Maudslay Records in the Coventry Transport Museum archive

Dave Butler, Archive Volunteer.

The Maudslay Motor Company was established in 1901 by Cyril Maudslay, whose ancestors had for many years owned and run the firm of Maudslay, Sons and Field, famous throughout the 19^th century as builders of boilers and engines for ships.  The motor company’s premises were at Parkside, Coventry.  Cars, lorries and buses were produced until the outbreak of the First World War, when the company ceased car production and concentrated on commercial vehicles.  In the early 1950s, production moved to Alcester and the Parkside premises were closed. 

Coventry Transport Museum has two Maudslay cars, a lorry and a bus on display, and some of the company’s records from the Parkside era are held in the museum’s archive.  Archive volunteer Dave Butler has been examining two of these records in detail.

The first volume is an album of cuttings from various newspapers and magazines, covering the period from the mid-1870s to 1931.  We believe that it was kept by Walter Henry Maudslay who was the chairman and managing director of Maudslay, Sons and Field until the company’s demise in 1900, although a few items date from after his death in 1927.  A good number of these are articles about the company and its products – a fast crossing of the Atlantic by Maudslay engined ships, engines for new warships for the Turkish Navy, a small railway locomotive and of course the various cars.

As well as articles about the Maudslay
company, the book includes personal items
including drawings by younger members
of the Maudslay family.

Perhaps more interesting, however, are the numerous articles about the Maudslay family – weddings, births, funerals and obituaries, letters, and children’s poems and drawings.  The articles suggest that prior to the First World War the Maudslays had a comfortable position in society, being reasonably wealthy and moving in what we would describe as an upper middle class circle. 

W H Maudslay leased an estate in Ireland for a number of years, and several cuttings reflect how the political unrest, both local and national, affected this. During the First World War there are several references to family members and acquaintances in receipt of gallantry awards, although fortunately for the family no member seems to have been killed in action. 

The second volume is a similar album of cuttings, but this one appears to have been the Maudslay Motor Company’s official press cuttings file.  The cuttings in this volume concentrate on the company’s products, mainly the cars, but there are also a few articles on the engines which the company built for marine work.  Also included are several accounts of a journey in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) using a Maudslay car, which must have been quite an adventure in the early 1900s.

We’re hoping to feature some of these articles in future blog entries, so watch this space!

Object of the Fortnight - 1958 Beauty Parade Article

The days of Coventry being a city brimming with rival motor companies are sadly long gone. The rivalry back then however did not simply stop at car manufacture, but extended in so many other ways, particularly in competitive sports including football, cricket, rugby and so much more. Even the odd beauty parade occurred from time to time it would seem, as testified by this Coventry Telegraph news story from 1958 concerning a Premium Bonds draw held at Coventry’s landmark store, Owen & Owen in the town centre.

Nine girls working at Coventry motor firms would ultimately be chosen to participate, yet at the time this story broke, only eight had so far been confirmed and featured– representing the well-known companies of Alvis, Armstrong-Siddeley, Daimler, Hillman, Humber, Standard, Sunbeam, and Triumph.

Jaguar it would seem were keeping their cards close to their chest, and stated that they would announce their female representative at a later time.

The article which would announce the outcome of the parade, is one that we would not appear to have, so if anyone knows the result, or even took part, then we’d love to hear from you - you can leave your memories of this event on the Coventry Memories website.

If you click on the picture you will be able to see a bigger version, but the text of the article reads as follows:

Beauty Parade in Cars Will Herald Premium Draw

Most of Coventry's major car companies have already chosen a pretty girl to represent them in the Premium Bond parade through the city next week.

Chosen for their good looks, poise, and personality, the nine girls will be driven in style in the latest of the company's cars from the city boundary to the city centre.

At Owen Owen's store Mike Hawthorn, the racing driver, will drive a vintage car across the first floor to the button he will press to start the October Premium Bond draw by "Ernie" at Lytham St. Annes.

The girls will be Miss Alvis, Miss Armstrong Siddeley, Miss Daimler, Miss Hillman, Miss Humber, Miss Jaguar, Miss Standard, Miss Sunbeam and Miss Triumph.

On the platform during rhe ceremony, the publicity girls will have a special job to do. Each will walk on carrying the letter or number making up the first winning number - worth £1000. The Lord Mayor of Coventry Alderman H. H. K. Winslow, will accompany Mike Hawthorn as he heads the big parade from Ryton in a Jaguar sports car. With him also will be actor Hubert Gregg and his wife, Pat Kirkwood.

Afterwards, it is expected that the cars taking place in the parade will be on show in the nearby car park. A tour of inspection by the Lord Mayor and his party is being arranged. All but one of the companies have made their choice. Jaguars say they will announce their publicity girl on Monday.

