Peter was born in 1940 in Wolverhampton, where he was raised and

spent his working life both in and around many of the companies
included in this book. Unfortunately he suffered a major stroke at the
age of thirty-four. After a period of recovery and rehabilitation, he
began the next phase of his life working at his own pace on his own
smallholding.

Pe t e r Mo r r e y

MOTORING IN THE
LAST 100 YEARS, THE
WOLVERHAMPTON
WAY

Copyright Peter Morrey

The right of Peter Morrey to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British
Library.

ISBN 978 1 78455 037 0

www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
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E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

Acknowledgments
Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies, for photos and information.
John Meadows, for photographs, drawings and specification information on
Henry Meadows Ltd and Meadows Frisky.
John Favill, for his working experience, photographs and specification
information on Meadows, Villiers Engineering and Norton Villiers.
John Drewett, for his working experience, photographs and specification
information on Meadows.
Roy Dumbell, a member of the family of Turner Manufacturing companys
founder, and the chairman and managing director until the 1980s, and Larry
Hopkins, assistant chief engineer until recently, for their working experience,
photographs and specification information on Turner Manufacturing.
Peter Tutthill, for providing photos, drawings, and some text with regard to
Keift Racing Cars, Turner Sports Cars, Meadows Frisky and Raymond Flower.
The late Jack Turner, for his working experience, photographs and
specification information on Turner Sports Cars Also Russ Filby and Brian
Shaw, for extra information and photographs and help with Turner Sports Cars.
Keith Peckmore, for his working experience, photographs and specification
information on Keift Racing Cars and Meadows Frisky.
The late Peter Radcliff for an enormous amount of help with his wealth of
knowledge on diesel engines, and photos of his Fowler Challenger crawler
tractor, with Meadows power.
JDHT for their help in providing photos of SS Cars and Jaguar Cars.
The late Norman Cliff, a personal friend, for his working experience with
the Experimental and Racing department of Sunbeam Cars.
Black Country Museum and helpers in providing photos and drawings.
Robert Jones, a cousin, for providing me plenty of facts, and a loan of my
grandfathers book Sunbeam Cars up until 1924.
Mike Ridley, for providing his grandfather J.V. Ridleys references to
Sunbeam Cars including his work sheets and documents.
The late Tony Morrey, brother, with all his memories and his letter from
Bob Roberts, the late owner of the Sunbeam Tiger, and the late Paul Morrey
with his photo of the same car and other photos.
Alan Richens and all members of STD Register for their help in providing
photos and specification information of Sunbeam cars.
Daimler Lanchester Owners Club, for providing information and photos of
Daimler cars.
The Montague Motor Museum, for photos of Sunbeam and various other
cars.

Haymarket Publications, for providing information and all their help.

C. H. Barns, for making available photos of seaplanes by way of Shorts
Aircraft since 1900.
Sebastian Faulks, for his photo of the 1927 STD Grand Prix engine.
Midlands Automobile Club, at Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb.
Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Worlds Automobiles.
Middelton Railway.
The Automotor Journal.
Emap Ltd.
Duncan Hamilton and Company Ltd.
Lea Francis Cars Ltd.
David Delayney, son of the late Tom (C.T.) Delayney.
Coventry Motor Museum.
Lagonda Owners Club.
Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.
Club Historian, Morris Register.
MG Owners Club.
Tony Cooper of Daimler Company, UK.
Robin Neil Hannay at Guy Arab.
Gary Boyd Hope at Classic Plant and Machinery.
Golcar Transport Collection.
Peter Walker and Diane Carney.
Vauxhall Motors Ltd.
Norton Motors Ltd.
Tarmac Ltd.
Morris and Wellford LLC.
Piers Hubbard, for all his MG help and images.

