Rootes Story E-Book

Geoff Carverhill

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The Rootes Story - The Making of a Global Automotive Empire traces the meteoric rise of the two Rootes brothers, William and Reginald, development of one of Britain's most important motor vehicle manufacturers. The Rootes Group acquired some of the most famous names in the British motor industry: Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam and Singer cars, as well as Commer and Karrier commercial vehicles. Over the years, some of the models built by Rootes would become household names: the Hillman Minx, Humber Super Snipe, Sunbeam Alpine, Singer Gazelle, Commer Superpoise and Karrier Bantam. In its heyday in the late 1950s, Rootes was the fourth largest manufacturer of cars and trucks in Britain, exporting to over 180 countries worldwide, becoming a global automotive empire. In this book, the people and various companies involved with Rootes are profiled, as are the cars and commercial vehicles built by them, with specifications of principal models. Personal insight from employees is given along with valuable contributions from the Rootes family themselves. This book celebrates the heyday of a truly global automotive empire and one of the most important British vehicle manufacturers of the twentieth century. This is the first book written about Rootes to be sanctioned by the Rootes family. Will be of great interest to owners and enthusiasts of Rootes cars, and those with an interest in British automotive and industrial history. Superbly illustrated with 52 colour and 361 black & white photographs.

Leseprobe

THE ROOTES STORY

THE MAKING OF A GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE EMPIRE

GEOFF CARVERHILL

FOREWORD BY BILL ROOTES

First published in 2018 byThe Crowood Press LtdRamsbury, MarlboroughWiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2018

© Geoff Carverhill 2018

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of thistext may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 480 3

CONTENTS

Foreword by Bill Rootes

Introduction, Acknowledgements and Dedication

CHAPTER 1 Bicycles and a Brass Band

CHAPTER 2 Rootes Brothers – Motor Distributors to Motor Manufacturers

CHAPTER 3 The Heyday Years

CHAPTER 4 Rootes at War

CHAPTER 5 Post-War – New Challenges

CHAPTER 6 The Early Fifties – Glitz, Glamour and the ‘Gay Look’

CHAPTER 7 Audax and the Series Humbers – New Cars for a New Age

CHAPTER 8 Postscript – the End of a Golden Era

Appendix I Rootes Passenger Car Models 1931–60

Appendix II Commer Commercial Vehicle Models 1926–60

Appendix III Karrier Municipal and Industrial Models 1932–60

Bibliography

Index

FOREWORD by Bill Rootes

The Rootes Group story is a complicated one of a company that grew up over the years to become one of the most successful motor manufacturers in the United Kingdom. It is a story that needs to be told in full, and Geoff Carverhill has done justice to both the company and the family that built it up.

I came very late into the business and only worked at Rootes for a short time before Chrysler took over the company. However, my memories are of the business that I grew up with and how it dominated our family life. My father, Brian, looked after the export division and sales divisions of Rootes and was often abroad on business trips. My mother frequently accompanied him. But it was not that so much as the daily effect on our family life of the company that I remember. My father had a company chauffeur and we benefited from other ‘perks’.

Rootes may not have been one of the largest British motor manufacturers, but over the years the firm did its bit, providing family cars to the mass market at home, together with a most successful export effort. Of course, there was the considerable success in rallies and other automobile sporting events.

I am delighted to see the memory of the Rootes Group still alive today with numerous car clubs showing people’s affection for our products.

This book is important because it helps to show the close relationship between company and family and how during the Rootes years the firm always retained something of the family business, in spite of how large it grew.

Many thanks to Geoff Carverhill for all he has done in writing this book.

Bill Rootes

INTRODUCTION,ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ANDDEDICATION

As a car-obsessed child growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I was always a fan of Rootes products, possibly due to the elaborate way the company marketed its products, which fired my young imagination, but also because my family owned Rootes cars so I was able to judge their merit for myself. Although my Dad was a die-hard Morris Minor 1000 owner, my elder brother had a new 1958 Commer Cob (also known as ‘Hillman Husky sans windows’), and later on a 1964 Hillman Super Minx Convertible, a rare left-hand-drive model, which remained in the family for many years. I graduated from cleaning the wheels and whitewall tyres to learning to drive in it. Moonstone with a Pippin Red hood – I loved it!

If you are of an age that you can remember red telephone boxes on most street corners in most towns and cities in Britain, then you will also remember that they would have four or more hefty volumes of the Telephone Directory housed within them, with virtually every phone number for a given area listed. A comprehensive history of the Rootes Group would result in at least half a dozen Telephone Directory-sized volumes, in order to put everything of consequence about the company into print. This book, therefore, is not a ‘comprehensive’ history, but I hope it at least fulfils the criterion of ‘concise’.

When Crowood approached me in 2013 about writing a book on Rootes passenger cars, my reply was that it has already been done, very comprehensively, by Graham Robson in 1990, who is perhaps the only historian to unravel what is, in effect, one of the most complicated vehicle product ranges known to man. Trust me, a task like this is not for the faint-hearted.

However, although much has been written about Rootes and its products, I was aware that there were still a lot of gaps in the story that could only be filled in by the Rootes family and employees of the businesses within the Rootes Group, in order to get a feel for how the Rootes organization worked. Therefore, I have approached the subject from a different angle by attempting to put the story of this company into historical context. This is not a book about cars; it is a social history about one of Britain’s most important motor vehicle manufacturing concerns and the people who created it, namely the Rootes brothers – William and Reginald and their respective families. The cars and commercial vehicles built by Rootes are profiled, with particular emphasis on the ‘first-born’ of any model range. For example, cars like the 1932 Hillman Minx – the first commercially successful volumeproduced motor car to be built by Rootes; the 1955 Sunbeam Rapier – the first of the ‘Audax’ range of cars; the 1957 Humber Hawk – the first of the newly designed range of ‘Series’ Humbers; and the Sunbeam Alpine Series 1, their stylish two-seater sports car in 1959. The book also looks at the marketing side of Rootes – a skill the Rootes brothers proved they were exceptionally good at, as well as highlighting the meteoric growth the business achieved.

