George Lanchester
Encyclopedia
George Herbert Lanchester, (1874 - February 13, 1970) was an English
engineer
. He was one of three brothers who played a leading role in the early development of the UK auto-industry
.
In 1909, following the departure from full-time involvement with the company of his elder brother Frederick, George took over responsibility for the Lanchester Motor Company
. Thereafter, while Frederick pursued his own glittering career as one of the leading automotive and aeronautical engineers of the time, it was George who ran the business the brothers had established together.
in Birmingham. His elder brother was already Works Manager with the same company. Four years later, setting a pattern for the future, Frederick left the company in order to pursue a full-time career as a research scientist, concentrating on the field that would later come to be known as aerodynamics
. George, though still only 19, took over his brother’s position as Works Manager.
Between 1894 and 1898 the brothers worked together on the development of a petrol (gasoline) powered passenger car. There being no established auto-component industry, a large number of components had to be designed and constructed from scratch, and much of this detailed work was undertaken by George, both for the first Lanchester car and for two subsequent mechanically identical prototypes.
In 1899 Frederick and George along with their middle brother Frank set up the Lanchester Engine Company
. Frederick, as leader of the triumvirate, was chief designer and general manager while Frank took on the duties of a sales manager. George’s role could be defined as that of Production Manager, albeit with a wider range of duties and responsibilities than that title implies. He quickly developed deep insights into the nascent techniques of auto-production methodology. His duties also extended to delivering cars to the more important customers, reportedly on one occasion suffering twenty tire bursts or punctures between Birmingham and Brighton on a single delivery job.
The three brothers were both the directors and the principal owners of the Lanchester Motor Company and there are suggestions that the relationship between them in these circumstances was sometimes a tense one. After Frederick left the company in 1909 to pursue a more independent career, George added "Chief Designer" to his portfolio of company responsibilities, though Frederick continued to provide input on a consultancy basis, and new models appearing in the aftermath of this change continued to reflect the elder brother's inputs more than those of George, being in large measure developments of existing 20 hp and 28 hp predecessors that had been introduced between 1904 and 1906. The Sporting Forty was the first Lanchester to feature what would become a 'normal' bonnet/hood and appeared in 1914. It seems to have been the first new model for which George himself had been principally responsible, though here too he had less than a totally free hand, having reluctantly agreed to a requirement from fellow directors to incorporate a side-valve engine because that mimicked the engine design competitor manufacturers were using at the time. In any event, for the United Kingdom
1914 was the year the First World War broke out and only six of these models had been sold before the plant was switched over to war production.
The Lanchester 40 on display at the 1919 London Motor Show was equipped beyond the standard level, with silk blinds and ivory door handles, prompting one eminent visitor to the Lanchester stand to suggest to George that his car was "very fine...., but more suited to a prostitute than a prince, don't you think?" Lanchesters nevertheless found favour with the British establishment in general and the British Royal Family
in particular: by the time the motor show visitor
died, early in 1936 his grand daughter, who in her turn would inherit many of his titles and his status as the British Monarch
, had already made her own first public appearance in her father's
Lanchester 40.
During the 1920s Lanchesters competed directly with Rolls-Royce, taking care to undercut equivalent products from their double-barreled competitors by £50. Lanchesters were distinguished by the smoothness of the engines which George designed, paying close attention to detail. A particular triumph was the straight-eight engine that entered production in 1926 in the Lanchester Thirty, replacing the six cylinder Lanchester 40.
The drive shaft was located to minimise vibration and close attention was paid to manifold design with George even using transparent pipes to locate and remedy deposits appearing on the induction pipes at certain throttle settings.
(which effectively defined car classes in Britain at the time) of 16 hp. Other directors preferred to concentrate only on the upper echelons of the car market, however, which left the business vulnerable to the economic downturn which arrived at the end of the 1920s. In 1931 the company's bankers decided they no longer wished to provide Lanchester's relatively modest overdraft, giving the company two weeks to pay up. The company was steamrollered into a sale of the business to BSA-Daimler
which had a much larger overdraft, but which, as a major military supplier, enjoyed a privileged position with a UK political and banking establishment which remembered too well one world war and were no doubt mindful of a need to prepare for the next one.