PREFACE
This book looks at motoring in the last hundred years from two viewpoints. One
is that of the end user such as my own family with their private and commercial
experiences. The other is about the formation and life of at least five companies
that have made Wolverhampton a great place to be at during the last hundred
odd years of the motoring industrys history. For example: Sunbeam Motor Car
Company Ltd, Villiers Engineering Ltd, Turner Manufacturing Co. Ltd, Guy
Motors Ltd and Henry Meadows Ltd. I have a particular interest in these partly
because of where I was born and raised, namely Wolverhampton, partly because
of family and friends who have worked in and around these companies, but
mainly because of the pleasure that I have always found in anything to do with
engines, cars, trucks, buses and tractors. Also, although engines are central to
the history of motoring, I have occasionally digressed into some of their other
applications. I hope you find the book as interesting and informative as I have
found the research done to produce it. I would also like to take this opportunity
to thank all the people who have assisted me in this process you know who
you are.

1.

A Little of my Family History

My father Eric, and his elder brother Bob, with their widowed mother Daisy,
had moved into the Turf Tavern at Penn Common, Wolverhampton at the tail
end of 1913. My real grandfather Arthur Morrey, with Daisy and two children,
had been the licencee from 1905, of a public house at Floodgate Street in
Digbeth, Birmingham. But he had become desperately ill with consumption, and
died. Within two weeks, the owners of the pub, Holt Breweries, terminated the
tenancy, and evicted Daisy and her two children along with their few chattels.
So she came back to Wolverhampton crestfallen and in tears, worried that she
would become a person with no money, and forced into the 'workhouse' at
Trysull. She spent the next few days arranging for Bob to stay with George, his
grandfather, and for Eric to stay with her sister in the centre of the town. She
then got a job within the trade, as a barmaid at the Shakespeare public house in
Queen Street, Wolverhampton; this would tide her over the shortage of money.
Her next port of call was to West End Brewery, who owned the Shakespeare,
enquiring as to whether they would have any small public houses, or ale houses
to let. This was with a view to her becoming a tenant, as she had a few years
valuable experience of being the wife of the licensee at a city centre pub in
Birmingham.
Daisy was offered the tenancy of the small public house, brewery owned,
which was called the Turf Tavern Inn. The Inn had been the drinking and eating
establishment catering for the gentle people of the horse racing fraternity. There
was a nearby pool, constantly fed by a stream, which provided watering for
horses which ran on the well known horse racing track, dating back to 1680. The
horse racing track was in the centre of Penn Common, and belonged to His
Grace The Duke of Sutherland.

Turf Tavern, at Turf Cottages, Penn Common, around 1900, (By courtesy of
Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies)

At the time of my grandmother taking over the tenancy, a regular visitor

during the evening for the odd half pint of mild at the Turf Tavern was Arthur
Collins, a small farmer who lived just along the lane at 12 Turf Cottages. He
was a pleasant, extremely kind, and well-mannered man, who rented a small
farm from the agents of the Duke of Sutherland; the farm buildings of which
were just around the corner, at the end of the lane. He got on well with Daisy
and the boys, and in March 1914 Daisy got married for the second time, to
Arthur, and provided a step-father for them. So they grew up to be farmers
boys.

Three boys on a horse taken in 1915 at Arthur Collins farm. The centre one is
Eric Morrey, on his left is his elder brother Bob, on the right is his younger step
brother Frank Collins; holding the reins is his stepfather Arthur

Upper Penn, a village now mainly within the borough of Wolverhampton,

had its origins in pre-Saxon times and the name is a British one meaning 'hill'.
Even today the nucleus of the village is around St Bartholomews Church,
which stands on top of the hill, with the road Church Hill on the one side and the
land falling away on the other side to Penn Common stretching away to Gospel
End and Sedgley. Between the 1920s and 1930s Penn Common had become
something of a recreational area. Outings to the Common were popular and
became easier as tram and bus services from Wolverhampton and Sedgley
expanded. Tea shops sprung up, one of which was operated by my grandmother
from the cottage on the corner of the row. She did this while still carrying out
her work at the public house. The aforementioned cottage had been vacated by
Arthur Collins when he married my grandmother Daisy, and the couple became
the occupants of the The Turf Tavern. The license for the public house was,
however, held by my grandmother.

