William Lyons - Jaguar's Founder by François Prins
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William Lyons - Jaguar's Founder By François Prins William Lyons took a small sidecar manufacturing business and developed it into a prominent World-wide Company in a few years. One of the few 'names' that still resound in the world of automotive manufacturing is that of William Lyons. We know Ford, Renault, Citroen and Benz, as these names are still to be found in the car business. Other once famous names, such as Olds, Riley, Austin and Morris have disappeared. Very few people now remember who those pioneers were, but Lyons is still remembered as Jaguar; these two are synonymous. Although he died in 1985 his legacy is still regarded highly by the current Design Department at Jaguar. Indeed, the present Director of Design, Ian Callum, often looks at past Jaguar models to keep the 'Lyons- Jaguar DNA' alive. How did Lyons exert such an influence on a brand? He was a charismatic person, single-minded and certainly strong- willed. Tremendously hard-working Lyons expected his staff to do likewise. He surrounded himself with exceptionally talented people who were just as keen on the enterprise as he was. They may not always have agreed with the Boss, but they were loyal, both to Lyons and to Jaguar. Early Days In any account of a life one must start at the beginning. William Lyons was born on 4 September 1901 to William and Mary (née Barcroft) in Blackpool. William Senior was a musician and ran a music shop where he sold and repaired pianos. According to some, most of the pianos in Blackpool passed through William's hands at some time or another. William Lyons attended Poulton-le-Fylde Grammar School where he was, in his own words, an ‘average scholar’; later he moved to Arnold House, a small private school in Lytham Road, Blackpool. Lyons may have lacked scholastic skills but from an early age he showed an interest in mechanical items, particularly bicycles, which he used to repair for other boys at the school, but his real interest was in motor cycles and their engines. He was too young to ride but knew some of the older brothers of his classmates who had motor cycles. One of those whom he knew, Arnold Breakell, went off to war in 1914 and, unlike many others from school, returned home. He sold Lyons his 1911 Triumph motor cycle, even though Lyons was still too young to take the bike out on a public road. So Lyons pulled it apart and rebuilt it making some improvements; later he sold it at a profit. Lyons did have a natural talent for engineering of this type but the masters at Arnold House did not care for this talent and failed to encourage it. © Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust William Lyons – Jaguar’s Founder Page 1 of 31 On leaving school in July 1917 Lyons was due to become an apprentice at Vickers shipbuilding yard at Barrow-in-Furness, he had attended a special course to help him with the apprenticeship examination, but his heart was not in shipbuilding and he was not keen to follow that path. His father came to the rescue; he knew the Managing Director of Crossley Motors in Gorton, Manchester, and asked if there was a place for his son. The result was that young Lyons took up an apprenticeship with them. Part of the arrangement included studying engineering at Manchester Technical College some of the week. Lyons wanted to get closer to the Crossley cars but production at the time was concentrated on ambulances and lorries for the military. Unhappy with this he left Crossley and moved back to Blackpool, where he found work with Jackson Brothers (later Brown and Mallalieu), a leading Blackpool motor dealer. Here he learned more about motorcars than he had with Crossley; how they were made and how they worked. He also learned how to demonstrate a model to a prospective customer and, importantly, how to close a sale. World War One had ended and life in Britain was slowly getting back to normal. He was much happier in these surroundings of a busy garage with sales of new cars and workshops to keep them going. He also attended the first post-war motor show in London in 1919 where he helped on the Brown and Mallalieu stand. William Lyons was just eighteen-years-old and was now as experienced with motor cars as he was with motorcycles, but when a new General Manager, Charles Hayes, was appointed to oversee the expanding business, Lyons found many of his responsibilities taken away. He may have had the experience but his age was against him. Consequently, Lyons’s services were dispensed with and in 1920 he found himself unemployed. To fill in the time he helped in his father’s music shop by repairing and re- tuning some of the pianos that were sent to their workshops, but he was determined to get back into the automotive world. Incidentally, to the end of his days Lyons retained an interest in pianos and if a problem arose with the family instrument, he would take it to pieces and rebuild it. His younger daughter Mary recalled that it was not always a success. Sidecars and Swallows Motor cycles were still a passion of William Lyons and he bought and sold several examples during the next few years, from Indians to Harley-Davidsons. He used to tune them for competition in local hill- climbs and rallies, which he sometimes won. However, he still did not have a proper job and his parents were getting concerned about his future, then fate took a hand. One of his neighbours in King Edward Avenue, Blackpool, William Walmsley, who was some ten years' older than Lyons and was also a motor cycle enthusiast, had built himself a sidecar to his own design. Lyons saw this and got into conversation with the neighbour and introduced him to the Blackpool and Fylde Motor Club. © Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust William Lyons – Jaguar’s Founder Page 2 of 31 A few years earlier, while living in Stockport, Walmsley had designed and built an unusual sidecar using polished aluminium panels making it look far more stylish than the standard fare of the day. His sidecar had a sleek body with a pointed nose while the average ‘chair’ of the time was staid and rather boring. Walmsley finished the sidecar in 1920 and found that it was widely admired, this resulted in requests by fellow enthusiasts for just such a sidecar. Walmsley had started small-scale production with a couple of friends in his garage, first in Stockport and then in Blackpool, at the rate of one or two a week and sold the aluminium sidecars under the name 'Swallow' at £28 each. Walmsley registered the design and had a photographic postcard printed with details of the Swallow, as it was named. His wife, Ethel, trimmed the sidecars which were built on a bought-in Watsonian chassis. Lyons was impressed by the Swallow and purchased an example; whenever he stopped his Harley-Davidson and the Swallow sidecar combination he attracted interest from passers-by and some expressed an interest in buying an example of this stylish sidecar for themselves. With no advertising the sidecar was being ordered by people who simply saw an example in the street and Walmsley seemed content to indulge in what he regarded as a hobby and do nothing further to promote the product. On the other hand Lyons could see that the Swallow had great potential if it was marketed correctly. He suggested a business partnership with Walmsley, but the older man was reluctant to do so; he had no need to work and did not have the drive that Lyons possessed. Lyons did not give up and discussed the matter with Walmsley’s father, Thomas. He was more receptive and talked his son into the scheme, leaving Lyons to sort out the business plan. In August 1922, William Lyons senior and Thomas Walmsley put up £500 each to fund the enterprise by guaranteeing a £1,000 loan (roughly £30,000 in 2018 terms) at Williams Deacon’s Bank in Blackpool. They found suitable premises at 5 Bloomfield Road and the partnership agreement was signed on 21 November though it was backdated to 11 September 1922. Interestingly, the name ‘Swallow’ is not mentioned on any of the surviving documents from this time, but from the very start they traded as the Swallow Sidecar Company. Early Days William Lyons and William Walmsley, with half-a-dozen employees, began in a small way by initially producing just one motorcycle sidecar a week. Lyons was not involved in the actual hands-on manufacturing, he attended to the paperwork, publicity and administration while Walmsley supervised the manufacturing aspect, after all, it was he who had designed and made the original. This was a suitable division of management duties that worked well, and production increased as further orders were placed for the Swallow. Lyons wanted to introduce the Swallow to a wider market and that meant © Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust William Lyons – Jaguar’s Founder Page 3 of 31 London, unfortunately, the date for space at the Motor Cycle Show in London that November had to have been booked by April, and when Lyons approached the organisers he was told that the Show was fully-booked. Lyons was not to be deterred and pleaded with them to be allocated a stand. Even though the entry date had long passed, and the Hall fully booked, the organisers agreed to allow Swallow space if any became available.