**
MISS ALVIS: Judged to hold the title out of a line-up of 17 girls was Miss Catherine Mary Kelly, aged 20. A newcomer to the firm - Miss Kelly joined two months ago - she works in the aero section of the production control department. Her home is at 74, Winsford Avenue, Coventry.

**

MISS DAIMLER: The 22 years old wife of a former Daimler apprentice, Mrs Rita Hollingworth, of 124 Paynes Lane, Coventry, has been with the firm for five years. She works as the secretary of the Chief Inspector, Mr. S Brown, and was chosen from 13 applicants for the title.

**
MISS ARMSTRONG SIDDELEY: Chosen this year is Miss Judy Clinch, the 19 years old assistant to the chief photographer. Miss Clinch, who lives at 39, Walsgrave Road, Coventry, has been with the company four years.

**
MISS STANDARD: Holding the title is Miss Cynthia Gray, of 8 Charter Avenue, Canley, Coventry. Aged 22, Mrs Gray is a comptometer operator.

**

MISS TRIUMPH: Seventeen years old Miss Pauline Cranford, of the postal department, was chosen. She lives at 108, Prior Deram Walk, Canley, Coventry.

**

MISS HILLMAN: Riding in the Hillman car will be Miss Hazel Butcher, of 464 Binley Road, Coventry. She works in the production department.

**
MISS HUMBER: A girl on the secretarial side, Miss Audrey Moore, of 101 Fir Tree Aveneue, Broad Lane, Coventry, will wear the 'Miss Humber' title.

**
MISS SUNBEAM: Miss Jane Curtis, employed in the Sunbeam sales department, lives at Leamington Road, Long Itchington.

If walls could tell a story...

It’s easy to get distracted in the archive of Coventry Transport Museum. Recently, on dealing with a University enquiry regarding sports and social activities of motor factory workers, I stumbled across an interesting advert taken from a 1966 issue of Modern Motoring & Travel. 

 The advert was submitted by a Coventry printing firm called ‘Edwards’ at Quinton Road, yet it was the building they were situated in that interested me. Partly recognisable today as an Ibis Hotel, the original building formed the west section of Parkside, an area located quite central to Coventry with a history of cycle and motor companies to have been occupants there over the decades. These included the likes of Velox, Iden, Deasy, Siddeley-Deasy, Armstrong-Siddeley and Rolls-Royce, now sadly all gone and Parkside today has been regenerated into a Coventry University Technology Park.

The building in the advert was most famously occupied by the Swift Company, originated in the late 1860s as the Coventry Machinists as cycle makers at nearby Cheylesmore. Also being part occupied by chocolate manufacturers during the early 1900s, thousands of ‘Swift’ cycles, motorcycles and cars were made here until the company closed around 1931. Extremely fortunate to have survived the air-raids of the Second World War, this image shows the factory very well intact, and clearly before the central ring-road was completed in 1974. The memorial seen in an Island here, still exists today but was moved to the island between Ringway St. Patricks and Ringway St. Johns.

Damien Kimberley - Curator, Research & Information

Diary of an Archive Intern

Hello everyone! My name is Daniela and unfortunately I’m writing to say goodbye to museum staff and share with all of you my experience in the archive with the curatorial folks.

Just a quick background on myself. I’m from Italy where I graduated in Science and Technology applied to Cultural Heritage.

You would say..what’s that? I know..it’s not easy to understand that somebody has to analyse chemical/physical/geological samples before starting to restore a piece of our past in order to understand the reasons for the deterioration. However, my passion for museum field started when I attended a course in Museology. Then I started to search for more exciting courses arould the world. Finally, I found the best Masters course in England (at least they say it is), Museum Studies at the Univeristy of Leicester.

Oops, I realised late that I couldn’t speak English at all! So, I decided to leave Italy a few months after my graduation, fly to England and start to learn some english words. And here I am, in the last part of the Masters course, in the Coventry Transport Museum for the work placement.

Initially, I decided to work in the archive because I think it would be like opening a magic window on our past. Yes, it’s magic because everytime I meet an object a new story appears in front of me ready to be uncovered. Indeed, you are able to discover the fascinating stories related to each object, in special way working in this archive I learnt many things about Coventry, as the birthplace of the British cycle and motor industry. As you can read on the museum website, the Museum’s archive is truly a great resource for anyone interested in the history of Coventry’s transport industry and the British transport industry in general.