At the age of sixteen Eric was taken on by John Fellows (Engineers) Ltd of
Wolverhampton, as an apprentice, where he spent seven years, for the main part,
filing parts or castings, or being a go for this, that and the other for the
engineers. He had to do various jobs on his stepfathers farm before 7.30 a.m. in
the morning, and after 5.30 p.m. in the evening. This involved such jobs as
being the milkman before breakfast, with the pony and milk float. We will
return to my father later on.

2.

The Sunbeam Story, from 1899 1935

My own family gave me an enormous amount of information about the

Sunbeam operation from their first hand experience; and then, later in life, my
friendship with Norman Cliff gave me access to his memories of his fifteen
years of life in the experimental and racing department of Sunbeam. More
recently I joined the Sunbeam Talbot Darracq Register and learned far more. I
have had a lot of help from Mike Ridley the grandson of J (Jack) V Ridley, a
specialist mechanic for Sunbeam and previously a time-served gunmaker. Also
Oliver Heal an STD Register member, and a friend of Bill Perkins, one of
Sunbeams leading specialised mechanics, provided much useful information.
As has Alan Richens, who was the Editor of the STD Journal and a friend of
Basil Wildings, whose father Henry was the Engineer-in-charge of the
department concerned. All of this has been combined to produce the detail in
this history of Sunbeam Motor Car Company Ltd.
My grandfather Percy worked for Sunbeam from 1905 until the closure of
the company by the liquidator in 1935. My father, Eric, also worked at the
factory for a short while. There is, in my family, an edition of a book entitled
The History and Development of the Sunbeam Car, 1899 1924. The
introduction is by W.M. Iliff, the third Managing Director of Sunbeam, who
included the company statistics up to 1924, producing a souvenir of a quarter of
a century of Sunbeam success and service. Some sections of the book were
written by Alderman John Marston, JP, the founder and first Chairman of the
company, and some were written by a close friend and confidante of Mr Illif,
who put his descriptions into words.
The grand old man of Wolverhampton, Alderman John Marston, JP, to use
his own words, began life in a Wolverhampton factory by 1899. By the age of
twenty-three he had started up as a manufacturer himself, producing tin plate
and japanned ware for the proletariat of the period. He was one of those staunch
mid-Victorian types who grew to a large and robust a stature despite that he kept
such long office hours, and attended to so much detail in the 'fuggy' atmosphere
of a Black Country factory, that the medical men of to-day would assure us it
was impossible for a human being to develop in such conditions.
The start of the Sunbeam Motor Company Ltd., was relatively so obscure,
and on so small a scale, as to contain no hint of the greatness of the company's
efforts in the field of motor engineering, the world over.
Thomas Cureton, after completing his apprenticeship with John Marston's
cycle making business, followed through to be Chairman of the Sunbeam Motor
Car Company Ltd.
It was he who was completely responsible for the inception of the first
Sunbeam car when, in 1899, he and Harry Dinsdale, the builder of the prototype,
had drawn up specifications and drawings and had built an experimental car. He
prepared a formal report on the experimental car to the main board, which was
completely accepted, much to the surprise of various detracting associate friends