This then, is part one of the story – the heyday of Rootes, in which they created a sales and manufacturing organization that would, at its peak in 1960, be the fourth largest manufacturer of cars and trucks in Britain, being only just eclipsed by Vauxhall-Bedford. Their market penetration worldwide made them a truly global automotive empire, and this part of the story celebrates the tremendous achievements made by them. The future, and survival, from the early 1960s onwards, would prove to be a much more difficult task than it had been up to that point.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, this book would not have been possible without the approval and support of the Rootes family. Thank you to Tim Rootes, for his approval of the project and for providing copies of photographs from the family archive and a detailed account of his life during the period covered by the book; to Nicholas Rootes, the present Lord Rootes, who gave me encouragement and approval, as well as permission to quote from his father’s privately published memoir, Carpe Diem; and to Bill and Alicia Rootes, for providing copies of family photographs and also to Bill for checking the manuscript and writing a Foreword.

In trying to minimize the reproduction of photographs already in other Rootes-related publications, I am grateful to many individuals and organizations who have allowed me to use high-quality archive photographs from their collections: The Rootes Archive Centre Trust, whose members have been gathering valuable photographic and technical material relating to Rootes over a number of years, especially the Rootes Maidstone collection, which has been donated by Peugeot Motor Company to the Rootes Archive Centre. Thanks to Derek Warner and Andy Bye for making this happen. The collection has now been given a new home in their Archive Centre at Wroxton, near Banbury. Thanks to James Spencer and Nick Harrison at the Rootes Archive Centre for contributing technical and historical information and Gordon Jarvis for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Rootes. Thanks to Damien Kimberley, curator at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum where the Rootes Photographic Collection from Coventry Archives is housed, for allowing me to use many of the photographs from the collection.

Thanks also to the following for providing some excellent photographs: Stephen Lewis of the Post Vintage Humber Car Club; Andy Goldsmith of the Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club; Derek Cook and Michael Montgomery of the Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine Register; Jonathan Day at the National Motor Museum Library at Beaulieu; John Dawes of the Hawkhurst History Society; Gill Joye of the Goudhurst History Society (who also provided very detailed research information into the Rootes family ancestry); and Leon Gibbs, who kindly provided me with information and photographs from his own personal archive. Thanks to Fergus Fleming of Queen Anne Press for advice on copyright and use of images.Thanks to those who allowed me to photograph their cars for the book: David Long, David Hanks, Harvey Cooke, Arnold Orton, Mark Taylor, Dale Scutter and Paul Walby.

A book of this complexity requires input from people with specialist knowledge and personal insight. I have done my very best to ensure factual accuracy throughout the book, and where I have not known the answer I have sought the opinion of those specialists. Any errors that have occurred are purely mine and not theirs. The list of contributors is long and I make no apologies for it. Ex-employees and managers of Rootes who gave me interviews and guidance ‘from the horse’s mouth’ as it were: Arthur Long, Alan Horsfall, Geoff Wells, Richard Guy, David Edwards, Bill Blanch, Bill Papworth, Wynne Mitchell, Ron Roscoe, John Harris, Geoff Parr, Tom Cotton, Kit Power, Michael Andrews, Joan Merritt, Ken Foxon and Gerry Baimbridge. I am particularly indebted to Michael Hancock, son of Rootes works director Bill Hancock, who kindly loaned me a copy of his father’s unpublished memoirs, which provided an insightful angle from a senior member of the management team at Rootes.

I would also like to thank the historians and car club members who patiently read the text for factual accuracy and provided technical data and photographs that have enabled me to make a much better job of the book: Stephen Lewis, David Clarke and Richard Gruet – Post Vintage Humber Car Club; Ron Atherton – Sunbeam Rapier Owners Club; John Badger – Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine Register; James Fack – Talbot Owners Club; Tim Barnes – Hillman Register; Tim Sutton, for his insight into the works Rapiers and the Audax range; Vic Hughes – Hillman Owners Club, whose research into Isuzu Hillman was extremely valuable; Arthur Michell, David Freeth and John Payne – Singer Owners Club; Barry Paine – Association of Singer Car Owners; Andrew McAdam – Singer Owners Club and Hillman Owners Club; Tim Green – Aero Minx Register and Bill Munro, for his input into Carbodies’ relationship with Rootes. I am very grateful to all of the aforementioned.

A special ‘thank you’ also goes to my motor sport hero Sir Stirling Moss, who gave me his personal recollections of being a works rally driver for Rootes.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife Sue, for her unstinting practical and moral support whilst this book was being researched and written, and for painstakingly proofreading every syllable.

Geoff Carverhill Cogenhoe, Northampton, January 2018

CHAPTER 1

BICYCLES AND A BRASS BAND

The Rootes family name has been associated with the motor car in England ever since the latter started to take its first few noisy, awkward miles on Britain’s roads. The Locomotive Act 1865, or Red Flag Act as it became known, necessitated a crew of three people to be with the vehicle, one of whom was required to walk in front of it carrying a red flag. This highly restrictive act placed Britain a full decade behind Germany in terms of motor-car development, and at least eight years behind France. It was repealed in 1896, but not before some intense campaigning by the well-connected pioneering engineer, motorist and mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Sir David Salomons. In October 1895, Salomons persuaded the organizers of the agricultural show at Tunbridge Wells to have a section within the show as a ‘horseless exhibition’. They agreed and five vehicles were exhibited, including a Panhard-Daimler motor carriage and a French de Dion-Bouton motor tricycle, ridden by its own inventor, Georges Bouton. News of the display caught the attention of Goudhurst cycle shop proprietor William Rootes, who cycled over to Tunbridge Wells to see the exhibits. William was anxious to take advantage of anything the exciting new motor age could offer his cycle shop business. It is unlikely, though, that the young entrepreneur could have envisaged at that time that Rootes would eventually become one of the most important names in British motor-vehicle manufacturing history.

