Southern National was a bus company operating in

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 1969, and again from 1983 until 1999.

History

Original company (1929-1969)

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Southern National Omnibus CompanyCompanies House extract company no 237588
Arriva Northumbria Limited formerly Northumbria Motor Services Limited formerly The Southern National Omnibus Company Limited started in 1929 as a joint venture between the Southern Railway 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 = , origin = , 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). Southern National was formed to improve co-ordination of road and rail passenger services in the operating area of the Southern Railway. The railway had very little involvement in bus services, but the National Omnibus transferred its operations in the operating area to the new company. The result was an operating territory split into two areas: Dorset (based at Weymouth) and north Devon and north Cornwall (based at Barnstaple). The two areas were separated by the operating territories of

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 ...

and

Western National Western National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s. Early history Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the National Om ...

. 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 Southern National was run as a Tilling company, although the railway retained its shares until 1948. Western National and Southern National shared a common management, based in Exeter. At the end of 1934, Western National and Southern National bought Royal Blue Coach Services. On 1 January 1948, the Southern Railway was nationalised, and shortly after, the Tilling Group sold its bus interests to the government. Southern 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 ...

. On 1 January 1963, Southern 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. Shortly after its formation, the NBC transferred the operations of Southern National to Western National, and Southern National ceased to operate as a separate entity.

Revival (1983-1999)

In preparation for privatisation Western National was divided into four companies in January 1983. One of these was Southern National. The territory of the new Southern National was the old Southern National Dorset area together with the south and west Somerset area, which had not previously been Southern National territory. On 29 March 1988, Southern National was sold in a management buyout. On 4 April 1999, it was sold to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.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 ...

, and the Somerset operations part of First Somerset & Avon.

The Buses of Somerset

In 2014, First's operations 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 ...

and Bridgwater was rebranded under the new name of

The Buses of Somerset The Buses of Somerset is the trading name used by bus operator First South West for services operated in Somerset from depots in the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater since 2014. The services were formerly managed as part of First Somerset & Avon ...

. Whilst the name and brand were entirely new, the livery is reminiscent of Southern National utilising two tones of green and cream. It is the first major departure from the FirstGroup corporate identity and livery for the bus group.

2015 revival

The Southern National brand was revived in 2015 by Somerset transport firm, JJP Holdings SW Limited who already operated buses under the revived

Crosville Motor Services Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...

brand. It was granted an operator's licence in 2015. In celebration of the news, one of the original Southern National buses has been restored by JJP Holdings, bringing it back to its former glory.Southern National Returns ''Bus & Coach Buyer'' issue 1365 12 February 2016 page 9

Legal Entity

The original legal entity, Southern National Omnibus Company Limited that was incorporated in 1929, was recycled by the National Bus Company in 1986, renamed Northumbria Motor Services Limited and used as one of the companies into which

United Automobile Services United Automobile Services was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It provided bus services across a wide geographical area, stret ...

was divided in preparation for privatisation. It is now

Arriva Northumbria Arriva Northumbria operates in Northumberland, using the "Arriva serving Northumbria" name. They are considered now to have merged with Arriva North East. Brief history United Automobile Services split into two parts in 1986, making it ready ...

Limited.

References

*Morris, C (2007) ''Southern National Omnibus Company'' Ian Allan

External links

*
Southern National Buses, Somerset
{{Defunct British Bus Companies Companies based in Exeter 1929 establishments in England 1999 disestablishments in England Former London bus operators Former bus operators in Essex Former bus operators in Bedfordshire Former bus operators in Somerset Former bus operators in Dorset Former bus operators in Devon Former bus operators in Cornwall