of John Marston. Many of preliminaries to the launching of the Sunbeam motor

car were conducted on Sunday mornings on the lawn at Mr Marston's home, or
the drive of Mr Cureton's residence. The first Sunbeam was never sold to the
public at large.
From the outset the company car was equipped with a vertical cylinder
engine and through their own efforts and resources, and the Sunbeam car was
built throughout by John Marston's company. The parts were cast locally, and
bored by that parent company, which also built the sparking plugs and the
radiator, although at that time there was quite a vogue for vertical engines in
most of the competitors.
During 1900 another type of car was considered and built by the company. It
had the wheels forming a diamond pattern, and was designed by Maxwell
Maberly-Smith. It was placed on the market in quantity in 1901, under the name
of Sunbeam-Mabley, and it proved to be quite successful at 130.
The following quotation from the Autocar of September 22 1900 reads:
The latest accession to the ranks of autocar manufacturers are Messrs. John
Marston Ltd. of Wolverhampton. This firm has been long and honourably known
in the cycle trade as manufacturers of the Sunbeam, which is one of the best
finished, and best made bicycles on the British market. The autocar will be
known as the Sunbeam, and will be driven by a 4hp water-cooled engine, which
will be placed in front of the car, and natural circulation of the water will be
depended upon, no pump being used. Electric ignition, lubrication from a central
station, belt transmission giving two speeds forward, and reverse, may be
mentioned among the features of the car. Although straps connect the engine
shaft with the counter shaft, toothed straps connect gearing is used to
communicate the motion of the latter to the car.,

The diamond-formation and allegedly skid proof Sunbeam-Mabely voiturette

with a 2.75 hp De Dion engine, of which approximately 125 plus were sold in
1901 to 1904. - (Picture by courtesy of the Black Country Museum.)

In 1901 the second Sunbeam car was designed on a similar principle, being
a Sunbeam modified Panhard of a nominal 6 h.p., with the body styled by
Forders. At this time the horizontal prime mover was installed in a chassis,
where it was fitted with an extra belt and a reverse gear. The complete car was
wholly British built, with the sole exception of the accumulators.
1903 saw the 12 hp Sunbeam car launched onto the market by John Marston
Ltd. It was said by The Automotor Journal, that it was particularly interesting,
when describing the Sunbeam 12 hp, at the last show at the Crystal Palace
exhibition, to find such an exceptionally fine finish to the carriage work on this
vehicle. The Automotor Journal had recently paid a visit to the Company's
works at Wolverhampton, and found that they had been extended to cope with
the demand for this larger vehicle, as well as for their already well-known
Mabley cars, which they had done so well within the past. The Company were
by now manufacturing the greater part of their Sunbeam cars themselves. They
did not however make the engines themselves at that time, but selected a wellmade Berliet-based engine, which they subjected to a careful testing before
fitting. A large number of the 12 hp vehicles were in course of construction
during their visit. The cars were made on thoroughly well known lines, the main
frame being built of ash and steel. The engine and the change-speed-gear were
carried upon a separate underframe, which was made out of angle steel of
unusual section.
A light sheet of metal casing entirely enclosed the engine and gearbox on
the underside, and this was rendered dustproof in front by a leather strap which
could be let down in order to inspect the commutator or other parts of the
engine. The engine had four cylinders cast in pairs; they had a bore of 33/16 ins.,
and the stroke was 411/16 ins. The normal speed was 800 revolutions per minute,
and its range of speed was from 100 to 1,000 r.p.m. The inlet valves were
atmospherically operated, and so were arranged that they could be removed
without disconnecting the pipe leading from the carburettor. It was only
necessary to unscrew a plug above either of the valves in order to lift it out,
complete with its seat. The cam-shaft operating the exhaust valves was enclosed
in the crank chamber, and a centrifugal governor and commutator were mounted
on its forward end. The carburettor was of the Company's own special design
and was in general respects similar to others of the float-feed spray type. The
throttle-valve formed part of it, and was of a cylindrical plunger form. It was
connected with the governor and was inter-connected with an accelerator foot
pedal and with a hand-lever on the steering pillar, which regulated the normal
speed. The timing of ignition could also be regulated from a lever on the
steering wheel.
The engine was lubricated by a belt-driven mechanical lubricator on the
dashboard. Four separate exhaust pipes led to an exhaust box placed alongside
the engine, and the burnt gases were allowed to escape through a pipe passing to
the back of the car. The cylinders were water-cooled and a centrifugal pump was
used for circulating the water around them, and through the radiator in front of
the bonnet.