The Horseless Carriage Exhibition at Tunbridge Wells Agricultural Show Ground held on Tuesday, 15 October 1895. Organized by Sir David Salomons, seen here seated at the tiller of his single-cylinder Peugeot, this was the event that inspired a young William Rootes of Goudhurst, Kent, to enter the exciting new world of the motor car.NATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM

THE ROOTES FAMILY ANCESTRY

William Rootes was born on 11 June 1869 in Wellbut Row, Goudhurst, Kent. His father, Edward Alwyn Rootes, was born in Benenden, Kent, in 1844, the eldest of five sons of James and Patience Rootes, who moved to Goudhurst around 1853. After settling in Goudhurst, James and Patience had two daughters, Emily and Sarah.

‘Edward and Mrs Rootes’ – a photograph fromThe Goudhurst Jubilee Book. The Mrs Rootes seated by a rather solemn looking Edward is most likely his first wife, Ann.GOUDHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Edward’s father, James, was the first Rootes family member to have his name spelt with an ‘e’, as his father, William, was on record as having his name spelt ‘Roots’. William Roots, who was a blacksmith by trade, and his wife Sarah left England in 1842 with eight of their eighteen children to seek a new life in America. Bound for New York, on the Packet Ship Hendrick Hudson, they eventually settled in Canada. They had probably taken advantage of the assisted-passage emigration scheme that many parishes operated at that time to provide money for ‘poorer’ parishioners who wished to emigrate.

Edward, as well as his father and brothers, William, James, Samuel and Caleb, worked in Goudhurst as agricultural labourers, but it was Edward who displayed a talent for engineering and was rapidly gaining a reputation as an able mechanical engineer. He subsequently opened a general engineering and agricultural equipment repair business at South View Works on Balcombe’s Hill, in Goudhurst. Edward had married Ann Jury in 1869, but Ann died in 1887, leaving William as their only child. Edward, however, was determined not to live the life of a lonely widower, marrying three more times. He went on to have another son, Percy, born in 1889, by his second wife, a widow named Mercy Baker, who died in 1891. It is unclear if Edward and Mercy were actually married, as no marriage records exist, but she was at least buried in Goudhurst Cemetery as Mercy Rootes. Edward’s third wife, Jane, died in 1895 and although Edward would live to be eighty-five years of age, his fourth wife Isabella Jane would outlive him by thirteen years.

THE ROOTES ROYAL BAND

Edward Rootes was captain of the Weald of Kent Fire Brigade for many years. Known locally as ‘Neddy’ Rootes, he became a well-known character in Goudhurst society, serving also on the local parish council. His engineering workshop, however, would often be the source of ‘explosions’ of varying magnitude, alarming neighbours and passers-by, as he experimented with different types of steam engines and other agricultural machines. Steam traction engines would often be seen parked outside the workshops awaiting repair, but it was the inside of South View Works that displayed another side to Edward’s talents – that of musician. Edward had become an accomplished cornet player and visitors to his workshop could be forgiven for thinking that they had entered a musical instrument emporium, for around the walls were hung various musical instruments, as well as scores of music composed by Edward.

Around 1870, Edward formed the Rootes Band, which consisted of himself and his four brothers and fellow firebrigade engineer George Lindridge. Edward’s competence as a composer of brass-band music was shown off by the musicianship of his brothers and Lindridge, who was the drummer. Caleb Rootes wrote hymns and sacred verse and, despite losing the tips of his fingers in a chaff machine, Edward’s younger brother William was showing an aptitude as a competent pianist. The Rootes family were Methodists and on Sundays one member of the family would play the organ in the Methodist Chapel in Goudhurst. Afterwards, they would go to the workshop for band practice. In 1872, the band seized an opportunity that placed it well and truly on the map, and in the hearts of Goudhurst villagers, when it played for Queen Victoria. The occurrence, however, was a stroke of luck and good timing – literally! The band was accompanying the old Weald of Kent Volunteers at an inspection by the Queen of troops at Aldershot in Hampshire. As Queen Victoria was leaving, the Goudhurst bandsmen marched out of a byway into the main road just when Her Majesty was passing. Instead of being overawed, the men struck up ‘God Save the Queen’.

The Rootes Royal Band circa 1872. William Rootes is the little boy sitting on the floor on the right of the picture.GOUDHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Billy and Reggie with their mother, Jenny.T.D. ROOTES

The incident was reported in the newspapers and all of Goudhurst took pride in the event. The band subsequently, and quite legitimately, took the opportunity to rename itself ‘Rootes Royal Band’. Later that year, at a competition at Eastwell Park, near Ashford, Kent, the band won first prize, together with the consent by the Duke of Edinburgh for the band to describe itself as ‘Royal’. The Duke also agreed to become the Patron.

