.

There are a number of cars,the origins of which may betraced directly back to

coachbuilders of horse and

--carriage days, and these includeVanden Plas, Angus-Sanderson,Thrupp & Maberly (yes, theymade a car in 189.6),Brewster,Salmons (they made the N.P. car)and several others, prominentamong which is the Whitlock.

Ostensibly, the Whitlock wasavailable from 1903 until 1932

(some listings indicate that carswere still on offer as late as 1934[Fletcher's] and 1936 [Stone &Cox]). Despite this apparentlylong production run, the Whitlockcar remains something of anenigma, and so far as is knownthe only surviving car dates fromthe very last period of productionin the early 30s.

The company traces its historyback much further, however, asHenry Whitlock established hisbllsiness building coaches andcurriages in Holland Park and

TIlE AUTOMOBJ;LE, JULY 1996

WhitlockCoachbuilding to carS,cars to coachbuildingBy Michael Worthington-Williams

Top: An example of a horse-drawnvehicle built by Henry Whitlock Ltd.,'Carriage builders to the RayalFamily', of Holland 'Gate,Kensington.

Above: Graham Bennett's Whitlock

20/70 following restoration.

Below right: The unique foldingroof, which slides down into the rearof the car (the rearwindow is ofdouble construction). A matchingaperture keeps the rearwindow clear.

Below: The Whitlock 20/70 ondisplay at the RAC's ClassicMotorShow.

... ... ..- ~. "

./

'.

.",._.-

Turnham Green, London, in 1787.

There was another coachbuildingfamily destined to be involved inthe development of the Whitlockcar, commencing with the birth in .1849 of Joseph 'Jo' Alfred Lawtonin Liverpool.- Educated at Liver-pool College, he was thenapprenticed to another Liverpoolcoachbuilder, John Lyon,

79

~ AUTOMOBILE,JULY1996

subsequently starting his ownbusiness in Highgate Street. As itexpanded, he moved to MountPleasant and thence, nine yearslater, to Hardman Street. J. A.Lawton & Co. was founded in

1871 and quickly became one ofthe most important coachbuildingconcerns in the north of England.

Lawton patented many newideas - the double perch, Ceeand under-spring carriage, and

Right: Therangeof modelsofferedfor 1904UytheWhitlockAutomobileCo.Ltd., andcontinueduntil 1906.

Below: A 1915Whitlocktown

carriage.Veryfew of this typeweremade,andlittle isknownof theirspecification.

fJ.

'):(,.~

designed many horse-drawncarriages, including the Liverpoolsquare-honted brougham and theLawton gig, and introduced anumber of improvements incarriage construction. In 1880 theRoyal Manchester, Liverpool andNorth Lancashire AgriculturalSociety awarded the company itssilver cup for 'the best collectionof carriages', and eventually,medals and trophies awarded toJ. A. Lawton & Company weredestined to total some 200.

Jo Lawton's nephew, WilliamLawton-Goodman, acted asLondon manager for his uncle,and eventually became a partnerin the business. Forward thinking,he took an interest in the infant

automobile industry and attendedthe first Crystal Palace Internat-ional Exhibition of Horse-drawn

Rn

branches were established atWestminster Works, HardmanStreet, Preston, Oxford St.,Manchester and Liverpool. Theytook agencies in the north forPanhard, Napier and Mercedes,and build bodywork for theircustomers' cars.

In 1903 Henry Whitlock Ltd.was established in premises inHolland Gate, Kensington, andwas described as 'Coachbuilders

, to the Royal Family and MotorEngineers'. The company wasoffering a car called the Whitlock-Century. The Century was by thattime being built in Willesden, by acompany having been formed inAltrincham, Cheshire, by RalphJackson. It seems likely that the '

Whitlock-Century was a Willes-den-built Century albeit bodied,

Above: Thehubcaps of this van read

'Whitlock, London and Liverpool'. It isone of afleet built for The EveningNews and destroyed in afire in theFleet Streetgarage. -

Right: TheWhitlock,/LAwton-Goodmandrawing office atCricklewood.

and Horseless Carriages in May1896, in a horseless carriage. Hehad been impressed two yearsearlier by the car produced byFrank and Charles Duryea in theUSA, and it was not long beforehe had persuaded his uncle toexpand the business into themotor trade. The London branch

of J. A. Lawton & Co. in OrchardStreet in the West End was now

described as 'motor engineers andbody builders', and other

perhaps, by Whitlock. For 1904, anew range of Whitlock-Aster carswas offered: the 10hp (£295), 12hp(£350), 14hp (£400), 20hp (£500)and 24hp (£600).