The 1904 Crystal Palace Motor Show saw Sunbeam exhibiting a model of
the 12-16 hp four cylinder, and also a new six-cylinder, cast in three rows of
two-cylinders each.

The first six-cylinder engine as shown in a Sunbeam book.

The famous Sunbeam of 1906 had a bore of 95mm, a stroke of 120mm,

four-cylinders cast in one, a stroke side valve, 16-20 h.p., all with a four speed
gearbox. The basic car chassis price was 480, the price with a body was 530,
and all the extras were 18, i.e. for a Capecart (hood), a front windscreen, etc.

In 1905 Percy Jones left Daimler, and went to work for Thomas Cureton the
General Manager of Sunbeam Motor Car Company Ltd, as the Manager of the
seating and leather work department. Sidney Slater Guy was appointed by
Sunbeam's Board of Directors, to be Works Manager; originally he had been the
Works Manager of Humber Motors of Coventry.
Percy and Agnes Jones were my grandparents on my maternal side. They
were provided with a company owned house on the road from Wolverhampton
to Penn, and he was fetched by car each working day, which shows you how
much they thought of him. He made seats to fit any customer, and also for all the
racing cars, and the special cars used for world record attempts by professional
drivers.
The six-cylinder 20-30 hp Sunbeam of 1907 was an extremely high priced
car. It comprised an overhead valve monobloc engine, cardan drive shaft, four
wheel braking, and was electrically lit. The five seater touring car version had an
electric starter, electric horn, adjustable windscreen, one-man operated hood
with side curtains and a spare wheel, all for 950. But the new (for 1908) fourcylinder Sunbeam was rated at 35 hp, and sold in chassis form for a more
moderate 620; but with a limousine body called the Laundaulette it was priced
at 842. When I say that Sunbeams were an extremely high priced car, we have
to bear in mind that the average working wage at that time for the ordinary
worker was approximately 2 shillings and 6 pence per day, pre-decimalisation
money (now 17 pence per day), for blacksmiths or similar it was approximately
5 shillings and 10 pence per day, (now 29 pence per day), and an engine driver
at the head of a colliery pit would earn approximately 6 shillings and 6 pence
per day, (now 33 pence per day, or 1.78 for a five and a half day week). So, a
man with a highly paid job, like the engine driver, would take 533 weeks, or
nearly ten years, without any other expenses, to buy a six-cylinder Sunbeam car;
thus leaving the cars for company directors or independently wealthy men.
It was Thomas Cureton, the managing director of Sunbeam Motor Car
Company, whose business acumen achieved a brilliant stroke by securing the
services of Louis Herve Coatalen in February 1909 as Chief Engineer. Coatalen
was born in the Breton fishing port of Concarneau in 1879, his mother ran a
small hotel there, his father built a workshop and forge nearby.
He attended the Department of Finistere in 1895 or thereabout. His training
as an engineer at the Gadzarts, the Ecole des Arts et Mtiers, was a good
preparation and initiation into the serious mathematical side of life; it took three
hard years. He found work at the drawing offices of Panhard, Clement, De Dion
Bouton, Levasser and Darraq where he acquired invaluable experience with the
French and German motor enterprises, which were at that time leading the world
in automobile engineering, design and building. In 1900 he came to work for
Charles Crowden of H.J. Lawsons British Motor Syndicate, leaving a few
months later when he joined the Humber Company as chief engineer in 1901.
The financial situation of Humber of Coventry was failing with the passing of
the bicycle trade, and was seeking to establish itself as a proper motor car
manufacturer. He designed the 10-12 hp Coventry Humber car, restoring the
company to prosperity. For it was the first four-cylinder, live axle, British made,
middle size vehicle to be sold at about 300. The demand for it being so great,

