- The Rover Co Ltd
Solihull, Warwickshire
Starley & Sutton Co was founded in Coventry by John Kemp Starley and William Sutton in 1878 to produce bicycles and tricycles. In 1885 Starley produced the Rover safety bicycle with two similar-sized wheels, making it more stable than the previous high-wheel designs. In 1889 the company was renamed J K Starley & Co Ltd and in 1896 the Rover Cycle Co Ltd. The company began making motorcycles from 1902 and cars from 1904. In 1905 the company name changed to The Rover Co Ltd to reflect its changing business. During the First World War the firm made motorcycles, lorries to Maudslay Motor Car Co designs and cars to a Sunbeam Motor Car Co design. After the war Rover acquired a factory in Tyseley, Birmingham, the business declined during the depression of the 1920s. In 1929 Spencer Wilks, formerly of Hillman Motor Car Co, joined as general manager and in 1930 his brother Maurice Wilks was appointed chief engineer, and refocused the company on more up-market cars. During the Second World War Rover ran shadow factories at Acocks Green, Birmingham, from 1937, at Solihull from 1940 and at Kidderminster from 1943, all making aero engines and airframes. In 1940 The Rover Co was invited by the government to support Frank Whittle in developing the gas turbine engine. Whittle’s Power Jets had no production facilities and it was proposed that Rover would take the design to mass production. The first test engines to the W.2B design were built in a factory in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, in 1941, but in 1942 it was agreed that Rolls-Royce would take over jet engine production and Rover exchanged its Barnoldswick works for Rolls-Royce’s Meteor tank engine factory in Nottingham. After the Second World War Rover vacated its bombed Helen Street works in Coventry and purchased the two shadow factories at Acocks Green, which continued to make Meteor engines for tanks, whilst vehicle production resumed in Solihull in 1947, where the Land Rover – based on the American jeep and launched in 1948 – was made. The Land Rover was a huge success during the 1950s and 1960s, alongside up-market saloon cars and pioneering research into gas turbine-powered vehicles. Rover purchased Alvis Car & Engineering Co Ltd in 1965. In 1967 Rover became part of the Leyland Motor Corporation, which itself merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation in which Rover, Triumph and Jaguar were brought together in a specialist division.
Acocks Green and Solihull: parts for Bristol Hercules (1936); Kidderminster: parts for Bristol Mercury (1925) and Rolls-Royce Pegasus (1959).
Graham Robson, The Rover story (2024)
British Motor Industry Heritage Trust
Memoranda and articles of association 1918-72; directors’ and general meeting minutes 1926-48, 1962-75; executive management/directors' meeting minutes 1961-73; directors’ meeting minutes extracts 1961-74; general meeting minutes, reports and accounts and papers re patents etc 1960-74; board meeting reports: 1962-1964, works 1961-1973, engineering progress 1958, Tyseley and Acocks Green works 1959-73, Birmingham works 1970-73; attendance books: directors 1896-1948, 1970-73, general meeting 1896-1939; board papers and agendas 1956-58, 1963-72; chairman's statements at general meetings 1948, 1950-51; annual returns: 1904-24, Rover Trustees 1959; seal book 1949-72; register of directors 1954-74; director particulars 1955-74; register of mortgages and debenture transfers 1896-1960; minutes and other papers re shadow factories 1937-48; minutes and reports for executive manufacturing committees 1973; annual reports and accounts 1897-1966; files re merger negotiations: Standard Motor Co Ltd 1954, Willys Motors 1954-65, David Brown Corporation 1957-59; papers re merger with Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd 1964-74; registrar's department correspondence 1954-75; share transfer books/forms 1922-45, 1966; papers re shares 1929-75; letters to shareholders 1961-70; information on shareholders and directors 1958, 1960-1974; incentive share option plans 1964-66; folder re returns of