Friday Drives

For Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, Friday afternoons were marked by a cherished ritual of taking Venetia Stanley for motor drives, offering him a crucial escape from political pressures. Usually chauffeured in his Napier car, they drove to places like Richmond, Hampstead, or Barnet, and Asquith later estimated they had shared over a hundred such “heavenly” outings, lamenting the future Fridays without her. These drives became the setting for both light gossip and serious political confidences, reflecting the deepening intimacy of their relationship. The privacy of the car also encouraged personal reflection, as when a February 1915 drive past his childhood home led him to reminisce about his youth, and he guarded this “divine” custom even at the cost of lonely, reflective journeys home.