Betty Haig

Elizabeth Haig (1905–1987) was a British racing driver who competed in rallying, hill climbs and historic racing. She won the 1936 Olympic Rally, the first and last time after 1900 that an automobile race was part of the Olympic Games.

Haig was born in Marylebone, London in 1905.

She was a member of the Scottish whisky-distilling Haig family. Her father was Colonel Oliver Haig. She was also the grand-niece of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from 1915 to 1919. Her earliest years were spent in the family home in Ramornie in Fife, Scotland. In the early 1920s her parents divorced, and Haig moved to Sussex with her mother and brother.

As a young girl Haig pursued equestrian sports such as riding, hunting and show-jumping. While still a schoolgirl she was taken for a ride in the Fiat Mephistopheles. At 14 she bought her first motorised vehicle; a surplus 2¾ hp Douglas motorcycle, and at the age of 16 Haig bought her first car with a gift of £50 from a Great Aunt. This car was destroyed in a fire, and Haig earned money towards the cost of its replacement, an Austin 7 Sports, by selling her story to the press at £10 each. The same year that the Austin was purchased she first did a lap at Brooklands in boyfriend Dennis Spragg's Talbot 8. She also attended the very first British Grand Prix in 1926.

Haig and Spragg married, but the union did not last. For a time, either during the marriage or shortly after it ended, she lived in Africa.

After finalizing her divorce Haig returned to England. She and flatmate Joyce Lambert bought two 600 cc Raleigh motorcycles, which they used to tour across Europe.

Other purchases on her return to England included a variety of cars, including a second Morgan and a variety of MGs.

In the early 1930s (the year is reported to have been either 1930 or 1933), Betty crashed her Morgan Super Sport on the Kingston bypass, killing passenger Molly Watkins.

Subject ID: 54792