Sir Henry Spurrier (16 June 1898 – 17 June 1964) was a British engineer and industrialist, and the third generation of the Spurrier family to head

Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and ...

Trevor Boyns Trevor Boyns (born 1953) is a British business historian and Professor of Accounting & Business History at the Cardiff University, known for his work in the field of the history of accountancy and business history. Biography Boyns obtained h ...

, 'Spurrier, Sir Henry (1898–1964)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 1 May 2010
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Biography

Spurrier's grandfather, also Henry, was one of the two Spurrier brothers who founded a company in 1896 to produce steam powered, and later

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

powered, commercial vehicles. The company was renamed ''Leyland Motors'' in 1907. In 1919 Spurrier's father, another Henry, took charge of the company. Spurrier (Henry III) was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

, and started working life as an apprentice in his grandfather's firm. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was a pilot lieutenant with the Royal Flying Corps, and served in Mesopotamia and India. Immediately after the war Spurrier involved himself in car development, working with the chief engineer at ''Leyland Motors'',

J.G. Parry-Thomas John Godfrey Parry-Thomas (6 April 1884 – 3 March 1927) was a Welsh engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. He was the first driver to be killed in pursuit of the land speed record. Early life and ed ...

and with his assistant

Reid Railton Reid A. Railton (1895–1977) was a British automotive engineer, and designer of land and water speed record vehicles. Biography Reid Antony Railton was the son of a Manchester stockbroker: Charles Withingon Railton and his wife Charlotte Eliza ...

. They produced a luxury touring car the Leyland Eight, with which they intended to compete with Rolls-Royce. It was exhibited at the 1920 London

motor show An auto show, also known as a motor show or car show, is a public exhibition of current automobile models, debuts, concept cars, or out-of-production classics. It is attended by automotive industry representatives, dealers, auto journalists a ...

, only eight however, were ever built. In World War II,

manufactured tanks, including the

Centaur tank A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

. Spurrier and W. A. Robotham of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

agreed in 1940 that the current Nuffield Liberty L-12 tank engine was unreliable and underpowered; a Rolls-Royce team under Robotham and with three of Spurrier's best designers developed the

Meteor A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...

tank engine from the Merlin aero engine. After his father's death, Spurrier progressed to become Managing Director of ''Leyland Motors'' in 1949. Spurrier was knighted in 1955. Under his leadership ''Leyland Motors'' acquired

Standard Triumph The Standard Motor Company Limited was a motor vehicle manufacturer, founded in Coventry, England, in 1903 by Reginald Walter Maudslay. For many years, it manufactured Ferguson TE20 tractors powered by its Vanguard engine. All Standard's tract ...

in 1961 and Associated Commercial Vehicles, the parent company of major rivals AEC in 1962, the newly enlarged company became the ''Leyland Motor Corporation'' (LMC), and a car producer once again. Spurrier retired in 1963 and died twelve months later in June 1964.Obituary, Sir Henry Spurrier, ''The Times'', Friday, 19 Jun 1964; pg. 17; Issue 56042 Donald Stokes, his appointed successor, originally a Leyland student apprentice and managing director of Leyland Motors Limited since 1962 was to take his place as chairman in 1966.

Biography

References

Further reading