Edward’s son, William, was educated at Kendon’s School in Goudhurst and at the age of twelve decided to start working in his father’s workshop. He too played in his father’s brass band, but when the opportunity allowed would go off on his bicycle around the lanes of Goudhurst and Kilndown. As he matured he became a keen cyclist and was even known to do his courting on a penny-farthing, sometimes cycling as far as Dartford. The census records for 1891 show William Rootes of Goudhurst lodging at Orange Tree Terrace, Wilmington, Dartford, but whether he was working in Dartford, or courting, is not clear. What is certain is that he returned to Goudhurst and married Jenny Catt, of Brede, Sussex, on 3 September 1892. William and Jenny lived at Corner Cottages, Lidwells Lane, Goudhurst and 17 August 1894 saw the birth of their first child, William Edward, followed by a second boy, Reginald Claud on 20 October 1896.

The Rootes brothers – Billy with younger brother Reggie.T.D. ROOTES

WM. ROOTES – ENGINEER AND CYCLE AGENT

In August 1895, William opened a cycle shop in Goudhurst. He rented a small shop below the Temperance Hotel and Coffee House on the High Street. Shortly afterwards, he moved his cycle business to a workshop shed in Rope Walk. William rapidly capitalized on the bicycle boom of the late 1890s by selling and repairing all types of bicycles. He also hired out bicycles for sixpence an hour, with the result that by 1897 he had enough capital to acquire additional premises at 7 Station Road, in nearby Hawkhurst. It was from here that he could expand his business into making his own brand of ‘Trusty’ bicycles, as well as selling other numerous makes and types, such as Facile, Kangaroo and the penny-farthing.

Goudhurst House, next door to the Temperance Hotel and Coffee House, was eventually bought by Wm Rootes. He started his first business in 1895, repairing and renting out bicycles at sixpence an hour in a rented workshop on the ground floor of the Coffee House.GOUDHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Bicycles may have been the core products of William Rootes’ business around the turn of the nineteenth century, but his enthusiasm for the motor car meant that in a relatively short period of time his business would be progressing to that of a motor engineering agency. He had already sold his first car, a Charette, around 1899, and could see that selling motor cars could be highly profitable. In 1901, with the Rootes family now living at 7 Station Road, Hawkhurst, he purchased a car for them, a single cylinder 2¾HP New Orleans, with a flat belt drive from just behind the engine to the rear wheels. William and Jenny had apparently been to the Islington Show and discussions between them ensued as to whether or not they could afford to buy a car. William was in no doubt that he wanted the car and decided that he should toss for it. His idea of tossing a coin was that if the coin stayed up, they would not buy it, and if it came down, they would. The decision was not in much doubt!

Goudhurst Valley from the church, showing Dibley’s cycle shop.GOUDHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

For several years, William, or ‘WR’ as he became known, would operate both the Goudhurst and Hawkhurst shops, renting the Goudhurst shed eventually to George Dibley, after buying the cycle shed in 1903. Dibley ran the cycle business for a number of years until a headline in the Kent and Sussex Courier on 4 February 1927 announced his sad fate: ‘Goudhurst cycle shop proprietor found shot’. Poor Mr Dibley was found in his cycle shed one morning, having shot himself.

Seeing property as a good investment, WR bought Goudhurst House, which was next to the old Coffee Shop in Goudhurst High Street, also in 1903. Part of the premises housed a sizable shop, which had been used as a grocers and drapers since 1881. In 1911, he sold Goudhurst House to Rose Midmer, the local postmistress, who needed new premises for the post office, as her previous North Road shop had been damaged by a gunpowder explosion at another shop in North Road in 1834. Previous owners and tenants had refused to repair the shattered bay window at the front of the property because of the cost involved, so it remained boarded up for many years.

Jenny Rootes clearly played an important part in the efficient running of the cycle shop business from the start. She kept the financial accounts in immaculate copperplate writing. Records for 31 December 1896 show the value of the business to be £404 15s 6d. The following year, with Hawkhurst now in the equation, the Goudhurst business was valued at £795 11s 8d and the Hawkhurst branch at £110 4s, with a new workshop being erected that year at a cost of £45. By 1898, Hawkhurst had become the mainstay of the business, being now valued at £1,275 4s and Goudhurst at £437 4s. In 1899, the workshop was enlarged and a new forge added, at a cost of £30. William Rootes – ‘Engineer and Cycle Agent’ – was now agent for Singer, Humber, Coventry Cross, Vanguard, Granville, Trent and The Flying Wheel. His advertising was to the point: ‘W.R. has sold during the past four years over 270 First-Class Cycles, all of which are giving unbounded satisfaction. Manufacturer of the “Trusty Cycles” – one grade only – THE BEST – TO SUIT ANY HEIGHT RIDER – EVERYTHING OF THE BEST!! NO RUBBISH!!’

Wm Rootes’ advertising was to the point. He was not shy in extolling the virtues of his services! An advertisement placed in theKent and Sussex Courierin 1898.T.D. ROOTES

William Rootes Snr, with his second wife Elizabeth and their five sons.HAWKHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Sadly, in 1908, Jenny died. She was only forty-one years of age. The following year, on 20 December, William married Elizabeth Jane Burt and was to have a further five sons: Leslie, Desmond, Leonard, Maurice and Basil.

THE MOTOR CAR IN EDWARDIAN BRITAIN

Life in Edwardian Britain was starting to change for many people, due, no doubt, to the development of the motor car. In 1904, with some 23,000 cars on the road, car drivers were still being subjected to immense public prejudice. S.F. Edge, who had pioneered early Napier cars, commented that ‘drivers of horse-drawn vehicles would slash at me with their whips … stones have been hurled at my head, and broken glass bottles placed deliberately in front of motor tricycles I have been riding’. The motor car was still considered a frivolous toy for the middle classes, and the image of Toad, as portrayed in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, published in 1908, typified the popular Edwardian conception of motorists as reckless braggarts with more money than sense and a total disregard for the safety and consideration of ordinary folk and, moreover, other road users. The ‘hideous noise and wretched dust’ that Toad’s car created also serves as a reminder of the road conditions prior to the start of a series of vehicle excise duties set up by Chancellor David Lloyd George, under the Asquith government in 1909, to pay for the upkeep of roads.

