Herbert Austin
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Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin (born November 8, 1866; died May 23, 1941) was an English automobile designer and builder.
He was born in Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire but the family moved to Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire in 1870 where he first went to school, later continuing his education at Rotherham Grammar School. In 1884 he emigrated with an uncle to Melbourne, Australia where he joined the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. He moved back to England with Frederick Wolseley in 1889 and the latter set up a factory in Birmingham where Austin became manager in 1892. Becoming interested in motor cars he built two different types in his own time. A version of one of these was taken up by Wolseley and listed for sale in 1900.
In 1901 Vickers bought out the car interests of Wolseley to form the Wolseley Motor Company and Austin moved to the new company.
In 1905 Austin resigned from Wolseley and reputedly embarked on a bicycle ride around the streets of Birmingham in search of a factory that could accommodate his idea for a new car manufacturer. He took over an old print works in Longbridge, which was then in the County of Worcestershire; Longbridge did not became a suburb of Birmingham until 1911 when the city's boundaries were expanded. The Austin car works at Longbridge were later to become one of the greatest car manufacturers in the world.
He was knighted in 1917 for his services to the war effort and from 1918 to 1925 served as a Conservative Member of Parliament but never made a speech in the House of Commons and in 1936 he was created Baron Austin of Longbridge.
His landmark designs helped battle Germany in both world wars from fighter aeroplanes to tank tracks built at his Longbridge works, he was also famous for the Austin Seven designed at his home, Lickey Grange, which helped Austin become Britain's biggest motor manufacturer in 1934, and the 12/4.
Herbert Austin married an Australian Ellen Dron in 1887 and they had a son Vernon, who was killed in the First World War and a daughter Zoe.