George Lanchester remained with the company following the take-over, but he no longer called the shots, and was reportedly distressed to see the Lanchester badge decorating cars such as the Lanchester Ten, essentially a rebranded BSA 10 and one for which press releases were claiming a power output of 32 bhp although 26 bhp was the maximum actual power ever extracted from the little car. George saw his own Lanchester designs scrapped, while Lanchester increasingly became a manufacturer of Daimler type vehicles. In 1936 George left the company he had founded with his brothers and went to work for Alvis
.
.
After the war George continued to work, both as editor of the Automobile Engineers' Years Book, and as a consultant engineer to Russell Newberry Ltd where his work included projects involving cylinder head designs for industrial diesel engines. However, in 1961, the year in which he became 87, the company changed hands, and in George's words he was "given the sack for being too old".
His wife having died in the early 1950s, George's final years were buoyed up by a second marriage but hampered by his failing eyesight.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
. He was one of three brothers who played a leading role in the early development of the UK auto-industry
Automotive engineering
Modern automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and marine engineering, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of motorcycles, automobiles,...
.
In 1909, following the departure from full-time involvement with the company of his elder brother Frederick, George took over responsibility for the Lanchester Motor Company
Lanchester Motor Company
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer based until 1930 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England. It operated from 1895 to 1955....
. Thereafter, while Frederick pursued his own glittering career as one of the leading automotive and aeronautical engineers of the time, it was George who ran the business the brothers had established together.
Early years
In 1889, at the age of 15, George started an apprenticeship with the Forward Gas Engine CompanyForward Gas Engine Company
Forward Gas Engine Company was an engineering company making stationary internal combustion gas engines in Nechells, Birmingham, England.The most famous engineer to work at the plant was Frederick William Lanchester around 1895, who made various improvements to their engines, including a self...
in Birmingham. His elder brother was already Works Manager with the same company. Four years later, setting a pattern for the future, Frederick left the company in order to pursue a full-time career as a research scientist, concentrating on the field that would later come to be known as aerodynamics
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
. George, though still only 19, took over his brother’s position as Works Manager.
Between 1894 and 1898 the brothers worked together on the development of a petrol (gasoline) powered passenger car. There being no established auto-component industry, a large number of components had to be designed and constructed from scratch, and much of this detailed work was undertaken by George, both for the first Lanchester car and for two subsequent mechanically identical prototypes.
Lanchester Motor Company
- Main Article Lanchester Motor CompanyLanchester Motor CompanyThe Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer based until 1930 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England. It operated from 1895 to 1955....
.
In 1899 Frederick and George along with their middle brother Frank set up the Lanchester Engine Company
Lanchester Motor Company
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer based until 1930 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England. It operated from 1895 to 1955....
. Frederick, as leader of the triumvirate, was chief designer and general manager while Frank took on the duties of a sales manager. George’s role could be defined as that of Production Manager, albeit with a wider range of duties and responsibilities than that title implies. He quickly developed deep insights into the nascent techniques of auto-production methodology. His duties also extended to delivering cars to the more important customers, reportedly on one occasion suffering twenty tire bursts or punctures between Birmingham and Brighton on a single delivery job.
The three brothers were both the directors and the principal owners of the Lanchester Motor Company and there are suggestions that the relationship between them in these circumstances was sometimes a tense one. After Frederick left the company in 1909 to pursue a more independent career, George added "Chief Designer" to his portfolio of company responsibilities, though Frederick continued to provide input on a consultancy basis, and new models appearing in the aftermath of this change continued to reflect the elder brother's inputs more than those of George, being in large measure developments of existing 20 hp and 28 hp predecessors that had been introduced between 1904 and 1906. The Sporting Forty was the first Lanchester to feature what would become a 'normal' bonnet/hood and appeared in 1914. It seems to have been the first new model for which George himself had been principally responsible, though here too he had less than a totally free hand, having reluctantly agreed to a requirement from fellow directors to incorporate a side-valve engine because that mimicked the engine design competitor manufacturers were using at the time. In any event, for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
1914 was the year the First World War broke out and only six of these models had been sold before the plant was switched over to war production.
