John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth , was a pioneer of the motor industry in the United Kingdom, manufacturing aero engines and airframes as well as motor vehicles.
Career
The eldest son of William Siddeley and his wife born Elizabeth Davenport, J D Siddeley was born in Longsight, Manchester in 1866 and first worked for his father as an apprentice hosier but took night classes in draughting. In 1892, the young bicycle racer and designer was hired as a draughtsman by the Humber Cycle Company. The then managing director of Dunlop picked him out at Humber and hired Siddeley as Dunlop's Belfast sales manager. In 1900 as managing director of Dunlop's Midlands subsidiary Clipper Tyre Company he gained prominence in the motor industry by driving a 6 hp Daimler car through England's Thousand Miles Trial with marked success. This followed cycling from Land's End to John o' Groats to publicise the new pneumatic tyre. He married Sarah Mabel Goodier, daughter of James Goodier of Macclesfield, in 1893 and they lived in Belfast for a short time but by August 1894, they were living in Meriden, Coventry where eldest son, Cyril, was born. They were to have three sons and two daughters.
Motorcars
Siddeley founded his Siddeley Autocar Company in 1902 to manufacture cars to Peugeot designs. He had Peugeot-based demonstration cars at the Crystal Palace in 1903. By 1905, the company had a dozen models for sale and some of them were built for him at Vickers' Crayford, Kent factory. During 1905 Wolseley—which then dominated the UK car market—purchased the goodwill and patent rights of his Siddeley Autocar Company business and appointed Siddeley London sales manager of Herbert Austin's The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited owned by Vickers, Sons and Maxim. A few months later Herbert Austin left Wolseley to found his own Austin Motor Company and Siddeley was appointed manager of Wolseley in his place and, without authority, added Siddeley to the badge on the Wolseley cars. He resigned from Wolseley in 1909 to go into partnership with H P P Deasy and manage the Deasy Motor Company, also of Coventry.
Wartime expansion
By 1912, when Deasy resigned because of his ill-health, Siddeley had added his name to the Deasy product's radiator. In November 1912 Deasy's business became—by popular vote of the shareholders—Siddeley-Deasy. During World War I it grew rapidly producing aircraft engines and airframes with the assistance of distinguished staff from the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough as well as motor vehicles including ambulances using Rover chassis and Daimler and Aster engines and employed around 5,000 workers. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours for his efforts during the First World War. In 1918 John Siddeley and his family moved to Crackley Hall, Kenilworth. The same building later became St Joseph's School and is now Crackley Hall School.
Siddeley arranged a takeover of Siddeley-Deasy's motorcar, aircraft engine and aircraft business by Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth and Co Ltd and its amalgamation with the Armstrong Whitworth motor department in 1919. They renamed their new entity Armstrong Siddeley Motors. It was to continue until 1960. Siddeley's new holding company established Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft in July 1920. Armstrong Siddeley Motors were enthusiastic adopters of light alloys for engines. This was a common enough approach for aircraft engines, but Armstrong-Siddeley were also early at applying them to motor cars. To provide a supply of the most sophisticated new alloys for pistons, Siddeley funded Wallace Charles Devereux to set up High Duty Alloys Ltd. in 1927, as a replacement for Peter Hooker, who had gone into liquidation. Next Siddeley took advantage of parent companies Armstrong's and Vickers' financial difficulties of the mid 1920s and by 1927 he had gained control of all three Siddeley businesses. He remained their chairman until 1935 when, at the age of 70, he arranged his last takeover with Hawker Aircraft who formed Hawker Siddeley though the Siddeley businesses kept their identities. From this arrangement he received "£1 million and numerous benefits".
