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Midland Red Early Days

The inclusion in post #533 of a late 1920s timetable leaflet illustrated with an SOS FS type bus brings forward the subject of the almost photographic 'printing block' drawings of Midland Red vehicles which adorned the company's public and private paperwork for many decades.

A recent article in the Wythall museum's newsletter "Omnibus" addressed that subject, and suggested the artist was James Percival Savage (1885-?), who had joined BET in their London headquarters in 1901, eventually rising to become Emile Garke's private secretary. After a spell in the army, the 28th London Regiment (The Artist's Rifles) where he won the Military Cross, he joined BMMO in 1919 as OC Power's personal assistant, from which position he formed the company's publicity department.

Most types of bus are represented by the 'block' drawings from the later Tilling-Stevens to the S13, which fits with JPS' actual retirement date of April 1953. Here is a company photograph of the man and some of what may be his work.
 
2010-06-13 17:24:20

As Lloyd mentioned, Second Lieutenant James Percival Savage (London Regiment) was awarded the Military Cross in World War 1 (gazetted 22 April 1918). The citation reads:

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On the enemy gaining a temporary footing on the right flank of the line, he immediately collected a few men and charged into the midst of the enemy whom he succeeded in holding in check until that section of the line was reorganised, after which the enemy were completely repulsed. His gallantry and presence of mind undoubtedly averted the possibility of critical developments."

[No doubt he made a good lieutenant to O C Power too! ;)]
 
Midland Red and the General Strike 1926.

The General Strike lasted from 4 May to 14 May 1926. On 5 May 1926 strong contingents of Staffordshire and Birmingham police, with reinforcements of "special constables" (volunteer strike breakers), released seven buses from Bearwood garage in an attempt to run a skeleton Quinton - Birmingham service. The buses were immobilized by strikers in Broad Street who deflated their tyres. On 12 May a number of Midland Red busmen returned to work, enabling the resumption of services to Quinton, Langley, Redditch, Sutton Coldfield and Walsall. After the collapse of the strike, Midland Red (in common with many other employers) attempted to marginalize the TGWU.

[This very sketchy account is all I have been able to discover about Midland Red and the General Strike. Any corrections, additions and comments are welcome.]
 
I think you have a Lowestoft tram there in your post #538 Thylacine. ( Word 'LOWESTOFT' is just visible in the advert above the motorlady). Below is sister car No.5 of same type.
 
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Thanks Mike!

Well spotted, Mike, and thanks for the correction (and the picture). I'm sure you're right: the uniform and tramcar confirm it (it's fleet number 5 in both pictures). I quite like my picture though, so I won't remove it. She's still a World War 1 "motress" (I think I prefer "motorlady" or perhaps "motorwoman"! ;)).
 
I think I like best the term "Motormaid" used a lot by their male colleagues for the WW I tram driving girls in my hometown of Bath.
Mike
 
Fair enough, Mike! That's three places we know of (so far) where women drove trams in World War 1: Bath, Glasgow and Lowestoft. Were there any others? Do we know for sure that Birmingham didn't have motormaids? And what about the rest of the Midlands?

[I've been taking a bit of a holiday over on Aidan's Telephones thread. ;)]
 
At the risk of straying off thread again, Lincoln also had WW I Motormaids as shown here with car No.2 and all female crew posing. Note the Tommy enjoying a fag on the top deck.
 
Thanks for that great picture Mike. Yes I suppose we are wandering off the Midland Red topic somewhat. It's all very interesting though. Now if we could prove that one or more of the BMTJC tramways employed motormaids, we would be heading in the right direction! :)
 
World War 1 Motormaids.

We've discovered other tramway systems that employed motormaids during World War 1. Here's the list so far:

Airdrie & Coatbridge; Bath; Glasgow; Lincoln; Lowestoft; Paisley; Portsmouth; Rothesay, Greenock & Port Glasgow; Southend; Sunderland; Weston-super-Mare.

Female-crewed Sunderland Corporation tram 50 is pictured below (motormaid Annie Goodall).

[Additions, especially of Midlands places, are paticularly welcome. I will add them to this post to keep them all in one place (and to limit the spread of the dreaded "off topic" virus!) :rolleyes:]
 
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Lloyd, I know you're out there somewhere! Please post something about Midland Red and save us from the "attack of the motormaids"!
 
Certainly! If it's shelter you want, how about this fine cast iron one formerly situated in Kidderminster?
 
Nice one, Lloyd! Any idea of the date of that picture (what's that double-decker)? If this was the SCRAN site, we would be told who designed and built that classic cast iron structure. Is it still there by any chance?
 