allotments 1964-66; undelivered shareholder dividend warrants 1963-70; papers re Rover ownership of Alvis shares 1965-75; shareholder letters re merger with Alvis Ltd 1965; agreements and licences 1931-34, 1955-74; agreements, licences and letters with others parties 1908-40; agreements for the sale and purchase of The New Rover Cycle Co Ltd by The Rover Co 1912-17; annual registers re trade agreement reserves 1969-74; working files (21) re annual reports and accounts 1939-59; folders of papers re statement of accounts and directors' reports 1957-72; audit papers 1926-38; balance sheets and profit and loss accounts 1929; private ledgers: n.d., 1906-1975, transfer binder 1930-68; nominal ledger 1896-1903; audit memoranda ledgers 1927-39; vehicles costing ledger 1937-55; cheques drawn ledger 1946-56; management accounts 1968-71; cash book, The Rover Trustees Ltd 1938-69; cost book 1909-67; letters from Lloyds Bank re extension of company's overdraft 1930-31; vehicle profit and loss accounts re sales and exports 1968-70; cheque books/forms: n.d., 1948-55, Rover Sick Benefit Society n.d.; accounts of cheques drawn: 1954-59, Ministry of Supply (Rover account) 1949-59; bank statements 1957-59, 1968-72; assignments of goodwill and trademarks between The Rover Co and The New Rover Cycle Co Ltd 1912, 1917, 1923; analysis of patents and trademark expenditure book 1970-74; charges re patent renewals and specifications book 1966-69; files (39) re patents 1923-75; trademarks registration book 1881-1940; file re ‘Roadrover’ trademark 1952-67; file re patents and trademarks budget 1955-75; papers re trademarks: 1968-74, registration 1966-74, infringement 1964-74, renewals 1965-82; list of British trademark registrations 1881-1925; correspondence: shareholders and customers 1954-73, staff and office matters 1959-64, secretarial division 1961-75, trade donations and subscriptions 1967-70, miscellaneous 1970-74; schedule of duties in secretarial department 1969; Coventry and Tyseley factories: stock take of general and tool materials 1928, list of plant 1928; registers re reinstatement of Solihull and Tyseley factories for car production 1937-46; plant, machinery and office registers (30) 1938-78; correspondence file re plant and equipment at Coventry 1943-44; papers re office furniture and equipment at no.6 shadow factory 1943-45; aero engines inter-office memos re E D Abbott Ltd, bank balance and creditors 1938; service engine summary file 1946-61; papers re Land Rover manufacturing project in Spain 1956; planning report re P.4, P.5 and P.6 cars 1957-61; SD1 type meeting papers 1974-75; vehicle production figures, largely Land Rover 1968; papers re car quality 1964-67; file re Ministry of Aircraft production schedule, Coventry, Barnoldswick and Clitheroe, incl papers re orders, contracts, patents, tenders 1940-43; file re removal of Albemarle from Coventry to Carleton Mill near Skipton 1941; files re acquisition of Acocks Green factory from Ministry of Supply c.1950-60; telephone directory, Ministry of Aircraft Production headquarters 1945; diaries of shadow factory progress: Solihull 1937-50, Kidderminster 1941-55; file re Acocks Green cost returns 1958-59; visitor books: 1946-71, factory 1938-46; factory capacity and demand report issued by market research and statistics department 1960-70; instructions re the Rover continental touring service for distributors and dealers 1956; lists of distributors and dealers 1959-60, 1966; overseas visitor delivery scheme booklet 1964; scrapbook of invitations, presscuttings and photographs re Rover distributor sales and service weeks 1966-67; blank distributor and dealer agreements n.d.; menu and guest list for distributors dinner 1962; warranty certificates n.d.; parts department booklet n.d.; programme re royal visit to the Cardiff factory 1963; papers re: expeditions 1957-67, 1971-72, rallies 1962-69; presscuttings re assembly line strike 1969; files (210) of title deeds, plans, correspondence and other property papers, incl property in Coventry, Solihull, London, Birmingham, 1849-1981; book of weekly wage and salary records/rates 