South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
from 1929 until the 1990s.
Early history
Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the National Omnibus & Transport Company. The National company had originated in 1909 as the National Steam Car Company, started to run steam bus services in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. The London services ceased in 1919, when the company was renamed National Omnibus & Transport Company. The company expanded outside London, into
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
(1913),
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
(1919),
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
(1919),
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
(1920),
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
(1921), and
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
&
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
(1927).
The GWR had developed an extensive network of bus services in Devon and Cornwall. These services, and those of the National Omnibus in Devon and Cornwall, were transferred to Western National. A few months later, the new company bought the operations of the National company in south west Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, and also the GWR bus services around
Trowbridge
Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...
and Stroud. The result was an operating territory stretching from Cheltenham to Penzance, in five areas: Gloucestershire (based in Stroud),
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
(based in Trowbridge), south and west Somerset (based in
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
), south Devon (based in Plymouth) and Cornwall. Western National's operating territory was interspersed with those of three other major operators:
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
in south Gloucestershire and north Somerset, Southern National in north Devon and north Cornwall and
Devon General
Devon General was the principal bus operator in south Devon from 1919. The name was first used by the Devon General Omnibus and Touring Company which was created in 1919. In 1922 it was purchased by the National Electric Construction Company whi ...
in south and east Devon.
In 1931, a controlling interest in the National Omnibus was acquired by the
Tilling Group
The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948.
Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British Ele ...
. From then on Western National was run as a Tilling company, although the GWR retained its shares until 1948. Western National and Southern National shared a common management, based in Exeter (although curiously neither company had a depot in Exeter).
At the end of 1934, Western National and Southern National bought Royal Blue Coach Services.
Nationalisation
On 1 January 1948, the Great Western Railway was nationalised and, shortly after, the Tilling Group sold its bus interests to the government. Western National therefore became a state-owned company, under the control of the
British Transport Commission
The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...
.
The new regime resulted in some rationalisation of the company's area of operations. In 1950, the Gloucestershire area operations were transferred to
Bristol Tramways
Bristol Tramways operated in the city of Bristol, England from 1875, when the Bristol Tramways Company was formed by Sir George White, until 1941 when a Luftwaffe bomb destroyed the main power supply cables.
History
The first trams in Brist ...
.
On 1 January 1963, Western National was included in the transfer of the British Transport Commission's transport assets to the state-owned
Transport Holding Company
The Transport Holding Company (THC) was a British Government-owned company created by the Transport Act 1962 to administer a range of state-owned transport, travel and engineering companies that were previously managed by the British Transport C ...
which, in turn, passed to the state-owned National Bus Company (NBC) on 1 January 1969.
The NBC embarked on more rationalisation of Western National's operations. In 1969, the operations of Southern National were merged with those of Western National, so that Western National acquired the operating areas of north Cornwall, north Devon and Dorset. In 1970 the Wiltshire area operations of Western National were transferred to
Bristol Omnibus Company
The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties.
History
...
. Then, in 1971, the NBC transferred the operations of Devon General to Western National, although Devon General was retained as a brand. Western National pulled out of north Cornwall in 1971, leaving the area to local operators. Then, in 1974, the former Southern National operations in the Swanage area of east Dorset were transferred to Hants & Dorset.
Privatisation
In the lead up to deregulation, in January 1983 Western National was divided into four companies:
*Devon General Limited in the old Devon General area in south and east Devon
*North Devon Limited trading as Red Bus in North Devon
*Southern National Limited in Somerset and Dorset
*Western National Limited in Cornwall and Plymouth
On 19 August 1986, Devon General became the first National Bus Company subsidiary to be privatised under the
Transport Act 1985
The Transport Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October of 1986.
The Act was created as a response to growing concern ...
being sold in a management buyout led by managing director Harry Blundred. In 1996 it was sold to Stagecoach and in 2003 rebranded Stagecoach Devon.
On 7 August 1987 Western National, was sold to Plympton Coachlines with
Badgerline
Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a manag ...
having an initial 39% shareholding, which was increased to 66% in August 1988. Western National was included in the June 1995 merger of Badgerline with
GRT Group
:''This article describes the bus group, for the Grampian Regional Transport bus company and successors/predecessors, see First Aberdeen''
GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when Gr ...
to form FirstBus.
North Devon and Southern National were jointly sold to their management on 29 March 1988. On 4 April 1999, both were sold to
First Hampshire & Dorset
First Hampshire & Dorset is a bus operator providing services in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
First Hampshire & Dorset was created out of various different smaller companies which were merged o ...
Taunton bus station
Taunton bus station was situated on Tower Street, Taunton, Somerset, England. It was opened by the Western National Omnibus Company in 1953 and closed in 2020, by which time it was operated by The Buses of Somerset. In 2015 the Transport Trust ...
References
Further reading
*Anderson, R. C. & Frankis, G. G. A. (1979) ''A History of Western National''. Newton Abbot: David and Charles
*Morris, C. (2008) ''Western National Omnibus Company'' Ian Allan