It would seem that these were

merely imported French Asterchassis with Whitlock bodywork.Actually, Aster had established aBritish branch under the direction

of Sydney Begbie in 1899, whichlater became Aster EngineeringCo. Ltd. of Wembley, but they didnot make'complete vehicles, andit was Ateliers de Construction

Mecanique I'Aster of Saint-Denison the Seine who suppliedWhitlock's running gear, makingchassis, axles, engines aridgearboxes in'the French factory. Itwas not until 1922 that a British-built Aster car was shown at theMotor Show.

, A separate company, theWhitlo.ck Automobile Co., wasformed with £10,000 capital in1905, to handle the automobile

business, and the range includedboth twin-cylinder cars witharmoured wood frames, and foursup to 24/30hp with pressed steelchassis. Bodywork includedsingle and double landaulettes,Roi des BeIges and side-entrancetonneaus, all of great elegance andcomfort, One landaulette bodystyle was called 'The EntenteCordiale', emphasising that theWhitlock-Aster combined the best

of French engineering and Britishcoachwork. Sadly, despite goodpress reports, the handsomeWhitlock-Aster was not a

commercial success, andmanufacture ceased. Premises in

Chiswick High Road werevacated, and it was not until 1914that the company returned tomaking cars.

Over in Orchard Street,William Lawton-Goodman was

making a name for himself incoachbuilding circles, being elec-ted to the Council of the Institute

of Carriage & Automobile Man-ufacturers in 1905. Four yearslater, he was admitted to the

Worshipful Co. of Coach Makersand Coach Harness Makers, andin 1910 was elected President offfiCAM. All was not well behind

the scenes. Possibly because JoLawton was now an old man, andhis nephew was forging aheadwith new ideas faster than hisuncle liked, the two menquarrelled. Jo was a man used togetting his own way, had a tastefor music hall artistes and goodbrandy, and was fond of anargument. For whatever reason,he and William argued bitterly,and when Jo died in 1913, he lefthis share of the business to hisbrother and not to William.

There is nothing moreacrimonious than a family split,and since William had been only ajunior partner, presumably, hesuffered both financially and fromfrustration. He was personallybankrupted, and having formed anew company, Lawton-GoodmanLtd., was unable to become a

director himself as an undischarg-ed bankrupt. His sons, Thomas W.and Joseph Alfred, were appoin-ted directors in his stead. In 1912Lawton-Goodman Ltd. took over

the ailing Whitlock companies,purchasing premises in Crickle-wood Broadway, and in 1914advertised two models of carunder the Lawton name. These

were a 12/16 and a 20/30, offeredat chassis prices of £295 and £495respectively, and fitted with coal-scuttle-type bonnets withradiators behind the engine,Renault-style.

Back in 1906, Whitlock hadadvertised a very small car as theWhitlock Ideal, powered by an883cc monobloc 4-cylinder engineand priced at £200. The companyhad no facilities for building theirown engines at that time, and theengine was probably French,monobloc fours of diminutive size

being a French speciality longbefore they were made in Britain.Nothing is known of the origin ofthe mechanical elements of that

car and the same may be said forthe 1914 Lawtons. For 1915, theSame two models were offeredagain, albeit as Whitlocks, buthow many were made is notknown. Probably very few,because by that time the Great

Right: The sawmills at Slade Works.

,~ ~r.'"-::

War had halted most private carproduction and war work was'taking priority.

Photographs do exist of several,of these Renault-style cars, and of .a van built for The Evening News,whilst there are heavier commer-cial chassis bodied as ambulances

, during the Great War which bear. the Whitlock name on their

, hubcaps, and the entwined 'W'motif which was used on theradiators of the later cars, and onthe gearbox lids of the 1922 cars.Whitlocks had built vans before,

,.' the 15cwt version of 1906 having

THE AUTOMOBILE, JULY 1996

been based on the 12/14hp Aster-engined car chassis, but withpneumatic tyres on the frontwheels only.

The Cricklewood premises hadbeen erected in 1904 as liverystables by a Mr Wimbush, and itwould not appear that they were

Above: Interior of thebody shopsatSladeWorks araund 1914.

occupied until 1916, at which timeanother'company, WhitlockMotors Ltd., was registered at thesame address. Doubtless the newfacilities which were now built on

the site - including a sawmill,body-building shop, varnish andpaint shop and panelbeating shop- enabled the company to ex-pand during the war years, and in .addition to building their ownWhitlock ambulances, they conver-ted a large number of private carsto ambulances, including Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts and similarlarge cars. The new premises werenamed Slade Works, and the leaseran until 1991.