One of the mini-projects I did was to re-organize the holding bay in order to clear space for new objects coming in. I met so many objects enabling me to understand who were behind some cycle and motor companies from the past Coventry. In fact, I found boxes full of bizarre and fantastic objects I have never seen before, such as old driving licenses, small parts of old cars, old plates, cycle lamps, maps and helmets just to mention a few of them.

Figure 1: some objects from the archive

For instance, I found an old black and white photograph showing a couple from Coventry on their tandem. The presenting letter written from their daughter was very touching. It tells how they coped in the World War II and their love for their tandem. That is absolutelly amazing, through an object you are able to know stories of people and time so far from you. It’s a completely dusty job but it’s definitely rewarding.

However, working in the archive is not so easy as it looks in terms of practical issues. In fact, most of the work in the archive are carried out by volunteers who are full of goodwill. I worked on many different mini-projects. I’ve unpacked boxes full of books (every day there are new objects coming in) and catalogued sales brochures, books, manuals, small objects and even the Thrust 2 (the fastest car in the world!) material purchased from J. Ackroyd (have a look to the Facebook page, they are our objects of the month!). You know my background is not in museum field but my supervisor, Megan, has been very patient and kind to teach me everything how to register an object from paperworks to digital database, mark an object and all procedures to entry an item in the museum.

Figure 2: the register and the special archive pen

Figure 3: technical manual shelves inside the archive

Figure 4: rolls aisle inside the archive

Overall it has been my first experience in a museum and i do really enjoy it! I have to thank all the curatorial team that have been so supportive with me. Now, I would like to carry on my new interest and look for a job!

Goodbye!

Oops i forgot to say one little thing about the archive world: it’s cold! So if you would like to do this job you have to wear a heavy jumper to keep you warm!!


Find out more about the Coventry Transport Museum archive.

Festival of Motoring 2010

It was a good day at Coventry’s Memorial Park last Sunday – lots of people and plenty of cars to be admired. The biggest worry as always was our unpredictable weather – the forecast was good but as luck would have it the heavens opened up just as the cars set of on their runs. It didn’t last all day though fortunately and it turned out nice in the end.

As well as showcasing some of the vehicles in our collection, we also had a tent promoting our archive service – what we do as archivists/curators and what we have to offer as a service. It created quite a bit of interest and we met and spoke to a number of people who had various stories to tell about either themselves or members of their families who had once worked in Coventry’s cycle and motor industries.
One man told of his grandfather who was a Turner at the Singer Company at Canterbury Street, before transferring to the Triumph Cycle Co. in 1898 at Priory Street.

Another recalled his days working at the Humber Company in the 1950s whilst they had departments still at Humber Road – now all gone sadly.

But the best for me was being introduced to a 92-years old gentleman who was formerly Chief Designer at Francis-Barnett at Ford Street in the 1950s. He had prior to that worked as a Designer at Coventry Victor at Cox Street and he had so many interesting things to say. So much so that we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and have arranged to interview him fully next week as these firsthand accounts are fast disappearing.

We’ll let you know how it went.

Damien
Curator Research and Information

Research is Expanding

Over recent years, research has (and quite rightly so) progressed here at the Museum. Material held in our archive is so varied and rich that looking far more closely at such material enables us to better understand our collection and those who were behind many of hundreds of cycle and motor companies to have existed in Coventry.

Last year, Coventry’s Motorcycle Heritage (The History Press ISBN 978-0-7509-5125-8) – a book detailing all known motorcycle makers in Coventry was released. Click here to buy the book - A High percentage of the historical information, sales material and photographs were extracted from what we have stored in our archive. This book is a great example of previously untold information.
Two further publications are planned for release over the next few years. The first will detail Coventry’s motorcar manufacturers, and the latter (the biggest project to date) covers the cycle manufacturers, which so far lists over 400 separate companies known to have existed in the City from 1868.

Outside the three confirmed, there is so much more information obtainable that can be researched, compiled and made available to the public. Many sometimes forget that it was not just cycles and motors that were made in Coventry. There were hundreds of other businesses that existed to support the trades including coach builders, engine builders, enamellers, platers, stampers etc. There were also makers of chains, saddles, radiators, magnetos, ball bearings, mud-guards, dress-guards, machine tools, hubs, to mention but a few – but it gives an insight as to what went on here in Coventry and also as to what we have in our archives.
It can be quite taxing at times getting too far absorbed in research – the eyes begin to sting, the neck hurts and others think you are ignoring them, but it’s all worth it in the end.

Little major break-throughs are made here every day regarding research, but often it’s difficult to share as no-one else knows who or what you are talking about! However, we will continue, and over the coming months we’ll begin to share some of these break-throughs as it’s always good to learn something new isn’t it?

Damien,
Curator Research and Information