W. C. Vaughan, “Mr. Bon,” and the Steam Automobile at Osaka in 1903

The common story says that W. C. Vaughan demonstrated a Locomobile steam automobile at the Fifth National Industrial Exhibition in Osaka in 1903. That version is close enough to have survived, but it is too compressed. The evidence points to three related but separate claims: first, that Locomobile cars were exhibited at Osaka; second, that a driver remembered in Japanese sources as 「ボーン氏」 was in fact W. C. Vaughan; and third, that the automobile Vaughan publicly drove may have been a Toledo steam car associated with Andrews & George rather than one of the Locomobile display cars (Osuga 1981, pp. 61–68).

Kazumi Osuga’s source-critical work is the backbone of the identification. In his first report on Japanese automobile history, Osuga listed the core documents he used for the 1903 exhibition, including the official exhibition report, Yokichi Kobayashi’s English guide to the Foreign Samples Building, photographs of the exhibition, and contemporary newspaper material such as the Osaka Asahi Shimbun (Osuga 1977, p. 30). This matters because the Vaughan story depends not on later automobile folklore alone, but on comparing English exhibition material with Japanese newspaper and historical accounts.

The name problem is central. Japanese automobile histories had preserved the driver as 「ボーン氏」, often back-rendered as “Bon” or “Bohn.” Osuga’s later fifth report states directly that 「運転手ボーン氏」 was “Mr. W. C. Vaughan” — in other words, the mysterious “Mr. Bon” was not a separate pioneer driver but the same person identified in the English-language exhibition source tradition as W. C. Vaughan (Osuga 1981, p. 63). The English source described Vaughan as a famous cyclist, which also explains why he would have had the mechanical confidence and public-performance skills needed to operate an unfamiliar automobile before large crowds (Osuga 1977).

The exhibition setting was the Andrews & George building, a Yokohama-linked American commercial exhibit. Contemporary material quoted by Osuga identifies the vehicles there not simply as Locomobiles, but as two Toledo steam automobiles and one Waverley electric automobile. In Japanese, Osuga summarizes the Andrews & George automobiles as 「トレド号…蒸気式…2台」 and 「ウェヴァーレー電気式…1台」, meaning two Toledo steam cars and one Waverley electric car (Osuga 1981, p. 61). This is the point where the simple “Vaughan drove a Locomobile” version begins to wobble.

The public demonstration element is nevertheless real. Osuga’s fifth report reproduces and discusses Osaka Asahi Shimbun accounts describing the automobile being driven for spectators and dignitaries. One article describes the vehicle being driven at Tamade-zaka for viewing after an imperial visit, while another describes a journey from the exhibition grounds toward Sakai under Vaughan/「ボーン氏」’s control (Osuga 1981, pp. 63–66). Osuga even suggests that one of these newspaper accounts may be among the earliest Japanese automobile test-ride reports (Osuga 1981, p. 66).

Locomobile still belongs in the story, but more carefully. Osuga confirms that four Locomobile cars were present among the automobiles exhibited at the fair, writing that 「ロコモービル（Locomobile）4台」 could be reconfirmed among the exhibition automobiles (Osuga 1981, p. 67). Locomobile’s broader significance is also supported by later technical-heritage work: Sato, Ichinose, and Haga describe a surviving Locomobile as an American steam automobile and one of Japan’s oldest private passenger automobiles (Sato, Ichinose & Haga 2019).

But the strongest reading of Osuga’s fifth report is that the Vaughan demonstrations were probably not demonstrations of the Locomobile display cars. Osuga concludes that, during the exhibition period, the automobile actually being driven around by Bon/Vaughan at the Andrews & George exhibit was the Toledo car, and that the other Andrews & George vehicles were either display-only or soon disappeared from the record (Osuga 1981, pp. 67–68). That creates a more precise historical formulation: Locomobile cars were exhibited in Osaka in 1903; W. C. Vaughan, remembered in Japanese as 「ボーン氏」, publicly operated an automobile there; but the automobile Vaughan drove should not automatically be identified as a Locomobile.

The broader Japanese automobile-history context supports this caution. Japan’s domestic automobile manufacturing was still embryonic in 1903; later accounts usually place the first Japanese-made steam automobile in 1904 and the first Japanese gasoline automobile in 1907, meaning that the 1903 exhibition vehicles were part of an imported-machine display culture rather than a domestic automobile industry (Townsend 2018; Wada 2020). Broader studies of the Japanese and American auto industries are useful for later industrial context, but they do not by themselves prove the Vaughan identification or the Osaka demonstration details (Cole, Yakushiji & McCracken 2020).

The safest conclusion is therefore not the tidy legend, but a source-critical version of it. W. C. Vaughan was very likely the man remembered in Japanese sources as 「ボーン氏」. He was associated with the Andrews & George automobile demonstrations at the 1903 Osaka exhibition and helped turn the automobile from a static imported curiosity into a moving public spectacle. Locomobile cars were also present at the exhibition and are part of the same early automobile moment. However, the best available evidence suggests that Vaughan’s famous public driving demonstrations were probably connected with the Andrews & George Toledo steam car, not necessarily with the Locomobile exhibit itself.

References

  • Cole, R., Yakushiji, T., & McCracken, P. (2020). The American and Japanese Auto Industries in Transition. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.77660

  • Osuga, K. / 大須賀和美. (1977). 「日本自動車史の資料的研究 第1報」『中日本自動車短期大学論叢』7, 29–77. PDF

  • Osuga, K. / 大須賀和美. (1981). 「第5回内国勧業博覧会の出品自動車等について」 / 「日本自動車史の資料的研究 第5報」『中日本自動車短期大学論叢』11, 59–68. PDF

  • Sato, T., Ichinose, T., & Haga, T. (2019). “CG content of the Locomobile which is the Oldest Private Steam Automobile in JAPAN.” The Proceedings of Mechanical Engineering Congress, Japan. https://doi.org/10.1299/jsmemecj.2019.S20106

  • Townsend, S. (2018). “The History of Motorization in Japan.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.388

  • Wada, K. (2020). “The Foundation of the Japanese Automobile Manufacturing Industry: Attempts to Adopt Ford’s Production System,” 37–69. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4928-1_3

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