Sir, Apropos the origin of the word “Stepney” (letter, July 26), long in use in Indian English, may I refer your readers to the explanation given in my copy of Nigel Hankin’s Hanklyn-Janklin (Banyan Books, New Delhi, 1992) (T2, July 23):
A spare wheel for a vehicle. The term, dating from at least 1904, is still in everyday garage use in India and is a reference to a firm, “The Stepney Spare Motor Wheel Co. Ltd”, who patented a rim complete with inflated tyre, which could be temporarily attached to a punctured car wheel: a great convenience for the Edwardian motorist.
The name followed from the maker’s location, Stepney Street in Llanelli, South Wales: in 1990, the town’s main shopping precinct. (The Stepneys were a local iron-master family prominent towards the end of the 19th century.) Honouring the invention of the spare wheel within its municipal limits, in 1913 the Llanelli Borough Council was permitted to include a representation of the stepney on its corporate heraldic badge.
In heraldry, a badge is usually a less complicated identifying device than a full coat of arms: these days Llanelli appears to have forgotten its badge and to use for its blazon only the less industrial and rather grander coat of arms.
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Amongst Delhi office staffs, an easy-going colleague not always of great assistance, but of some help in an emergency, may be referred to as a stepney.
Yours faithfully,
VICTOR WADDELL,
9 Chalk Dale, Welwyn Garden City,
Hertfordshire AL7 2AP.
July 26.