that it had to be assembled in the streets of Coventry, it being impossible to

extend the factory so quickly. Coatalen then joined the Mr. Hillman for a time in
the production of the Hillman-Coatalen car. He was so well thought of that he
was appointed managing director of the Hillman Company in 1907.
Thomas Cureton thought that Coatalen's talent should be put to put to work
for the Sunbeam Company, and so he joined the company in February 1909, and
he designed the 16-20 hp car. The spirit of sportsmanship manifested itself from
the outset in his policy with regard to entering this vehicle in all the principal
hill-climbing tests and reliability trials throughout that year; particularly so when
it scored a notable success in the Royal Scottish Automobile Clubs 1,000 mile
series.
In 1911 Sunbeams factory covered 4.6 acres, and produced just short of 850
cars. The Coatalen-designed Sunbeam was thought to be so big it would be as
well to have a smaller model. Whereupon, Coatalen designed the first version of
the world-famous 12-16 hp, four-cylinder Sunbeam engine, which had a bore
and stroke of 80 mm x 120 mm, and the cylinders were cast in pairs. How well
the public received it may be gathered from the fact that in the year 1910 the
immediate expansion of manufacturing facilities led up to the building of more
workshops on the opposite side of Upper Villiers Street from the original
factory. Later in 1914 Mr. Cureton retired from the position of Managing
Director, and W.M. Iliff and Louis Coatalen were appointed joint Managing
Directors. Louis Coatalen directed most of the effort of the Competitions
Department from 1912 onwards, with four Sunbeam racing cars entered in the
Coupe De LAuto and coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd, also at the French Grand Prix in
1912 they managed 3rd, 4th and 5th. These two events were run concurrently.
Sunbeam took many racing successes in 1914, the most famous victory was in
the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy when Kenelm Lee Guinness proved the winner
in the Peugeot inspired car. Production of cars stopped later in the same year due
to the fighting in Europe in WWI, with extremely good business being done due
to the war creating a large demand for Sunbeam engines, and highly powerful
Sunbeam Coatalen aero engines.
During the time of WWI, licences to build were taken out on the European
Continent and America. The type of engines ranged from 150 hp with 8 watercooled cylinders and side valves. The middle ranges included: the 100 hp sixcylinder 175 hp Dyak; the overhead-valve Amazon; the twelve-cylinder
overhead-valve 275 Mauri 11 and Mauri 1V airship type; the overhead valve
eighteen-cylinder 400 hp Viking; and the V-12 800 to 900 hp Sikh. The pre-war
Sunbeam Coalalen 225 hp V-12 side-valve Mohawk aero-engine was fitted to
the Short Type 184 sea planes, which flew at the Battle of Jutland on the 31st
May 1916 between the British and German fleets. The orders came from
Admiral Beatty, as recorded in Admiral Jellicoes official despatches. The sea
plane took off from the sea alongside the seaplane carrier HMS Engardine, and
located the German light cruiser force. This was the first time an aircraft had
ever taken part in a major naval battle.

A Short 184 at Queensborough in June 1917, fitted with a Sunbeam 260 hp Mauri
1,fitted with an experimental honeycomb radiator, as shown in Shorts Aircraft
since 1900 by C.H. Barnes.

