William Edward Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes GBE (17 August 1894 – 12 December 1964) was a British motor manufacturer. He opened his first car sales agency in 1913, leading to the global

Rootes Group The Rootes Group was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. From headquarters in the West End of London, the manufacturer was based in the English Midlands, Midlands and the distribu ...

. During the Second World War he supervised the volume manufacture of aircraft and engines, as well as the supply of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

motor vehicles and

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

s.Lord Rootes: Last of Car Triumvirate
Obituary in ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 14 December 1964 He was knighted in 1942 for these services and for organising the reconstruction of bomb-damaged

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

after its saturation bombing by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

on 14–15 November 1940. In the 1950s, he became a leader of Britain's export drive, and chaired a committee to found the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

with a vision of academic links with industry.History of The University
at

official website The Rootes Social Building and halls of residence were built at the university c. 1966, named posthumously in his honour.

Early life

William (Billy) Rootes was born in

Goudhurst Goudhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. It lies in the Weald, around south of Maidstone, on the crossroads of the A262 and B2079. The parish consists of three wards: Goudhurst, Kilndown a ...

, Kent. His father, William, owned a general engineering business in Goudhurst, which included

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

s. William (Snr) attended a motor show organised by Sir

David Salomons Sir David Salomons, 1st Baronet (22 November 1797 – 18 July 1873), was a leading figure in the 19th century struggle for Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom. He was the first Jewish Sheriff of the City of London and Lord Mayor of Lon ...

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

in 1895. Billy and his brother Reginald (Reggie) shared their father's interest in things mechanical. In 1905, whilst their parents were out, Billy took Reggie out for a drive in their father's New Orleans motor car. Billy crashed the car. Billy attended Cranbrook School, and on leaving school in 1909 was apprenticed to the Singer car company. William had moved the family business to

Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding N ...

by this time, and expanded into the motor trade. Billy left Singer in 1913 to start his own car agency. He sold all of his first batch of cars within a few months of leaving Singer. The business was moved to

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

before the First World War, and the firm worked on the maintenance and repair of aero engines during the war.Kent and Sussex Courier, 25 April 2008, p. 28

Public honours

William and Reginald were knighted in 1942 and 1946 respectively for their work in setting up

shadow factories British shadow factories were the outcome of the Shadow Scheme, a plan devised in 1935 and developed by the British government in the buildup to World War II to try to meet the urgent need for more aircraft using technology transfer from the mot ...

. William was created a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

in 1959: his eldest son would accordingly become the second Baron Rootes on William's death.

Personal

Rootes married his first wife, Nora Press, in 1916. The marriage produced two sons,

William Geoffrey Rootes (William) Geoffrey Rootes, 2nd Baron Rootes (14 June 1917 – 16 January 1992) was the chairman of Rootes Motors (1964–1967), Chrysler UK (1967–1978) and Britain's National Economic Development Council (1968–1973). Early life Rootes wa ...

(1917–1992) who between 1967 and 1973 served as chairman of the family business (at that time a subsidiary of

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

and renamed as Chrysler United Kingdom) and Brian Gordon Rootes (1919–1971) who also held a succession of senior positions within the company between 1937 and 1967, interrupted by a period of military service during the Second World War. In 1958, Rootes bought

Ramsbury Manor Ramsbury Manor is a Grade I listed country house at Ramsbury, Wiltshire, on the River Kennet between Hungerford and Marlborough, in the south of England. It belongs to the Capricorn Foundation, a trust which has the task of maintaining the h ...

, Wiltshire.

Death

William Rootes died in 1964. It had been intended that Rootes would be the first Chancellor of the

; he is commemorated there by the Rootes Social Building, Rootes student residences, Rootes Grocery Store and the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund.

Arms

References

External links

Rootes Archive Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rootes, William Rootes, 1st Baron 1894 births 1964 deaths British founders of automobile manufacturers Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire People from Goudhurst Rootes Group Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II Businesspeople awarded knighthoods