It is estimated that between 1901 and 1905, there were as many as 221 different companies making cars. Few of these companies survived; some were absorbed into other concerns, but new innovations brought about more practical and affordable cars. In 1905, Herbert Austin started his own company, and by 1911 Ford had started assembling cars at a new plant in Old Trafford, Manchester. The following year, Morris made their first car, an answer to Ford’s Model T, the Oxford. By 1910, Singer was one of the most successful car manufacturers in Britain and the number of cars on Britain’s roads had more than quadrupled its 1904 number, to 100,000. The shift towards eventual acceptance of the motor car was slow, but it started to open up opportunities for new trades such as general mechanics and motor engineers.

WILLIAM ROOTES, MOTOR DEPOT, HAWKHURST

In 1907, William Rootes formed the Rootes Motor Agency, with an eye on acquiring agencies for British and foreign motor cars. With the business now operating from Hawkhurst, he had already started the transition from selling and repairing bicycles to selling and hiring motor cars. By 1910, the business was valued at £10,497 15s 4½d and he was acquiring a reputation as a trustworthy supplier. His advertisements were testimonials to the vehicles he sold, proclaiming: ‘I consider the Darracq (if properly overhauled and adjusted) to be splendid value. The White (Steam Car) I can conscientiously recommend.’ As well as Darracq and the White Steam Car were listed Napier, Star, De Dion, Panhard, Clément, Humber, Swift, Argyll and Vauxhall.

A line-up of cars and employees at Wm. Rootes’ service depot and workshops, at the rear of the Station Road, Hawkhurst, premises in 1915.HAWKHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Employees of Rootes Motor Works test the payload of a vehicle chassis at Hawkhurst in 1910.HAWKHURST HISTORY SOCIETY

Although William’s sons, Billy and Reggie, were both born in Goudhurst, it was the neighbouring village of Hawkhurst where their childhood memories and aspirations would be formed. They were educated at Cranbrook School, following a primary school education at Sir Thomas Dunk’s School for Boys in Hawkhurst. Although Reggie was proving to be scholarly and obtaining excellent results at the school, Billy was a cause of concern for his father and indeed his headmaster. He was very popular, and although bright, did not seem as interested in studying as his brother. His father decided to call in a favour from Singer, with whom he had a good relationship, being one of their main suppliers of bicycles for years, and asked them to accept Billy, at the age of sixteen, as an apprentice at the Singer Motor Company in Coventry. They duly obliged and the young apprentice very quickly made his mark as an exemplary student. Reggie had won a scholarship and was made head boy at Cranbrook. He later was also captain of the Cranbrook Football Club. On leaving school, Reggie joined the Admiralty, having passed the First Class Civil Service examination.

After three years at Singer, Billy had worked his way through most departments, so decided it was time to further his career. He had learnt a lot at Singer, which augmented the experience he had already gained helping his father and watching the mechanics in his workshop at Hawkhurst. He was fastidiously tidy and extremely organized. His landlady at his digs at number 8 Priory Street, Coventry, had noted that his room was always neat and tidy, a trait he would carry throughout his career. In his spare time, Billy decided to try out motorcycle racing. With meticulous care and attention he prepared his motorcycles, which no doubt enhanced his chances of success. He also became friends with G.E. Stanley, who broke many world records riding Singer motorcycles. Stanley suggested that Billy make contact with another young motorcycle enthusiast, Dudley Noble, who was working at the Rover works in Coventry. He was testing and tuning motorcycles and agreed to tune Billy’s motorcycles. He immediately took a liking to Billy and the two would become friends. Billy did in fact become a successful racing motorcyclist, winning many trials and reliability tests, including the race from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

While at Singer, Billy had worked on, and become familiar with, the new Singer 10HP model, so felt that this car would provide an ideal opportunity to try out his sales and negotiating skills. He persuaded the sales manager at Singer to give him the agency for the Kent area. The sales manager eventually agreed, but was taken aback when the eighteen year-old apprentice ordered fifty cars. An agreement was made, but only if Billy could pay a deposit of £250. First port of call to try to raise the deposit for the cars was his father, but when Billy arrived home William Rootes flew into a rage, furious that his son had left his apprenticeship and he thought his son’s idea was completely insane. He refused to lend Billy the money to finance the deal, and that was that. However, Billy had inherited several traits and qualities from his father – dogged determination being one of them. Billy then put plan B into operation. He went to a local farmer, who agreed to let him sell his chickens. He soon sold enough chickens for the deposit for the cars, and was on his way back to Coventry to pay Singer. Billy had correctly predicted that there would be a demand for the Singer 10. Within months, he had visited all the dealers in Kent and sold the fifty cars, albeit at a lower price with a lower profit margin than he had needed to. But, being a man of his word he stuck to the deal, which gave him the additional credentials of being trustworthy and honest, a trait that stood him in good stead when he returned to those same dealers to sell his products later on. He now had some capital with which to finance his own premises. This was 1912 – Billy Rootes had joined the motor trade!

The trade of William Rootes of Hawkhurst continued to flourish and, by 1913, the business was busy enough for a number of employees to be needed – mechanics, drivers and general engineers. A local newspaper entry from 1913 tells of the annual employees outing:

The employees of Mr. W. Rootes, motor engineers, had their annual outing on Saturday. The party started at 8 o’clock and motored to Victoria, afterwards proceeding to the Zoo, where they spent the time up to mid-day. Their next move was to Hendon, where they witnessed some very fine flying. In the evening they visited the Tivoli and finished up with a capital supper. The return journey was made in fine style, the party arriving home in the early hours of the next morning, having had a thoroughly good and enjoyable time.