War and its aftermath
The British and the Russians found themselves on the same side in the First World War, both states having ostensibly declared war in support of smaller states attacked by the Austrians or their German allies: the Lanchester armoured cars on the 38 hp chassis proved themselves particularly effective on the Russian front since their wick carburettors were not clogged up by the Russian fuel in the same way as conventional spray carburettors used ln other British army vehicles. The aftermath of war saw a rapid return for the Lanchester 40, but now George was able to install an overhead camshaft engine, and this set the pattern for the six and eight cylinder Lanchester engines which built the company's name between 1919 and 1931. Despite the old name, the post-war Lanchester 40 was in many ways a new car at a time when some competitors were offering little changed versions of pre-war designs. The Lanchester bodies used aluminium panels: the three speed epicyclic gear-boxes and cantilever rear springs were, however, familiar from Lanchester's own pre-war designs.The Lanchester 40 on display at the 1919 London Motor Show was equipped beyond the standard level, with silk blinds and ivory door handles, prompting one eminent visitor to the Lanchester stand to suggest to George that his car was "very fine...., but more suited to a prostitute than a prince, don't you think?" Lanchesters nevertheless found favour with the British establishment in general and the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
in particular: by the time the motor show visitor
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
died, early in 1936 his grand daughter, who in her turn would inherit many of his titles and his status as the British Monarch
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, had already made her own first public appearance in her father's
George VI of the United Kingdom
George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
Lanchester 40.
During the 1920s Lanchesters competed directly with Rolls-Royce, taking care to undercut equivalent products from their double-barreled competitors by £50. Lanchesters were distinguished by the smoothness of the engines which George designed, paying close attention to detail. A particular triumph was the straight-eight engine that entered production in 1926 in the Lanchester Thirty, replacing the six cylinder Lanchester 40.
The drive shaft was located to minimise vibration and close attention was paid to manifold design with George even using transparent pipes to locate and remedy deposits appearing on the induction pipes at certain throttle settings.
Depression Years
A boardroom battle in which George and his elder brother Frederick found themselves on the same side concerned the need to diversify the range down-market: between 1925 and 1929 George submitted to the board proposals for a less expensive luxury car of just six cylinders which would have enjoyed a Fiscal horse powerTax horsepower
The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries, such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France, and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate purchase and renewal fees for passenger...
(which effectively defined car classes in Britain at the time) of 16 hp. Other directors preferred to concentrate only on the upper echelons of the car market, however, which left the business vulnerable to the economic downturn which arrived at the end of the 1920s. In 1931 the company's bankers decided they no longer wished to provide Lanchester's relatively modest overdraft, giving the company two weeks to pay up. The company was steamrollered into a sale of the business to BSA-Daimler
Birmingham Small Arms Company
This article is not about Gamo subsidiary BSA Guns Limited of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham B11 2PP or BSA Company or its successors....
which had a much larger overdraft, but which, as a major military supplier, enjoyed a privileged position with a UK political and banking establishment which remembered too well one world war and were no doubt mindful of a need to prepare for the next one.
George Lanchester remained with the company following the take-over, but he no longer called the shots, and was reportedly distressed to see the Lanchester badge decorating cars such as the Lanchester Ten, essentially a rebranded BSA 10 and one for which press releases were claiming a power output of 32 bhp although 26 bhp was the maximum actual power ever extracted from the little car. George saw his own Lanchester designs scrapped, while Lanchester increasingly became a manufacturer of Daimler type vehicles. In 1936 George left the company he had founded with his brothers and went to work for Alvis
Alvis Cars
Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd was a British manufacturing company that existed in Coventry, England from 19191967. In addition to automobiles designed for the civilian market, the company also produced racing cars, aircraft engines, armoured cars and other armoured fighting vehicles, the...
.
Later decades
During his three years with Alvis George's responsibilities included setting out a design for the Alvis 12/70, before transferring to the company's Mechanical Warfare Department where experience of armoured car design during the First World War was of particular relevance. Subsequently, during the Second World War, George, by now reaching his later 60s, worked for the Sterling Armament CompanySterling Armaments Company
Sterling Armaments Company was an arms manufacturer based in Dagenham, famous for manufacturing the L2A3 , AR18 and SAR-87 assault rifles and parts of Jaguar cars. The company went bankrupt in 1988....
.
After the war George continued to work, both as editor of the Automobile Engineers' Years Book, and as a consultant engineer to Russell Newberry Ltd where his work included projects involving cylinder head designs for industrial diesel engines. However, in 1961, the year in which he became 87, the company changed hands, and in George's words he was "given the sack for being too old".
His wife having died in the early 1950s, George's final years were buoyed up by a second marriage but hampered by his failing eyesight.