It is Exchange Street, Kidderminster, at the side of the Town Hall and is still (in modified form) in use as a bus shelter today. The bus is a nearly new BHA series FEDD (sliding door to entrance, having upsweep to front lower corner) - here is a picture of 1845 (BHA 804) in early post WW2 years for comparison. I don't remember the source of the picture (not SCRAN) sorry.
 
Incidentally it is the same site where during WW1 gas-fuelled Tilling-Stevens buses were refilled.
This picture has appeared before, somewhere.
 
Thanks for those Kidderminster pictures Lloyd. I was pleasantly surprised to see that those cast iron bus shelters are still with us. The refuelling gasbag buses have appeared before on this early thread, but it's good to see them again. There's a "conductorette" there too!

So far, we haven't begun to repeat ourselves on this thread. But I must admit I'm running a bit short of inspiration for Midland Red topics. I suppose that's an indication of what a good job we've been doing! ;) Any ideas?
 
Re: World War 1 Motormaids.

Thylacine said:
I've discovered a couple of other tramway systems that employed motormaids during World War 1. Here's the list so far:

Bath, Glasgow, Lincoln, Lowestoft, Southend, Sunderland.

Female-crewed Sunderland Corporation tram 50 is pictured below (driver Annie Goodall).

Another tramway with WWI Motormaids was Birmingham-on-Sea aka Weston-Super-Mare where they were first taken on in February 1916 and continued until the return of men after 1918. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of any them at work.
Mike
Click to expand...
 
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Taunton Tramcar For Leamington and Warwick.

The Leamington and Warwick Electrical Co Ltd opened its electric tramway on 12 July 1905 with a fleet of twelve Brush open-top double-deck tramcars. Six of these were ex-Taunton Electric Traction Co Ltd fleet numbers 1-6 (new 1901-1905). While browsing the internet for motormaids, I came across the South Western Electricity Historical Society's excellent Tramways and Cliff Railways in the South West website, which has a page on the Taunton tramway (21 August 1901 to 28 May 1921). I hope they don't mind our borrowing this picture of tramcar #5, which is captioned "Manager W Smith, his wife and daughter on the top deck of double deck car no 5 in 1905 shortly before it is dismantled for the journey to its new home on the Leamington and Warwick system". The motorman remains anonymous! [The Taunton Electric Traction Co Ltd was known until 1903 as the Taunton and West Somerset Electric Railways and Tramways Co Ltd, which according to the website was "the longest name in the country".]
 
What may have been the last undertaking to employ WWI Motormaids is Portsmouth Corporation who trained up six from conductress as late as May 1918, (the last year of WW I).
For the record, the Rothesay, Greenock & Port Glasgow Tramways claimed to have had the first Motormaids (but I don't have the actual date). The Airdrie & Coatbridge Tramways had them at the same time apparently (again no date) and the Paisley Tramway Co had Motormaids in 1916. The Scottish lassies certainly took to tram driving! (Glasgow Corpoation started theirs in 1917).
 
...and I always thought that the longest name was "The Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield joint Electricity Board and Transport Undertaking" although their displayed fleetname was just "S.H.M.D."
Interesting original photo of what was later a Leamington car, here's Leamington no 3 for comparison.
 
Mike, thanks for that additional research on World War 1 motormaids. Very interesting that Scotland was the pioneer. Post #551 updated accordingly.

Lloyd, your "Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Electricity Board and Transport Undertaking" (11 words, 79 letters) beats my "Taunton and West Somerset Electric Railways and Tramways" (8, 49) hands down! Thanks for the new LWE tramcar picture.
 
Staying with the L&W Tramways as it is part of the early Midland Red days, here is a poor shot of car No.1 coming down Leamington Parade from Warwick date unknown but early days from the dress styles.
 
Nice one, Mike! Interesting setup with the overhead wires and central supporting poles. I've never noticed that before.
 
The legacy of the central overhead line poles lives on, there are street lighting poles in the same location along the Parade (although not in this exact area now, as seen in the same view today) they can be seen in the distance, though. There did use to be lights here in the 50s, as you can see in this view, possibly on the spots of the old tramway poles, by the look.
 
The trams purchased from Taunton in 1905 (Taunton cars No.1-6), were only 4 years old and numbered L&W 7-12. They only became available because of the poor state of the track in Taunton due to rushed installation and were sold off during track repairs after which single deckers were used. They survived with the L&W until 1920 although No. 11 was sold on to the LLandudno & Colwyn Bay Electrical Railway (a tramway despite it's title) where it was used as a works car until 1935. Taunton Tramways, part of the British Electric Traction Group, although so grandly named in their full title, actually claimed to be the smallest urban tramway in England and only lasted until 1921.
 
