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junior ... were left with their executive responsibilities". He has a photo of the
Directors' Report distributed on 24 May 1922, with the new directors already listed and Henry II still chairman. He describes a further reorganization (p.34): "...Liardet’s appointment at the end of 1923 as general manager in place of Basil Nixon who became deputy to Henry Spurrier as managing director. A few weeks later, John Toulmin replaced Henry Spurrier as chairman."
62:
devised a reorganization that increased the company's capital without diluting the
Spurrier family shareholding, but in doing so accidentally cancelled a huge tax refund. The company's financial position rapidly worsened until it could only pay its debts with new loans from Henry I and II. The younger Henry was distracted by an affair and Leyland's chief creditor, the
253:
Exactly when Henry II lost his posts is disputed. Turner seems to place the board changes in or shortly after August 1922 and says (p.17): "Henry
Spurrier II was removed as chairman (he remained managing director)". Swinson says (p.33): "in May 1922 ... the surviving Leyland directors, Henry Spurrier
61:
Henry
Spurrier II's period in charge saw a series of a disastrous decisions, including an attempt to increase the value of Leyland vehicles by purchasing large quantities of war surplus stock, and inviting onto the board two men who subsequently turned out to be a bankrupt and a swindler. The latter
139:
After his father's death, Spurrier progressed to become general manager in the mid-1940s and managing director of
Leyland Motors in 1949. He sought to expand the company from a position of strength, keeping a firm grip on costs and profits. Several firms entered into negotiations as acquisition or
86:, serving in Mesopotamia and the Middle East, where he contracted typhoid and dysentery, and India. His digestive system was permanently damaged and he survived for much of his life on scrambled eggs as he dealt with a succession of major stomach problems.
109:, but only a few handfuls were ever built due to the company's financial woes. This period was a formative experience, giving him a lifelong concern for cost control and a tendency to fear the worst when assessing the firm's future prospects.
66:, thought he had more interest in his yachting hobby than the car business. In May 1922, the bank insisted on a board reorganization that transferred key responsibilities to new directors; by New Year 1924 he had been removed as chairman.
143:
The 1950s were a period of stability as the company continued its frugal profitability under a triumvirate: Spurrier was in overall charge (knighted in 1955 and chairman from 1957), but his proteges
Stanley Markland and
163:, his appointed successor, originally a Leyland student apprentice and managing director of Leyland Motors Limited since 1962 was to take his place as chairman in 1966.
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tank engine was unreliable and underpowered; a Rolls-Royce team under
Robotham and with three of Spurrier's best designers developed the
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Immediately after the war
Spurrier involved himself in car development, working with the chief engineer at Leyland Motors,
58:). He became chairman and managing director of Leyland Motors in 1918, where his American wife assisted with the finances.
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Spurrier's grandfather, also Henry, was one of the two
Spurrier brothers who founded a company in 1896 to produce
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in 1962; the newly enlarged company became the
Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), and a car producer once again.
412:
276:
185:, 'Spurrier, Sir Henry (1898–1964)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
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Spurrier's father, another Henry, spent several years in the United States working as a cowboy and as a
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ran the firm's production and marketing respectively. Under this leadership Leyland Motors acquired
23:, was a British engineer and industrialist, and the third generation of the Spurrier family to head
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in 1961 and Associated Commercial Vehicles, the parent company of major rivals
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230:"Surviving Near Death: The financial survival of Leyland Motors in the 1920s"
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merger targets before Spurrier's caution brought the deal to a halt.
40:
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Spurrier retired in 1963 and died twelve months later in June 1964.
207:. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. pp. 13–14, 17–19.
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powered, commercial vehicles. The company was renamed
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The Motor Men: Pioneers of the British Car Industry
19:(16 June 1898 – 17 June 1964), also known as
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8:
101:, with which they intended to compete with
306:, Friday, 19 Jun 1964; pg. 17; Issue 56042
97:. They produced a luxury touring car, the
136:tank engine from the Merlin aero engine.
128:agreed in 1940 that the current Nuffield
243:(85). The Leyland Society: 28–29, 33–34.
283:. London: Constable. pp. 130, 131.
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105:. It was exhibited at the 1920 London
64:Manchester and Liverpool District Bank
74:Spurrier (Henry III) was educated at
56:Florida Central and Peninsula Railway
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428:20th-century English businesspeople
418:20th-century British businesspeople
82:he was a pilot lieutenant with the
116:manufactured tanks, including the
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408:People educated at Repton School
423:20th-century British engineers
302:Obituary, Sir Henry Spurrier,
1:
281:Silver Ghosts and Silver Dawn
398:British automotive engineers
403:Royal Flying Corps officers
364:"John Godfrey Parry Thomas"
344:British Motor Manufacturers
444:
293:Turner, pp.21, 27-28, 34.
279:, William Arthur (1970).
228:Swinson, Chris (2019).
203:Turner, Graham (1971).
93:and with his assistant
31:Henry Spurrier I and II
320:King, Peter (1989).
167:Notes and References
187:accessed 1 May 2010
205:The Leyland Papers
84:Royal Flying Corps
21:Henry Spurrier III
17:Sir Henry Spurrier
324:. Quiller Press.
112:In World War II,
91:J.G. Parry-Thomas
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367:. Retrieved
352:. Retrieved
348:the original
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183:Trevor Boyns
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118:Centaur tank
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95:Reid Railton
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39:, and later
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393:1964 deaths
388:1898 births
126:Rolls-Royce
103:Rolls-Royce
80:World War I
52:draughtsman
382:Categories
214:0413280209
107:motor show
340:"Leyland"
304:The Times
70:Biography
47:in 1907.
277:Robotham
54:(at the
369:20 June
354:20 June
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134:Meteor
41:petrol
233:(PDF)
371:2006
356:2006
326:ISBN
209:ISBN
154:AEC
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