[BITList] The famous 40

[wantok at me.com]

My first car was a Lanchester, bought in 1956 for £100.

It had a form of an automatic gear box called a pre-selector gear box. And no clutch.




To read this Life of the Day complete with a picture of the subject,
visit http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2012-12-11



Lanchester,  George Herbert  (1874-1970), engineer and car designer, was born on 11 December 1874 at 1 St John's Terrace, Hove, Sussex, the youngest of eight children of Henry Jones Lanchester (1834-1914), architect, surveyor, and part-time inventor, and his wife, Octavia, nee Ward (1834-1916), a tutor of mathematics and Latin. He attended a nursery and then a boarding-school in Brighton, and after the family moved to 7 Balham Grove, Balham, London, in 1886, Clapham high school. He was greatly influenced by his talented family and especially by his brother Frederick William Lanchester, who later gained world renown as an inventor and engineer. George watched and helped him conduct experiments in the basement workshop at home, and their close association was to endure all their lives.

In October 1889 Lanchester left home to become an apprentice at the Forward Gas Engine Company in Birmingham, where Frederick was assistant works manager. From lowly beginnings, George became respected by both the workforce and management for his technical skills. His high level of craftsmanship encouraged his growing self-confidence and he voluntarily attended evening classes in engineering at the Midland Institute, although he missed so many classes through enforced overtime that he never took his final examinations. At the end of his apprenticeship he spent a year in the drawing office. In 1893, aged only nineteen, he was appointed works manager when his brother resigned the position. Besides his normal duties, George often deputized for his brother, who had remained as consultant and designer, and his occasional trips abroad helped mould his character.

At this time, Frederick, George, and another brother, Frank, designed and constructed a river boat, complete with an advanced, high-revving engine. It was launched late in 1894 and was the first all-British motor boat. Lanchester also helped Frederick with the design and construction of his 5 hp car, destined to become, in 1895, the first all-British, four-wheel petrol car. George's passion for motor vehicles was set after he accompanied his brother on the car's first run. He later proclaimed: 'It was a great thrill, and sufficiently successful to instill in me an enthusiasm beyond expectation for the new mode of transportation'. In 1897 Lanchester resigned his company position in order to join Frederick as his chief assistant, for the purpose of development and construction of Lanchester cars. He oversaw the development work on the experimental models, one of which was awarded a gold medal in 1899 for its 'excellence of design and performance'.

When the Lanchester Engine Company was formed in 1899, with Frank as company secretary, Lanchester continued as Frederick's personal assistant. Although their production cars were praised for their unique design and precision construction, the company, which was seriously undercapitalized, went into receivership and had to be reformed in 1904, with an increased capital. Lanchester was employed by the Lanchester Motor Company in the same position as previously, implementing Frederick's design concepts during his absences, and contributing greatly to its growing reputation.

In 1910, after Frederick's partial withdrawal from the company, Lanchester was appointed chief designer. He immediately modernized the coachwork design to attract new customers, a policy which gained much acclaim, and he subsequently modified the mechanical features of the four- and six-cylinder cars. During the First World War, his 38 hp armoured cars operated successfully in Europe, mostly on the Russian front.

His brother's resignation from the company in 1914 allowed Lanchester to emerge from Frederick's shadow. His first post-war car design was the famous 40 hp of 1919, an advanced vehicle with a 6 litre, overhead camshaft engine. His methods of coachbuilding incorporated the world's first use of oxy-acetylene welding for aluminium body panels. The car, which remained available until 1931, was deemed by many to be the finest in the world and was bought by the rich and famous-Princess Elizabeth was first seen by the public, as a baby, in her father's Lanchester 40 hp limousine. Lanchester's next design, the 21 hp model, was thought by many to be better than its Rolls-Royce competitor and his eight-cylinder 30 hp model of 1928 was acclaimed as the best Lanchester of all. Also, from 1927, he developed a 40 hp armoured car which was Britain's first armoured vehicle designed as such, rather than one converted from a commercial chassis. Supplied to the 11th hussars and the 12th lancers, it allowed them to become the first mechanized regiments of the British army.

By the end of the decade Lanchesters' success was fading. After its bank called in its relatively small overdraft, Lanchester was one of the board who reluctantly agreed to the sale of the company to the BSA group in 1931, in order to avoid bankruptcy. He continued as chief engineer, but the different business environment prompted his resignation in 1936.

Lanchester then joined the Alvis Motor Company as assistant chief engineer, in charge of design and management for its motor car division. During the first eighteen months of a three-year contract, he successfully produced the Silver Crest and 12/70 models, which laid the basis for Alvis's subsequent pre- and post-war cars. His remaining period with the company saw him in charge of the Alvis-Straussler mechanical warfare department, which made armoured cars and light tanks. In 1939 he joined the Sterling Armament Company as technical adviser and consultant, demonstrating his versatility by supervising the production and progress of six squadrons of sound-ranging vehicles for the Dutch government. Once this contract was completed, he turned his attention to the design and construction of his Lanchester sub-machine gun, which was used by both the British and Australian navies.

In 1943, the year in which he was appointed president of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, Lanchester became technical adviser to the Sterling Engineering Company, organizing the manufacture of war-related equipment. After two years he became technical adviser to the Russell Newberry Company, working on various projects, especially diesel engines. When this company's ownership changed, he commented: 'I was then given the sack in June 1961, as being too old' (he was eighty-seven). His twelve post-war patented inventions, supplementing the fifteen pre-war motoring patents dating from 1906, included such varied innovations as earth-drilling apparatus, optical projectors, electric torches, and the design and manufacture of firearms.

Lanchester had a strict Victorian attitude to life, and his great interest, other than engineering, was listening to classical music. He had a commanding build, and was 6 foot tall and 14 stone in weight. He was a modest and kind man, with an incredible memory for detail, always willing to give advice and encouragement to owners of Lanchester cars which dated from the turn of the century. His in-depth knowledge and experience of motor vehicles led to his popular appointments as president of the Veteran Car Club in 1958 and 1959, patron of both the Lanchester Register and the Daimler and Lanchester Owners' Club, and consultant editor of the international Automobile Engineers' Reference Book.

In April 1907 Lanchester married Rose (d. 1953), elder daughter of a contractor, William Thomas, whose other daughter had married Lanchester's brother Frank; they had two children. In 1961, Lanchester married Lilian Mary, an old family friend and daughter of William Stevenson, a silversmith. While recovering from a two-year illness, Lanchester died of a heart attack at his home, The Hill, Chulmleigh, Devon, on 13 February 1970. He was cremated shortly afterwards in Exeter.

C. S. Clark 

Sources  C. S. Clark, The Lanchester legacy, 1: 1895-1931 (1995) + A. Bird and F. Hutton Stott, Lanchester motor cars (1965) + C. S. Clark, The Lanchester legacy, 2: 1931-1956 [forthcoming] + private information (1995) + J. Fletcher, ed., The Lanchester legacy, 3: A celebration of genius (1996) + d. cert.
Archives Coventry University + Solihull Public Library + University of Warwick FILM BFINA, a one minute film of 1902 Lanchester
Likenesses  photograph, repro. in Bird and Hutton-Stott, Lanchester motor cars, facing p. 16 [see illus.] · photographs, Coventry University, Lanchester Library collection



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