It is known that the ambulanc-

es built by Whitlock themselveswere Dorman-powered, and theywere financed by a great manyprivate ind~viduals and organis-ations which ranged from Indianprinces, the Baltic Exchange, theFrench Relief Fund, Readers &Friends of The Children's Story ofthe War, the 'Belgian FieldAmbulance Service and dozens of

others. Like many other firmsengaged on war work, the com-pany profited and all the extensive

81

THE AUTOMOBILE,JULY1996

Right: The interior of the coupeboasted a turned aluminium

dashboard, instrument lighting,plentiful instrumentation and grainedleather upholstery.

Below right The prototype of the

Bentley-radiatored Whitlock. Note thatthe badge 1uiSnot yet beenadaptedtothe new radiator shape.

building work, complete with staffcanteen, was now completedduring this period. They alsoreceived contracts to build the

fuselages for DH4 aircraft fromHolt Thomas of the Aircraft

Manufacturing Co. (Airco), built -bodies for heavy commercials and -=carried out bodywork for the Rapcompany (Russian Oil Products).When peace returned, the decisionwas made to recommence carmanufacture, whilst at the sametime continuing the coachbuildingbusiness. Before the war, the com-

pany's showrooms had been inNorth Audley Street, Mayfair, butnew showrooms were taken at 28Brook Street and in 1922 work

began on the development of anew range of private cars.

Most of the mechanical

components were bought-in fromspecialist suppliers, the 11hp'four' being powered by a Coven-try-Simplex engine and costing£315 as a chassis, with completecars £375 to £495. At the 1922Motor Show, Lawton-GoodmanLtd. took Stand 79 at the White

Gty overspill, and showedexamples of the 11hp model in 2-seater and dickey, 4-seater. opentourer and three-quarter Coupe deLuxe guise. The following year,the range was expanded toinclude a British Anzani-engined12hp model also with 4-cylinderengine, and a 14hp 'six' with1,753cc engine and overheadvalves. The back axles of the

earlier cars had been supplied bySalmons of Newport Pagnell, who

were <iIsocoachbuilders, andmakers of the N.P. car (NewportPagnell). They, however, usedMeadows engines for their owncars. When the back axles of the

Whitlocks proved unsatisfactory,the company then turned toBeverley-Bames, who madecomponents for other companiesbefore commencing production oftheir own advanced overhead

camshaft straight-eight Beverley-Bames car in 1924. In that year,

Whitlocks offered front-wheel

brakes on the 12hp for £20 extra.The six was also powered by a

Coventry-Simplex engine, and thiswas increased in size to 1,990ccand sold as the 16/50 at £550 forthe tourer and £695 for the saloon.

For 1925 both the 11hp and 12hpmodels had 3-speed gearboxeswith right-handchange,buta .12/35hp model was shown(although the others were still .

available) with a bare chassis, a

82

,

2-seater and dickey and a saloonon display.

The following year, the Mead-ows overhead-valve 20/70 enginewas adopted with a largerdisplacement of 2,972cc and in1927 this was the only chassisavailable. It cost £600 in chassis

form, with the tourer priced at ahefty £795 and the saloon £895.How many takers there wouldhave been at these prices is prob-lematical, but the company werestill bodying a variety of othercars and commercial vehicles for

customers, and coachbuildingmay be seen to have been themain part of the company'sbusiness.

Indeed, in retrospect, it isobvious that the continuation of

the Whitlock car was probablylittle more than the provision of asuitable chassis upon which todisplay the company's coachwork,and at the 1927 Show, thecompany exhibited a bare 20/70chassis and four 20/70 cars fittedwith coupe, coupe d'interieur(4 seats) and saloon landaulettecoachwork seating four and fivepersons respectively. All werepriced at £750 apart from the5-passenger saloon landaulette,which cost £700. By this time thecars had acquired handsomeBentley-shaped radiators - a factwhich must have caused some

disquiet down the road at BentleyMotors, who were also located inCricklewood. The company wasnot without a sense of humour,and their telegraphic address wasrendered as 'Carmenador'.