Lloyd, thanks for those Leamington views. The 1950s picture is lovely: those street lights look rather "space age" at the top (yet not out of keeping with the classic setting).

Mike, thanks for your additional research on the LWE tramway and the ex-Taunton cars. I should update the original LWE story (post #139).

If you want a good laugh (I'm still chuckling over it!) check out the King Kong story. :D
 
Sir John Spencer Wills

2010-06-19 14:41:03

[John Spencer Wills (1904–1991) was Chairman of the Midland Red board from 1946. His life spanned most of the twentieth century, and his story may be of interest to our many readers. As usual corrections, additions and comments are welcome. :)]

John Spencer Wills (JSW) was born in London on 10 August 1904. He was the son of Cedric Spencer Wills (c 1880 – 1947) and Cecile Charlotte Wills née Dreyfus (5 Feb 1878 – 30 December 1973). It is of particular interest to me that Cedric Spencer Wills spent his early childhood at New Norfolk in Tasmania. The connection of the Wills family with Australia is a long one. JSW's great-great-grandfather Edward Spencer Wills (13 August 1778 – 14 May 1811) was convicted of armed highway robbery on 29 March 1797 and transported for life to Botany Bay (Sydney), Australia. In Australia such origins are considered to be very respectable indeed!

JSW was educated at Cleobury Mortimer College (Shropshire) and Merchant Taylors School (London). He joined the British Electric Traction Co Ltd (BET) in 1922 and was appointed confidential clerk to BET Chairman Émile Garcke, based at Garcke's Maidenhead home. "Salaries just after the First World War were low and even allowing for the fact that Wills was living in, £50 a year and provide your own bicycle does not seem the sort of remuneration to cause a long queue to form." [Klapper]. When BET established East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd on 5 October 1926, JSW was appointed Secretary. In 1939 he became Chairman of Crosville Motor Services Ltd, then a subsidiary of Tilling and British Automobile Traction Co Ltd (TBAT). He held this position until the split of TBAT on 26 June 1942, when Crosville moved into the Tilling camp under the chairmanship of Sir Frederick Heaton. Meanwhile JSW had been appointed to the BET board in November 1939. JSW also served as Chairman of the North Western Road Car Co Ltd (Stockport) in 1943-1946.

In January 1946, JSW was appointed Managing Director of BET. At this time he also became Chairman of Midland Red following the retirement of R J Howley CBE, the man who had for so long refereed the conflict between O C Power and L G W Shire. JSW was held in high esteem by the company: Spencer House (part of the Digbeth complex opened on 20 June 1958) was named after him.

JSW was Chairman and Managing Director of BET subsidiary Broadcast Relay Services Ltd (later Rediffusion Ltd) between 1947 and 1978. He was created Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 2 June 1969 "for services to industry and the arts". At about this time he became Chairman of BET, a position he held until his retirement in 1982. He died aged 87 on 28 October 1991 in East Sussex.

In the first quarter of 1936 at Maidenhead he married Elizabeth Drusilla Alice Clare Garcke (16 June 1913 – January 1995), daughter of Sidney Garcke and granddaughter of Émile Garcke. They had two sons: Colin Spencer Wills (25 June1937 – 27 October 1997) and Nicholas Kenneth Spencer Wills (born 18 May 1941). Their home from 1947 was Beech Farm (Battle, East Sussex), which is now Beech Estate (owned by the Sir John Spencer Wills Trust and managed by principal trustee Nicholas Wills). Beech Estate is a haven for endangered plant and insect species. JSW's son Nicholas Wills followed in his fathers footsteps into the upper echelons of BET: Director 1975-1992; Managing Director 1982-1991; Chief Executive 1985-1991; Chairman 1991-1992; Managing Director of Birmingham and District Investment Trust Co Ltd 1970-1991.

Sources:

Charles F Klapper. Golden Age of Buses. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978. ISBN 0-7100-8961-9.
"Sir John Spencer Wills" at MidlandRed.net (accessed 19 June 2010).
Descendants of Edward Spencer Wills (accessed 19 June 2010).
Rediffusion History 1828-1978 (accessed 19 June 2010).
"Award for Beech Estate Head Forester" at Royal Forestry Society (accessed 19 June 2010).

Pictures: [1] John Spencer Wills; [2] Nicholas Kenneth Spencer Wills.
 
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Lloyd, on the "Fags We Used to Smoke" thread, you posted a picture of a tin of "Midland Red Cigarettes" made by the Bristol-based W D and H O Wills company. What was the connection between the tobacco firm and our John Spencer Wills?
 
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