Spencer Bernau Wilks (26 May 189110 March 1971) was a British manager and administrator in the motor manufacturing industry. He served variously in positions including Managing Director, Chairman, and President of the

Rover Company The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by '' Road & Track'' i ...

from 1929 until the 1960s. Previously he worked for the

Hillman Motor Car Company Hillman was a British automobile marque created by the Hillman-Coatalen Company, founded in 1907, renamed the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had b ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. His younger brother

Maurice Wilks Maurice Fernand Cary Wilks (19 August 19048 September 1963) was a British automotive and aeronautical engineer, and by the time of his death in 1963, was the chairman of the Rover Company, a British car manufacturer. He was the founder of the ...

also worked at Rover as Chief Engineer, Technical Director and Managing Director from 1930.Graces Guide to British Industrial History. Profile of Spencer Wilks
/ref> He is one of Land Rover's founders along with Maurice.

Early life and education

Wilks was born in Rickmansworth to Thomas Wilks (born Balham), a Director of Leather Co and his wife Jane Eliza (born St. Sepulchre, London), a

Suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

. He had one sister and four brothers including

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' - Saturday, 10 June 1967.

Career

Wilks was initially trained as a solicitor, but his wife Kathleen Edith was a daughter of

William Hillman William Hillman (13 November 1848 – 4 February 1921) was a British bicycle and automobile manufacturer. In partnership with Louis Coatalen he founded the Hillman-Coatalen Company in 1907, later the Hillman Motor Company after Coatalen's defe ...

, founder of the

, and so he became a joint manager in 1921 on the death of his father in law. In 1929, he left Hillman after disagreement with the Rootes brothers who took it over in 1928. In September 1929, Wilks began employment as Works manager at the

in Coventry, having been invited by the Managing Director Frank Searle to join the board. By 1930, he was joined by his brother Maurice as Chief Engineer.

Land Rover

In 1947, he founded

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

around Maurice's design for a small, sturdy, economical, four wheel drive utility vehicle modelled on the

Willys Jeep The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, -ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503,According to i ...

Managerial career

In 1934, he was appointed managing director of Rover, and became Chairman in 1957. In 1962, although retired, he served as a non-executive director; and in 1967, he became President of Rover.

Private life

Wilks married Kathleen Edith Hillman (b. 1891), one of the six daughters of

. He died on 10 March 1971, aged 79.

References

* ''

'' - Saturday, 10 June 1967. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilks, Spencer 1891 births 1971 deaths British automobile designers British founders of automobile manufacturers Land Rover Rover Company People from Rickmansworth