A promising new alternative engine had been brought into the aircraft
industry in 1915, that being the Sunbeam-Coatalen Aero Engine with a 150 hp
V8 water-cooled engine named the Nubian. Its makers, John Marston & Sons
Ltd of Wolverhampton, operating as Sunbeam Motor Car Company took the two
banks of their 3-litre Grand Prix car racing engine, and constructed a lower
crankcase cover and made aV8 aero-engine. They then installed it in a Maurice
Farman aircraft, which was flown for long periods at Brooklands by Jack
Alcock during the summer of 1913. Having demonstrated its reliability it was
then adopted by the Admiralty as the Nubian.
The smaller of the Short seaplanes was modified to take the SunbeamCoatalen engine, and its performance was enhanced by an extra 15 hp, at the
same weight as the previously fitted Salmson engine. The name of Salmson
comes from Commander Charles Salmson, of the Royal Naval Air Services,
who was to prove to be one of the great innovators of the war. He had been the
first man to launch an airplane off a ship. The Salmson engine was in effect a
British based engine which was built from a Gnome design, and introduced on
the Short 135, built with the following options: a Salmson135 hp; a SunbeamCoatalen 135 hp in one size; a Salmson 200 hp; the Sunbeam-Coatalen 225 hp
Mohawk; and in the larger size, the 240 hp Gurkha engine.
In 1914 Louis Coalalen began work on the 12-cylinder version of his 150 hp
V8 engine. Capt. Murray Sueter, Director of the Air Department and Controller
of the Royal Naval Air Services, saw this as an excellent power plant for a longrange torpedo-carrier, with a substantially better performance than the 200 hp
Salmson could offer. Capt. Sueter, with Lieut. Hyde-Thomspon, had drawn up a
detailed specification for a seaplane to carry a 14-inch Whitehead torpedo, with
a crew of two. When Murray Seuter first explained his requirements to Horace
Short, one of the Short brothers, he replied, Well, if you require this
particularly to be done, I will produce a seaplane that will satisfy you. From

this the Short Type 184 Seaplane was instigated, though quite as frequently
called the Two-Two-Five referring to the horsepower of its Sunbeam-Coatalan
engine. There was an initial order for ten Type 184s in 1915, and seventy-five
Type 184s later.
In October 1914 the original RNAS depot ship Hermes had been fully
refitted as a seaplane-carrier, but was torpedoed and sunk in the English
Channel. The converted seaplane carriers Engadine, Empress and Riviera, the
recently converted Campania, the old Cunard liner, and several Isle of Man
packets, the Ben-my-Chree in particular, had been commissioned about the same
time as the first flight of 184; and on 21st May 1915, left Harwich for the
Dardinelles. She arrived at Mitylene on the 12th June, and two months later both
Types 184 and 185 launched their torpedoes in anger, and with effect. There
were 312 Short Type 184s in the RAF at the Armistice, all but 30 having
Sunbeam-Coatalen aero-engines; and they remained in service until the end of
1920.
Percy Jones, my grandfather and the manager of the leather work, told my
father Eric, that it was common knowledge amongst the workers of Sunbeam
that Sidney Guy, who was their boss at Sunbeam, after a falling out with the
management in 1914, left to set up on his own account as Guy Motors Ltd, at
Fallings Park, Wolverhampton. It was reputed that he had increased the
profitable working of Sunbeam by a terrific amount, by various cost cutting
methods and more profitable operations. He had asked the management for an
equivalent percentage raise in his salary, only to be refused. More of that move
to Fallings Park will be mentioned later on in the book.
Alderman John Marston, the Mayor of Wolverhampton, apart from starting
Sunbeam Car Company, was the manufacturer of a bicycle at the works
surrounded by Jeddo Street, and part of Paul Street in 1887. It was generally felt
that Coventry was the hub of cycle manufacture during the 1860s, but
Wolverhampton was also very important in the industry; and by 1890 about fifty
manufacturers of cycles were in the nearby area. The way the sun glinted on the
frame of John Marston's bike, prompted his wife to suggest that the name of
Sunbeam should be used. The bicycle was a great success, and the name of
Sunbeam was registered, and the Paul Street plant was called Sunbeamland.
Shortly afterwards the nearby Villiers Street premises were purchased, and
the Villiers Cycle Components Co. was founded, with Charles, the son of John,
in charge, under the chairmanship of John. Both the Villiers Street factory and
the Moorfield Road factory for Sunbeam motor cars were surrounded by Penn
Road, Marston Road, part of Upper Villiers Street, Chetwynd Road and part of
Goldthorn Road; thus covering an area of half a square mile. Villiers Street was
named after the Rt. Hon. C. P. Villiers, the Member of Parliament for
Wolverhampton for an incredible sixty-three years, until he died on the 16th
January 1898.