It is not clear from the article whether ‘WR’ had accompanied his workforce on the outing, but it seems he was determined that they should have a good time.

Wm Rootes Motor Depot and Showroom at 7 Station Road, Hawkhurst, was made up of two shops and various outbuildings, including a service depot and workshops.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

110a Week Street – the site of the first garage and repair depot in Maidstone for William Rootes and son Billy.

William Rootes Snr realized that he needed to expand out of the village environment of Hawkhurst, and now that his eldest son Billy was starting to prove his worth as a talented salesman and potentially shrewd businessman, he wasted no time in opening another garage and repair depot, in Maidstone, at 110a Week SAn advertisement placedtreet. He employed a man and a boy to work there and placed his son Billy in charge. Within a year, Billy had not only increased retail sales from the Week Street premises, he had also established a wholesale outlet with which to sell vehicles to other retail outlets. By 1914, business was such that they acquired larger premises at 22 High Street, just off Pudding Lane. Billy and his father had now added agencies of F.N., Morris, Metallurgique, Briton, Ford, Delaney Belleville and Wolseley to the existing Darracq, Singer, Humber and Sunbeam agencies. At the 1914 Motor Show at Olympia, Billy and his father exhibited their products, but on different stands: William Snr promoted the new 12HP and 16HP Darracq models, while Billy manned the Singer stand promoting their 10HP model.

In 1914, the declaration of the Great War meant a curtailment of normal trade and the following year Billy joined the services as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), attached to the Royal Naval Air Service, leaving his father to run the business. During Billy’s time in the RNVR, he was sent to Clément-Talbot Ltd in London. As contractors to the Navy, his job was to oversee their aero-engine facility, but he was horrified by the waste that was created by the unnecessary scrapping of engines instead of repairing them. Billy drew attention to this situation, but initially his comments fell on deaf ears. Eventually, as demand for engines grew more urgent, his ideas were taken more seriously. He not only convinced them that his ideas were sound, but also that he would be able adequately to deliver and fulfil the requirements of the Air Ministry. He was subsequently demobbed and seconded to set up, in 1917, the first aero-engine repair facility in the country. The site chosen was the old tannery building by the River Len on Mill Street in Maidstone.

In 1917, the old Tannery building by the River Len at Maidstone was converted to offices, showrooms and works for Rootes Ltd and became the Len Engineering Works.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Workers in the main entrance drive of Len Engineering, circa 1918.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

1917 – THE FORMATION OF ROOTES LTD

On 26 September 1917, Billy formed a new company, Rootes Ltd, for the purpose of ‘aeronautical, automobile and general engineering’. It was registered through the treasury with the direct backing of the Air Ministry. William Snr was a director and Billy also persuaded his younger brother Reginald to join him, albeit on a part-time basis. Reginald would soon give up a promising career in the Civil Service to work full-time for the company.

The old tannery at Maidstone became the Len Engineering Works, and the aero-engine facility quickly started to turn out reconditioned Siddley-Puma and BHP (Beardmore Halford Pullinger) engines. Male and female workers were taken on to carry out the work and the Air Ministry then offered a large contract for them to recondition Le Rhône engines. As additional finance was needed in order to fulfil the contract, a formal request was sent to the Air Ministry, with specific terms for Rootes to be able to complete the work, pay salaries to Billy, his father and Reginald, and allow the company to buy the garage business of W.E. Rootes, as soon as peace was declared, for £1,000. This was a stroke of genius on their part. Not only were they being paid to carry out important war work, the government was effectively underwriting and financing their first major undertaking as a motor distributor.

Rootes’ contribution to the war effort was immense, despite inhabitants of Maidstone having to put up with the noise of aircraft engines roaring away at some very unsociable hours, but by the time the Armistice had been declared Rootes had successfully fulfilled their obligations to the Air Ministry and were ready to start their business as motor agents at their new headquarters in Mill Street, Maidstone.

90HP RAF aero engines being modified and overhauled in the workshops at Len Engineering, Maidstone, during the First World War.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Women’s work! In this highly cleaned up, airbrushed picture from the Rootes Ltd ‘War, Peace and Reconstruction’ series of publicity photographs, rows of women carry out valve grinding in the RAF and Le Rhône cylinder shop at the Len Engineering Works in Maidstone.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

A 200HP Beardmore Halford Pullinger aero engine ready for service again after having the cylinders repaired.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Engines being stripped down for examination and reassembly prior to being placed back into service.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

The machine shop at Maidstone during the aero-engine contract period towards the latter part of the First World War.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

1916 – Billy Rootes, in RNVR uniform, driving a Huber tractor.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

William Rootes Snr had shown himself to be a forward-thinking, shrewd businessman, investing in stocks and shares as well as property in Goudhurst and Hawkhurst. He was also now a director of his son’s company and by 1920 held debenture shares valued at £3,000 and ordinary shares of £2,350 in value. He was now quite comfortably off and in 1923 bought ‘Oaklands’, in St Helens Park in Hastings, in which to retire. The property at Hawkhurst was sold to local businessman John Davis, who was also owner of the Royal Oak pub in the middle of Hawkhurst. The garage business was run by his son George, hence its trading name of J. Davis and Son, Automobile Engineers. Sadly, George died aged twenty-nine, on 28 February 1930 and the business was then sold to local farmer, Jesse Norris, whose family would maintain the business as a motor agent, still trading as J. Davis and Son, for many years to come.

