John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth (5 August 1866 – 3 November 1953), was a pioneer of the motor industry in the United Kingdom, manufacturing aero engines and airframes as well as motor vehicles.

Career

The eldest son of William Siddeley and his wife born Elizabeth Davenport, J D Siddeley was born in

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 1866 and first worked for his father as an apprentice hosier but took night classes in draughting. In 1892, the young bicycle racer and designer was hired as a draughtsman by the Humber Cycle Company. The then managing director of Dunlop picked him out at Humber and hired Siddeley as Dunlop's

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

sales manager. In 1900 as managing director of Dunlop's Midlands subsidiary Clipper Tyre Company he gained prominence in the motor industry by driving a 6 hp Daimler car through England's Thousand Miles Trial with marked success.Lord Kenilworth. ''The Times'' Wednesday, 4 November 1953; p. 10; Issue 52770. This followed cycling from

Land's End to John o' Groats Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days; the record ...

to publicise the new pneumatic tyre.BBC Radio 4, Midweek, 27 April 2011, Interview with John Randle Siddeley, 4th Baron Kenilworth
/ref> He married Sarah Mabel Goodier, daughter of James Goodier of Macclesfield, in 1893 and they lived in Belfast for a short time but by August 1894, they were living in Meriden,

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

where eldest son, Cyril, was born. They were to have three sons and two daughters.

Motorcars

Siddeley 8hp 2-cylinder tonneau 1902 (2997524246)

Siddeley founded his Siddeley Autocar Company in 1902 to manufacture cars to

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

designs. He had Peugeot-based demonstration cars at the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in 1903. By 1905, the company had a dozen models for sale and some of them were built for him at Vickers' Crayford, Kent factory. During 1905 Wolseley—which then dominated the UK car market—purchased the goodwill and patent rights of his Siddeley Autocar Company business and appointed Siddeley London sales manager of

Herbert Austin Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin (8 November 186623 May 1941) was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company. For the majority of his career he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the Northfield bypass ...

's The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited owned by Vickers, Sons and Maxim. A few months later Herbert Austin left Wolseley to found his own Austin Motor Company and Siddeley was appointed manager of Wolseley in his place and, without authority, added Siddeley to the badge on the Wolseley cars. He resigned from Wolseley in 1909 to go into partnership with H P P Deasy and manage the

Deasy Motor Company The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile, aero engine and aircraft company based in Coventry in the early 20th century. It was central to the formation, by merger and buy-out, of the later Armstrong Siddeley Motor ...

, also of Coventry.

Wartime expansion

By 1912, when Deasy resigned because of his ill-health, Siddeley had added his name to the Deasy product's radiator. In November 1912 Deasy's business became—by popular vote of the shareholders—

Siddeley-Deasy The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile, aero engine and aircraft company based in Coventry in the early 20th century. It was central to the formation, by merger and buy-out, of the later Armstrong Siddeley Motor ...

. 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 ...

it grew rapidly producing

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

engines and airframes with the assistance of distinguished staff from the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough as well as motor vehicles including

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

s using

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US ...

chassis and Daimler and Aster engines and employed around 5,000 workers. He was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1918 New Year Honours The 1918 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Ja ...

for his industrial services during the war. In 1918 John Siddeley and his family moved to Crackley Hall,

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the ...

. The same building later became St Joseph's School and is now Crackley Hall School.

Armstrong Siddeley Motors

Siddeley arranged a takeover of Siddeley-Deasy's motorcar, aircraft engine and aircraft business by Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth and Co Ltd and its amalgamation with the Armstrong Whitworth motor department in 1919. They renamed their new entity Armstrong Siddeley Motors. It was to continue until 1960. Siddeley's new holding company established Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft in July 1920. Armstrong Siddeley Motors were enthusiastic adopters of

light alloy Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 ter ...

s for engines. This was a common enough approach for aircraft engines, but Armstrong-Siddeley were also early at applying them to motor cars. To provide a supply of the most sophisticated new alloys for pistons, Siddeley funded

Wallace Charles Devereux Wallace Charles Devereux CBE (9 March 1893 – 21 June 1952) was a British businessman and engineer, known for his work in producing light alloys for the aircraft industry. Education He was born in Aston, now part of Birmingham, in 1893, th ...

to set up High Duty Alloys Ltd. in 1927, as a replacement for

Peter Hooker Peter Hooker Limited owned an engineering business originally established in 1827 and carried on under the name Messrs Peter Hooker *Peter Hooker (1817-1902) Printer's Engineer and inventor (Obituary, page 260, ''The British Printer'', vol. 15, Mac ...

, who had gone into liquidation. Next Siddeley took advantage of parent companies Armstrong's and Vickers' financial difficulties of the mid 1920s and by 1927 he had gained control of all three Siddeley businesses.Armstrong Whitworth Development Company. ''The Times'', Tuesday, 15 March 1927; p. 24; Issue 44530. He remained their chairman until 1935 when, at the age of 70, he arranged his last takeover with Hawker Aircraft who formed Hawker Siddeley though the Siddeley businesses kept their identities. From this arrangement he received "£1 million and numerous benefits".

Peerage

Siddeley was knighted in 1932 when he served as

High Sheriff of Warwickshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

. Sir John Siddeley was elected president of the

Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. Its role is to "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad." History SMMT was founded by Frede ...

for 1937–1938 – the highest honour the British Motor Industry could bestow. That same year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kenilworth, of Kenilworth in the County of Warwick. He was also elected president of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors for 1932–1933—now

Society of British Aerospace Companies The Society of British Aerospace Companies, formerly Society of British Aircraft Constructors, known as SBAC, was the UK's national trade association representing companies supplying civil air transport, aerospace defence, homeland security an ...

— and elected president of the

Engineering and Allied Employers' National Federation Make UK, formerly the Engineering Employers' Federation, represents manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Purpose Make UK provides businesses with advice, guidance and support in employment law, employee relations, health, safety, climate and envi ...

for 1935–1936.News in Brief. ''The Times'', Friday, 1 March 1935; p. 8; Issue 47001 On his retirement he bought and gave to the nation the historic

Kenilworth Castle Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England managed by English Heritage; much of it is still in ruins. The castle was founded during the Norman conquest of England; with development through to the Tudor pe ...

. To commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937, Lord Kenilworth also made a gift of £100,000 to Fairbridge Farm Schools, a charity to offer opportunities and education abroad to young people from broken homes. After his retirement he moved to

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

where he died a few days after his wife in November 1953, aged 87, a voluntary tax exile and a rich man. He was succeeded in the barony by his son Cyril.

Arms

ASMongoose.JPG, Armstrong Siddeley ''Mongoose''
in a Hawker Tomtit RAF Museum Cosford - DSC08648.JPG, Armstrong Siddeley ''Sapphire 200'' turbojet Emblem Wolseley-Siddeley V S & M copy.png, Name plate:
Vickers, Sons & Maxim
Wolseley Siddeley 1908 Wolseley-Siddeley Rally BCN - Sitges 6826437878.jpg, Wolseley Siddeley 1908 Armstrong Siddeley motif - Flickr - exfordy (1).jpg, Armstrong Siddeley's Sphinx mascot

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenilworth, John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron 1866 births 1956 deaths People from Longsight British automotive pioneers British automobile designers British founders of automobile manufacturers High Sheriffs of Warwickshire Armstrong Siddeley Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Sheriffs of Warwickshire Barons created by George VI