Archive.

The Family

Emma Newlove was born in Terrington on 21st June 1877, and married James Hope in 1899. James died on 26th December 1909.

In the 1911 Census, Emma Hope is head of household and widow, aged 33, at Sleights Farm, East Acklam, with sons John, Wilfred, James, Horace, ages 8, 7, 4, and 2.

Emma Hope was prominent in the Primitive Methodist movement. There is some information on her in the Christian Messenger 1913.

At some time Emma took over the Temperance Hotel in the current Hope Cottage in Terrington. Hopes' Motor Services started in 1929, perhaps in part to transport customers from stations on the York to Scarborough line.

In the 1939 Register, James Stanley Hope (born 5 September 1906) is single, a public bus driver, living at home with his mother Emma Hope, householder. Horace Hope (born 21 July 1908) is bus proprietor and driver, partner to brother, with his wife Ursula (born 12 May 1912), living at the top of the village. Horace had married Ursula Dobson in 1936.

Wilfred Newlove Hope (born 16 January 1904) is a farmer in Terrington, with his wife Gladys (née Thompson), born 17 August 1907, whom he had married in Pontefract in 1939. John Robert Hope (born 17 May 1902) seems to have been a gardener in Lichfield, living with wife Jessie (née Scott), born 6 May 1906, from Birdsall, whom he had married in 1931.

Emma Hope died on 12th March 1941, aged 63. James Stanley married Christina Prest in April 1941.

The Bus business

The business started in March 1929. Mrs Emma Hope bought WW 423 on 28/3/29 (a 7 seat bus/goods vehicle, new in 1927) and WW 9030 in April 1929 (a new 14 seat bus) from Edward Nash & Co Ltd, Springfield Avenue, Harrogate.

Edward Nash was born in Terrington in 1883, the son of Robert and Annie Nash. Robert was a grocer and sub-postmaster in 1891 and 1901 (and gamekeeper in 1911), whose shop was next to the Bay Horse Inn, where the oriel window now is and which later became William Leaf, tailor. Edward became an engineer who designed and equipped factories at Harrogate and Middlesbrough for munitions work during the war and became the first president of Harrogate Motor Trade Association. See Grace's Guide for more information. He married May Burrows, born in York in October 1886, at Knaresborough in the autumn of 1913; in 1911 she was bookkeeper and typist in motor engineering living in Harogate. Edward died in 1966.

James (known as Stanley) and Horace ran the buses. Stanley would have been 23 and Horace 21 in 1929.

The buses were kept on North Back Lane to the rear of Hope Cottage, on land now occupied by Terrington Surgery and Owlers Lodge. The fleet had a maximum of six vehicles in 1950, reduced to four by 1974.

As well as running regular services in the area, Hopes' also hired buses for private trips. The following photos show Terrington residents on trips in Hopes' buses.

Reminiscences of the important part Hopes' played in getting people out and about from the village can be found in several of the oral history recordings.

There is one published source on the business: York Independents - Eastern Stage Bus Operators by Stuart Emmett, Key Publishing Ltd (2020). The Hopes are on pages 7 to 19.

The Buses

List of all known vehicles. Source: The PSV Circle.

The Bus Services

It is thought that the first bus route was to Malton, with possibly a weekly run to York. J Craven of Terrington also ran to York until selling his bus to the West Yorkshire Road Car Co in October 1934.

In 1946 Hopes' took over the services of AL Kemp of Crayke with one bus (VN 6952). The routes were Stearsby to Thirsk (Monday) and Crayke to York (Thursday and Saturday).

The 1953 timetable, in booklet form, showed the services at their greatest frequency.

After the mid-1950s rural bus services suffered a considerable decline, largely due to increasing ownership of motor cars and televisions, the latter meaning that people stayed at home and watched television instead of going to the cinema.

The services were reduced and some ceased as follows: Thirsk in 1966; Sheriff Hutton to Malton in August 1967; Crayke to York in December 1971.

The remaining routes and vehicles were sold to Bentley, Amotherby in September 1974.

Later timetables illustrate the changes.

The buses

The Bus Archive is very fortunate to have numerous photographs of Hopes' vehicles with the exception of the ones new in 1929 and in the early 1930s. They would be very pleased to see any pictures of Hopes' buses and coaches.

John Bennett, Volunteer at The Bus Archive, March 2021.