1908-18; staff rate cards/forms and staff engagement forms 1928-60s; agreements and correspondence with individual staff 1929-65; monthly salaries file, Acocks Green works 1937-58; correspondence with Lloyds Bank re bank limits re wages 1949-58; specimen clock cards and wage tickets 1944; papers re employee and salary details 1957-60; monthly salaries papers 1947-61; monthly staff book 1958-61; productive wages sheet, Tyburn Road factory 1966; notice books re holidays, working conditions, etc: aero engine factories 1938-46, Solihull and Coventry factories 1938-58; employee vehicle purchase scheme papers 1964; supplementary endowment assurance scheme booklet 1964; presscuttings, photographs and correspondence re appointment/retirement of directors/managers 1963-69; specialist car division staff integration policy/programme file 1971; correspondence and forms re Inland Revenue 1944-60; papers re employee overseas visits 1946-47; Rover Staff Contributory Pension Fund: reports and accounts 1945-51, booklets 1944, meeting minutes, annual reports and accounts and brief history 1967-70; Rover Sick Benefit Society rules and minutes 1955-56; correspondence re appointments of overseas representatives 1951-55; supervisor handbooks 1965; Rover Dramatic & Operatic Society, committee meetings, letters, poster, programme 1938, 1946-48, 1951; papers re Rover News, company newspaper 1965-69; Rover (Tyseley) Social & Athletic Club bank book 1943-61; Rover (Solihull) Social & Athletic Club: annual accounts files (12) 1947-59, bank passbook and events papers 1947-56; Rover Apprentices' Association: cheque book 1958-59, paying-in book 1958-61, bank statements 1958-61; papers re company history: 1903-83, anniversaries 1927-74, information file re dividends, share issues, depot dates and long serving employees 1897-1966; brief company history, organisation and factories 1965.
Companies court: registrar’s notes 1929, winding-up proceedings 1929, chancery file 1967 [J107/59/14, J13/11811/14, J137/87]; contract for production of Bristol aero engines 1936-38 [TS28/272]; German aerial photograph aero engine factory Birmingham c.1939 [AIR34/734]; Ministry of Aircraft papers re Whittle engine production at Rover 1941 [AVIA15/855]; Whittle jet engines design and tests by Rover 1940-41 [AVIA 5/2985];
terms of operation of Rover’s Whittle engine shadow factory 1941-43 [AVIA15/1120]; report on visit to Rover re W2B engines for F9/40 aircraft 1942 [AIR62/477]; papers re production of Meteor engines for armoured fighting vehicles at Kenilworth 1943-47 [AVIA22/2799]; Air Ministry papers re Rover 1936-40 [AIR19/8]; papers re Whittle jet engines design and tests 1940-41 [AVIA15/2985]; notes on meeting with Power Jets, Ministry of Aircraft Production, Royal aircraft Establishment and Rolls-Royce at Clitheroe 1943 [AIR62/489]; papers re surging with Power Jets and Rover blower casings at Clitheroe 1943 [AIR62/487]; papers re transfer of jet engine manufacturing management from Rover Co to Rolls-Royce 1942-43 [AVIA15/1806]; Ministry of Supply papers re 60 hp gas turbine engine contract 1951-55 [AVIA53/118]; final report re development and supply of neutron spectrometer rotor 1953-54 [AB15/3423]; Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations, Rover submission 1965-68 [LAB28/13/396] Queen's Award to industry papers re Rover 1969-70 [BT316/107].
Modern Records Centre, Warwick University
Cycle catalogue 1891 [MSS.328/N78]; British motor Industry secondary documentation: annual reports 1931, 1962-66, publicity material 1931, 1965-68, history booklet, 70 Years of Rover 1974 [MSS.226X/RO/]; Coventry and District Engineering Employers' Association papers 1942-45 [MSS.66/1/2/]; Paul Worm automotive industrial relations collection: Rover shop stewards' committee minutes 1949-83, Transport & General Workers' Union, Rover Solihull branch papers and shop stewards minutes 1960-80 [MSS.356].
Daffern stockbroker, annual reports 1898-26, 1928-33 [PA606/1-47]; technical drawings of Roland Seale, chief designer c.1954-61 [PA870].
Instruction booklet re operation/maintenance of Land Rovers 1956 [TR PTC/P2/B 349].