Safety-glass had been standardequipment on closed Whitlocksfrom 1925 onwards, and the 20/70competed with Crossley's 18/50model at much the same money,but was cheaper than theSunbeam Twenty and the 20-60hpStar. For 1928 it acquired the latest3.3-litre Meadows 6 EP engine,with wire-wheels as standard.

Bodywork, which up until thistime had been pretty pedestrian,now took on a more sportingimage, with a 4-door Weymannsaloon with fitted trunk and a

sportsman's coupe which, like the14/40 MG, featured triangularwindscreen inserts.

1929 saw the introduction of

chrome plating on the 20/70, butWhitlock's appearance at Olympiain Oc::toberof that year was thecompany's last. They went outwith quite a splash with no lessthan seyen 20/70s on dis'play: twochassis (types A and B with 10' 4"and 11' wheelbases respectively);a 2-seater coupe with doubledickey; a coupe d'interieur (fourseats; an enclosed limousine withdivision and two occasional seats

on the Type B chassis; a 4-door

Left: A 1926 20/70 Whitlock saloon

landaulette with enamelled leather roof

. - .. --.....-,'r:..'.-'.~7''''

-

Above: The 1929 20/10 Whitlock

Sportsman's Cuup€ was available with

fixed or draphead body and aluminium

or fabric panels.

saloon, also on the Type B chassis;and 'The Tourist' sporting saloonwith sliding roof and costing £900.Even the bare chassis cost £700,the two coupes were £800 eachand the saloon cost the same,whilst the limousine was the most

expensive at £950.The 20/70 continued for 1930,

although the Bentley-type radiatorwas discontinued - one wonderswhether Bentley Motors putpressure on the company - andwas replaced by a new tall and flattype with the radiator badge nowshowing the Whitlock crown andtheir slogan 'By our work we areknown'. The intertwined 'W' was

mounted in a roundel on the grillewith a central chrome vertical

strip joining the roundel to theheader tank. It was a handsome-

looking car.William Lawton-Goodman

died at the age of 68 on 18th April1992, and it seems likely thatproduction of Whitlock carsceased at that time, even thoughthey were theoretically stillavailable thereafter. He had been

President of mCAM again, in 1923and ~924, and Master of theWorshipful Co. of Coach Makers.and Coach Harness Makers in the

year commencing September 1930.HiS two sons continued the coach-

building business, but with theonset of the depression, theemphasis turned more tocommercial vehicle bodywork,and in 1938 the Liverpoolpremises of J. A. Lawton werefinally sold off.

The last motor car body built atthe Slade Works was for a Mr.

Fortner-Wallace, a gentleman 6' 8"in height, which was reflected inthe overall height of the 'royalmaroon' saloon they built for him.

,. "" t"..1 ", I....

~ !all

.(Both during WW2 and in the, austeritY years which followed,

many large saloons wereconverted into shooting brakes,this entitling them to run on 'red'petrol as commercial vehicles. The

the car in utterly derelict. condition, and painstakingly had

it fully restored. It retains the veryvintage right-hand gearchange ina gate, and features a largesunroof. This slides back into the

1HE AUTOMOBILE,]UL Y 1996

rear of the car, initially blackingout the rear window (which is ofdouble construction) buteventually lines up a roof windowwith the rear window when fullyopen - an ingeniousarrangement. It is registered GN7248,a London series of 1931.Arethere any other Whitlocksanywhere, I wonder? None havebeen reported, even in theAntipodes.

My thanks to Graham and ElizabethBennett, KEain Desmond, the

Lawton-Goodman family, the late

Michael Sedgwick, Nick Georgano,the late Prince Marshall, Ian Moore

and Motor Book Postal Auctions forinformation and photographs used inthisfeature.

Below: The 1929 Whitlock 20/10 had

more sporting bodywork, and a rakedscreen with triangular sides. Note theW logo on the radiator grille.

company also built a number ofambulances on other makers'chassis, mobile canteens and ARPsupport vehicles, and when peaceretwTie'd, turned to ice-creamvans,ntobile shops and similarcommercials. By the early 1980s,the last body had been built, butthe company carried on withrepair work until the lease ran outin 1991. At that time all the .

company's archive material wasdispersed, and the writer was ableto purchase some of it, and copythe rest. The illustrations used in

this feature come mainly from thatsource.

Today, the sole survivingWhitlock, a 193120/70 4-doorsaloon, is owned by GrahamBennett of Sussex, who purchased

Right: The imposing frontal aspect ofthe 1930 Whitlock 20/10.

\

83