SETTLING DOWN TO FAMILY LIFE

While still in the RNVR, Billy had married Nora Press in 1916. She was from a family who had been millers on the Norfolk and Suffolk borders for generations; Nora’s father had apparently died at an early age of pneumonia, contracted after an evening’s duck flighting. Nora’s mother went to live with them when they moved to ‘The Sycamores’ at Loose, near Maidstone. On 14 June 1917, Billy and Nora had their first child, William Geoffrey (known as Geoffrey). Following the end of the war, a second son, Brian Gordon, was born on 1 October 1919; the family had moved to ‘The Cedars’ at Aylesford, Kent, a late Georgian or Regency house on the north bank of the River Medway. As Geoffrey and Brian were born on different sides of the Medway, Geoffrey was considered a Man of Kent and Brian a Kentish Man.

The motorcycle showroom at Maidstone, early 1920s.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Every year, Rootes would put on their own ‘motor show’, filling the Len Engineering Works buildings with new cars of every make and size imaginable. Bunting and regalia would dress every stand and makes would be lined up for prospective customers to view. Above is the Bean display in 1922 and the Austin stand in 1924.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

In 1916, William Rootes gave his eldest son Billy £1,200, presumably to give him a start in married life and to enable him to start Rootes Ltd in 1917. In 1921, £1,250 was given to Reginald. By 1922, Reginald would also be married. On 8 February 1922, Reginald married Joyce Bensted and went to live at ‘Oakdene’ in Queens Road, Maidstone.

Business for Rootes Ltd was rapidly growing. Their motor agencies in 1922 were numerous and included Austin, Singer, Humber, Wolseley, Bean, Chevrolet, Ford and Buick.

The influence of William Rootes Snr on the Rootes business cannot be underestimated: he was always keen to promote British products, stating: ‘I don’t mind what I sell, provided it’s British!’ This fervent patriotism would be yet another trait that his eldest son, Billy, would inherit, a trait that would benefit British manufacturing industry for decades to come. By the midtwenties Rootes would become the largest and most important car and truck distributors in Britain.

CHAPTER 2

ROOTES BROTHERS –MOTOR DISTRIBUTORS TOMOTOR MANUFACTURERS

Following the signing of the Armistice ending the First World War in November 1918, Europe was struggling to regain its pre-war status. Britain, unlike France and Germany, had not experienced actual battle on home ground and although German air raids had caused a devastating effect on the people of Britain, little material damage had been done. The real damage to Britain was the effect on trade and the appalling loss of young life on the battlefields of France. The change back to peacetime production, especially in motor manufacturing, was proving slow and difficult. Much of the engineering production in the country had been changed over to munitions manufacturing and consequently peacetime production had been neglected. Shipping had been turned over to transport of men and goods, which affected Britain’s ability to satisfy its traditional export markets. Those markets were now seeking other sources of supply or making products themselves. French manufacturing was in tatters and the understandably strong anti-German feeling in Britain ensured that no Germanmade products, from pianos to motor cars, would see the light of day in Britain for a long time to come.

Rootes Ltd, Len Engineering Works, Mill Street, Maidstone in the early 1920s, showing the central drive to the garage, works office and spares department. The accessory shop was behind the gate on the right in the old tannery office building. The car showroom at the front displays the latest Lanchester and Austin models.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

With a demand in Britain immediately following the Great War for motor cars of any shape and size, and too few companies to supply the demand, the Rootes brothers stepped in, seizing an opportunity that would underpin the future of their company. As distributors for Austin, Singer, Clyno and Humber, they were able to satisfy a large part of the demand, while filling the gaps with models from other makes, such as Buick and Chevrolet. During this period, all the General Motors brands were run as individual companies and overseen by General Motors Ltd from their London headquarters. The Chevrolet marque had relatively little attention paid to it until the early twenties when General Motors Ltd made efforts to sell the ‘English Chevrolet’, assembled at their plant in Hendon, north London, to compete with the Manchester-built Ford Model T. The efforts of the GM American management to understand the British market failed and the opportunity fell right into the hands of a company that did understand it – Rootes. The only way that General Motors could obtain a chunk of the British car market was to acquire Vauxhall Motors of Luton. This they did in 1925, shortly after Alfred P. Sloan, head of GM, had reorganized their vehicle range into clearly defined product segments, from the low-priced Chevrolet, through Oakland (later Pontiac), Oldsmobile, Buick to the luxury Cadillac range at the top of the price tree.

Before this reorganization of GM brands in America, and prior to GM acquiring Vauxhall in Britain and Opel in Germany, the American-built brands were available in Britain. In 1909, Buick, for example, had established a small manufacturing operation in Willesden, north-west London. The Buick chassis benefited by being able to take a variety of bespoke English coachwork styles from companies such as Carlton and Grosvenor, as well as light-duty commercial bodywork, and Billy Rootes seized on another opportunity: American-built cars to supply the demand that war-torn Europe could not. In 1920, he set off for America to court General Motors. One month later he returned with an agreement to distribute GM products. It was a short-lived arrangement, but that did not matter. Billy, like his father, was more interested in supplying British-built cars and would start to turn his attention to home-grown manufacturers, but not before entering into another short-lived agreement with Automobiles Martini in Switzerland to sell their cars in Britain and several other countries.

Maidstone 1924 – Buick and Chevrolet light-duty delivery vans and chassis were on hand to fill the gaps that British manufacturers could not.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

A shipment of Martini cars from Switzerland being stored in the garage area at Len Engineering Works, Maidstone, early 1920s.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Rootes were the main distributors for Herbert Austin’s ‘Motor for the Millions’. Illustrated is a 1927 Austin Seven Chummy.

