• Austin Motor Co Ltd

Austin Motor Co Ltd was incorporated in 1905 by Herbert Austin, with the backing of steel magnate Frank Kayser and Dunlop patent holder Harvey du Cros. Austin was previously general manager of Wolseley Tool & Motor Car Co Ltd of Birmingham which he had created in 1901 by persuading the armament firm of Vickers, Sons & Maxim to buy out Wolseley's motor vehicle business. The Austin Motor Co Ltd was set up in a disused printing works at Longbridge, near Birmingham, and launched its first car in 1906. A further injection of capital was soon required and in 1906 du Cros joined the board, although Austin continued to hold half of the ordinary capital and to serve as chairman and managing director. By 1914 the company was producing cars, ambulances and commercial vehicles. The business became a publicly-listed company in 1914 as Austin Motor Co (1914) Ltd, when the firm's capital was increased. At that time, it was the fifth largest UK manufacturer of motor cars, building about 30 cars a week. Despite a collapse in the commercial chassis market, Austin Motor Co grew massively during the First World War fulfilling government contracts for aircraft, shells, heavy guns and trucks. In 1916 the company name reverted to Austin Motor Co Ltd, the works were expanded and the workforce increased from around 2,500 to 22,000. During the war the company mainly built aircraft under licence, but in 1915 John North joined the company as superintendent of the aviation department and thereafter the company also produced a number of aircraft of its own design, although none progressed beyond the prototype stage. North, previously chief engineer of Grahame-White Aviation Co Ltd, moved on to Boulton Paul Ltd in 1917. In 1918 John Kenworthy, formerly of the Royal Aircraft Factory, joined the company as chief engineer and designer.

Although Austin Motor Co produced around 2,000 aeroplanes and 2,500 aeroplane engines during the war, it abandoned aircraft manufacture after the war when it failed to enter the private aircraft market, with the Whippet and Kestrel, and began to refocus on the production of motor cars. Car sales were, however, never of a scale to occupy the vast wartime factory and the company went into receivership in 1921. It was subsequently reformed as Austin Motors Ltd after financial restructuring. During the Second World War the company again built over 2,400 aircraft under contract, notably the Fairey Battle, Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, Hawker Hurricane and Airspeed Horsa. The Longbridge aircraft works was one of the largest shadow factories and also manufactured whole aero-engines and engine components. An additional factory was built at Marston Green, near Elmdon.