3 racing cars at Brooklands in 1925

In the photograph above, the car on the left is a 1914 Sunbeam Grand Prix
car, fitted with a 6-cylinder 5-litre engine. The car in the centre is a 1921/22
Sunbeam/Talbot-Darracq chassis fitted with a 3-litre 8-cylinder engine. The
final car on the right is a 1919/20 Sunbeam V12 350hp world record car,
presently in the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, see also in the photograph
below.

During a recent visit, the picture shows the engine looking very smart with a
coating of aluminium paint, but with the cam covers masked with clingfilm.

Sunbeam works around 1924.

After 1925, the effort would be in record breaking, other than racing. In
particular Coatalen was suggesting that a series of Sunbeam Coatalen V12 aero
engines, would be effective in tackling the world land speed record. Malcolm
Campbell acquired the car, raising the record from 133.75 mph, held by Kenelm
Lee Guinness in an 18 litre V12 aero engine, first of all to 146.16 mph, and then
to 150.87 mph at Pendine. This car was conceived and built between 1919 and
1921. This record was beaten in 1926 by Henry Seagrave in the 4 litre, V12
Sunbeam Tiger, who recorded 152.33 mph.
The massive 27 litre aero-engined V12 Liberty driven by Parry Thomas,
beat the record in the following season, raising it to 170 mph. The challenge was
thrown down and Coatalen had decided with Henry Seagrave to set their sights
on a Sunbeam car which would travel at 200 mph. Coatalens idea was that he
could site two of his Matabele engines in one car.
Coatalen was very efficient with his engine designs of his series of overhead
valve-engined cars, and was successful in the field of marine craft. The
Experimental and Racing Department was very busy dealing with producing by
hand various high powered car racing engines. They were also producing high
speed power boat racing engines for racing at Monaco, such as the V8 Crusader
engines, which were originally aero-engines. He decided to purchase a Henry
Farman aeroplane, and to experiment using his own Sunbeam aero engines to
power it. This aeroplane was flown by Sir John Alcock, being the first man to
make history in crossing the Atlantic in 1919 in a 'heavier than air machine',
powered by a Sunbeam 150 hp V8 aero engine. The Sunbeam Car Company was
one of the few firms in the world which had standardised aero engines, designed
and built of sufficient power to lift British seaplanes into the air; these engines
being available before the impending war broke out. The aero engine enterprise
meant much more prosperity during the war, when demand increased from the
War Office for more powerful aero and marine craft engines such as in the
Bristol fighters and seaplanes. The demand was so great for Sunbeam aero-

engines that, even with the acres of extra factory space that had been
constructed, some still had to be manufactured under licence by other firms.
The designing staff of Sunbeam produced many types of aero engines at
Moorfield Road during the first four years of WW I, some with side valves; but
as the result of its racing car practice, the overhead valve came to the fore with
the demand for more horse power. Sunbeam had the 'dry sump' system of
lubrication, invented by Louis Coatalen, as a matter of course. The whole design
embraced other features which has revolutionised engine performance. Demands
were made for aero engines of 250 hp, with occasional bursts to 350 hp for four
or five minutes for emergencies, but yet need to have economy, reliability and a
long working life.
In 1929, my father Eric's need for a better paid job drew him just five
minutes down the road to Sunbeam in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, after seeing
the companys advertisement for workers. He was offered a position in the
plywood flooring division of the ash framing and seating department. He
worked under Percy Jones, the manager of the department, whose family home
was in Welshpool. Percy Jones had served an apprenticeship in the seating and
leather work department of a carriage company, which manufactured high
quality horse drawn carriages, but then he had moved on to work with Daimler
Motor Company (1904) Ltd in Coventry.

The 1905 Daimler 28hp landaulette which was the type of car that Percy Jones
would have worked on.

The Daimler Motor Syndicate Ltd, as it was originally called, was formed in
1896 by F. R. Simms to exploit Gottlieb Daimler's motor patents, of the German
Daimler Company, (Daimler-Motoren-Gelleschaft) of Cannstatt. The Coventry