British Motor Museum’s new exhibit sees the offices of Herbert Austin and William Morris on view side by side
William Morris: From cycles to cars
Even as a boy William Morris demonstrated an aptitude for technical things and, at the age of 15, became an apprentice to a cycle maker.
After a few months Morris decided to go it alone and, with £4 borrowed from a neighbour, set up his cycle repair business at his parents’ house: the shed for his workshop and the front room as his shop window.
Morris steadily progressed from cycles to cars and launched his business, the Morris Garages, in 1909 to repair and hire out motor cars.
Yet his goal was not just to be a garage owner but to make a car with his own name on the radiator.
With investment secured and the first orders made just on sight of his plans, production of the Morris Oxford, with its distinctive bullnose radiator, got under way in 1913. Needing suitable space for a factory, Morris purchased a disused military training college in the Cowley suburb of Oxford.
It was just the start of his grand motoring empire. By 1925 Morris was Britain’s biggest car producer, with two cars out of every five carrying his badge on the front, a success would that would last for many decades.
William Morris’ office
When William Morris set up his factory at the former Military College at Cowley in 1913, he chose a corner room in the Old School House for his office.
The view was of open land but in years to come, he would be able to look out over the factory buildings as his company grew.
For all the success and wealth his career would bring him over the next 50 years, Morris never moved, preferring to keep the same modest office. It was where he made all his most important decisions.
When he died in 1963, the office was closed, left just as it was on the last day he visited. It became a time capsule of Morris’ working life.
In 1994, when the site at Cowley was being redeveloped the museum was invited to preserve the contents of his office, right down to the curtains and carpet. Each item was painstakingly recorded before being moved to Gaydon.
The office is exactly the same size as it was at Cowley, each object meticulously placed just where it was when Morris sat at his desk.
Morris the man
If you were to stop someone in the street and ask about William Morris you might get a reply about the Arts and Crafts movement and elaborate wallpaper patterns, if you were to press further and say not that William Morris and mentioned cars then ‘yes the Morris Minor’ may be the retort.
For the car owner and enthusiast, of course, Morris represents a name that adorned some of Britain’s best-loved cars for 70 years.
For much of that time, more British cars were a Morris than any other marque.
Yet there is another side to Morris, often little known.
During his lifetime he go gave away his fortune of more than £30 million, nearly £1 billion in today's money. His title, Nuffield, became synonymous with medical care and charitable giving.
A modest and generous man, a keen patriot, yet sometimes obstinate and always demanding absolute loyalty, he was a complex character.
William Morris was a great industrialist and a pioneer of car production leaving behind a sizeable charitable legacy.
Herbert Austin: From shears to Sevens
Young Herbert had a flair for technical drawing. At the age of 17 he persuaded his mother to let him join his uncle in Melbourne, Australia.
In time he was engaged by Frederick York Wolseley’s Sheep Shearing Machine Company, who had been impressed by his aptitude for troubleshooting their machines.
His status was such that, in 1893, Austin was asked to return to England and lead Wolseley’s UK operations.
At the time the car was the hottest new invention and what young engineer wouldn’t want to be enticed to design his own? By 1896 he had persuaded Wolseley’s directors that they should invest in motor manufacturing.
In 1901 Vickers acquired Wolseley’s car making business and gradually Austin grew disillusioned by the direction of the company. He resigned as general manager in 1905, taking a few of his best men with him.
With financial help from a friend, he purchased White & Pike’s vacant in printing factory at Longbridge, a rural spot seven miles south of Birmingham.
In 15 years he built a very successful motor company but the challenging climate of the early 1920s virtually put him out of business. In a rare moment of self-doubt Austin flipped a coin to decide whether to carry on.
Thankfully with fresh investment and a revolutionary new baby car, the Seven Austin, would flourish again.
Herbert Austin’s Office
When Herbert Austin arrived at Longbridge in 1905, he got straight to work in a room adjacent to the administration block’s front door. It would be his office until his death in 1941.
From his window Austin could see the works gates and south, past the Victorian water pumping station to Rubery village. He watched his factory grow bigger and busier.
In the 1950s Longbridge expanded dramatically. Two directors spent short periods working in “the Old Man’s office” while their new officers were constructed, before Austin’s office was put into storage as the original buildings were swept away.
In 1958 Austin’s office was installed in the new South Engineering Block.
Now visitors could get a glimpse into his workplace. In 2002 the office was relocated yet again to the Exhibition Hall.
In 2021 MG Motor UK offered the office to the museum.
Everything in the office was methodically recorded, including individually numbering hundreds of wood panels and parquet floor tiles, before the move to Gaydon.
Austin the man
“Most everything worthwhile is born of some dreamer’s dream” observed a motton on Austin’s office wall.
Yet Herbert Austin was a dreamer in a hurry. He worked from dawn to dusk, anxious not to waste a minute. The company’s telegraphic address, ‘Speedily Birmingham, spoke volumes.
Ever the engineer, Austin was never too proud to roll up his sleeves to solve a technical problem. He expected the same dedication from his workers, his way at his pace.
Seemingly autocratic, he earned the respect of his workforce who affectionately referred to him as “the Old Man” in later years.
Austin was knighted for his role in World War I – a time tinged with sadness as his son Vernon was killed in action. He became Kings Norton’s MP from 1918 to 1924, although political life didn't really suit him. Austin wasn’t as personally wealthy as William Morris but gave generously to his local community.
In 1936 he donated £250,000 to Lord Rutherford’s Cavendish laboratory for research into radioactivity.
He was created Lord Austin of Longbridge in King Edward VIII’s only birthday honours list.