During the early 1920s, the market was moving at a rapid pace in Britain’s motor trade, as the nation’s motor builders jostled for position and the market moved towards smaller, ‘light’ cars. Clyno entered a price war with Morris; Wolseley ended up going bankrupt and being bought by Herbert Austin’s arch-rival William Morris, much to Austin’s intense annoyance, which left Singer and Clyno to fight out the small-car war with Austin and Morris. Ford were starting to struggle and Henry Ford’s obsession for his ‘one model, one colour’ car in the form of the Model T was proving to be his undoing. It would not be until 1931, with the opening of the Ford Dagenham plant, that a return to the ranks of the ‘volume car production aristocracy’ would be experienced by Ford.

By 1922, the effects of an economic slump had hit Britain and the pressure to meet the immediate post-war demand had lessened. However, the Rootes brothers had made their mark and were well on their way to becoming one of the biggest and most significant motor distributors in Britain. There were over 575,000 cars on Britain’s roads in 1922, of which 73,000 were produced that year and a further 19,939 imported. In 1921, Austin had called in the receiver and despite Rootes being the largest Austin distributors in Britain, Billy chose not to pursue any business involvement with Herbert Austin; the two were poles apart in character, although Rootes Ltd did support Austin through its difficulties by continuing to sell its cars. Austin’s saviour came in the form of the little Seven. Introduced in 1922, it was Herbert Austin’s ‘Motor for the Millions’. By 1928, Austin was producing 22,000 Sevens a year, nearly half the output at Longbridge. A consortium was formed which allowed Rootes to continue as distributors for Austin until the early 1930s.

As well as supplying the home market, Billy Rootes was keen to obtain export markets for British-built cars. One of Rootes’ first serious attempts to export a British-made car in any volume was for the Wolverhampton-based firm, Clyno, with whom Rootes had a worldwide distribution agreement. During 1925 and 1926, Rootes were already selling around 3,000 cars of various makes a year for export, and Billy undertook an extensive overseas tour to see what the export possibilities would be for Clyno, which had produced some good medium-sized cars with some innovative features. The 10.8HP models being produced at that time were well built and popular, but the company was struggling to keep up with demand. Their answer was to build a brand-new factory in Wolverhampton, but doing so financially overstretched the company and it subsequently went into liquidation. The Rootes brothers tried to acquire the equity of the company, but failed. Clyno went out of business in 1929.

A section of the repair shop at Maidstone in the early 1920s.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

The Len Engineering body shop at Maidstone in the early 1920s.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Clyno and driver. In 1926, Billy Rootes visited India to set up Rootes dealers. This picture was taken after crossing the Ga-Ga River in a Clyno tourer en route for Simla. The trip included visits to Calcutta, Delhi, Bhopal and Lahore.COVENTRY ARCHIVES

The Clyno stand at Maidstone in 1927.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Billy and Reggie were proving to be a formidable team, with their ‘Yin and Yang’ qualities complementing each other. Billy, the forward thinking, outgoing and extrovert salesman, has been described as the ‘engine’ of the business, while Reggie was the ‘steering and brakes’. Billy had developed an innate feel for marketing and an awareness of the importance of publicity, whilst Reggie showed his ability as a sound businessman and administrator. They worked well together and in 1920 had become joint managing directors of Rootes Ltd. Their friendship enabled a strong partnership that would endure over many years and help them to build on their success. Their plans for the future were decisive and visionary. Within a few years, the brothers had created a motoring empire of car and truck retail outlets around the country. During this period they had moved into offices in Long Acre near London’s Covent Garden and took additional offices and showrooms at 141 New Bond Street, as well as acquiring a number of important dealerships: Tom Garner in Manchester; Robins & Day in Rochester and Wrotham; and the Canterbury Motor Company. In September 1923, an opportunity presented itself to acquire the prestigious dealership chain of George Heath & Company. The company was in serious financial difficulty and through a series of clever strategic moves, the Rootes brothers gained control of not one, but twenty main dealerships, plus a further forty smaller Midlands regional sales outlets which made up George Heath & Company.

The Rootes brothers’ plan, however, was to have one main centrally located headquarters, with offices and showroom facilities, to oversee their growing empire. This they found in London’s Piccadilly, opposite the Ritz Hotel and what was the Berkeley Hotel. Devonshire House was built on the site of the old Devonshire family home, which had been demolished to make way for this prestigious and impressive new building. The Rootes organization moved into Devonshire House in September 1926. Pundits in the motor trade must have thought the Rootes brothers had overextended themselves by taking out a lease of ninety-nine years on such premises, but the brothers knew exactly what they were doing. During the 1920s, the aristocracy in Britain had also felt the aftereffects of the First World War on trade and many were unable to keep up properties in London as well as in the country. With the General Strike in 1926 adding to business instability, huge palatial residences in and around Mayfair were now giving way to high-class nightclubs, hotels, plush apartments and offices. Although a Mayfair address was not exactly bargain basement, it was certainly the right time to acquire property for a speculatively astute organization like Rootes, and ‘Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London W1’ would remain the address of the Rootes organization for the next four decades.

Tom Garner Ltd in Deansgate, Manchester, was one of Rootes’ first dealership acquisitions and was an important strategic distribution centre for sales and service of vehicles in the north of England.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Robins & Day Ltd in Rochester, Kent, along with their Canterbury depot, were acquired as regional sales and service depots covering the south-east of England.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST

Devonshire House, Piccadilly, London, shortly after Rootes had acquired the prestigious premises as their headquarters in 1926. Inset is the original Duke of Devonshire’s house, which was demolished to make way for the new building.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE

A corner of the general office in the late 1920s at Devonshire House, London, the headquarters and export division of Rootes Ltd.ROOTES ARCHIVE CENTRE TRUST