Herbert Austin, who was called 1st Baron Austin and received a special honor called KBE, was an English car designer and builder. He started the Austin Motor Company. Most of his life, he was called Sir Herbert Austin. A road near Northfield is named "Sir Herbert Austin Way" in his honor. He was born on November 8, 1866, and passed away on May 23, 1941.

Background and early life

He was born to a farmer in Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire, in South East England. In 1870, his family moved to Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, after his father was appointed as a farm bailiff. Herbert Austin first attended a village school, then continued his studies at Rotherham Grammar School.

In 1884, he traveled to Australia by ship, accompanied by his maternal uncle. His uncle lived in Melbourne but had recently returned to England for a family visit. The journey to Australia passed through the Cape.

Life in Melbourne

Austin began working with his uncle, who was the manager of a general engineering company called Mephan Ferguson in North Melbourne. After two years, he joined Alex. Cowan & Sons, a Scottish business that sold paper and printing equipment, as well as Crossley gas engines. Later, he worked for the Langlands Foundry Company Limited in Yarra Bank, Melbourne, which produced locomotive boilers, wheels, and equipment for gold mining.

To improve his drawing skills, Austin attended Hotham School of Art in North Melbourne during his free time after work. During this time, he entered a competition organized by the Government of Victoria to design a swing bridge over the Yarra River at Spencer Street, Melbourne. He did not win the competition.

In December 1887, Austin started a new job as manager of an engineering workshop owned by Richard Pickup Park. Park was working on developing a new sheep-shearing machine for Frederick York Wolseley.

Because of his new position, Austin married Helen Dron in Melbourne on 26 December 1887. Helen was born in Melbourne on 23 October 1866. She was the seventh daughter of Scottish parents. The couple had two daughters, Irene (born in 1891, later Mrs. Waite) and Zeta (later Mrs. Lambert). Their only son, Vernon James Austin, died in France during World War I on 26 January 1915.

After spending three months improving the sheep-shearing machine, Austin was invited to join The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company in Sydney. Soon after joining, he was sent to a sheep station in Avoca, Victoria, to study the machines in use. Austin patented the improvements he made to the sheep-shearing machines in his own name and later sold the patents to The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company on 10 March 1893 in exchange for company shares.

Motor cars

Frederick Wolseley closed the Sydney-registered company in 1889 and gave ownership of the business to a new company registered in London. However, all operations stayed in Australia. Problems with suppliers made the Wolseley board decide to move car assembly to England in 1893. Frederick Wolseley and Herbert Austin left John Howard in charge of the Australian operation and returned to England in November 1893. Austin started a factory in Broad Street, Birmingham. Frederick Wolseley left the company in 1894. The Broad Street factory was too small, so Austin bought a larger building in Aston, Birmingham. Sales of shearing machinery were seasonal, so during slow times of the year, they built bicycles.

Looking for other products to balance work, Herbert Austin became interested in motor cars and built two types of three-wheelers in his spare time. A version of one of these was sold by the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company in 1900, but the Wolseley board saw no future for a motor industry. In 1901, Vickers bought Wolseley’s car business, including Austin, and created a new company called Wolseley Tool & Motor Company, located in Adderley Park, Birmingham. Herbert Austin kept his connection with the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. He was chairman of their board from 1911 to 1933, when he retired shortly before his death.

In 1905, Austin resigned from Wolseley Tool & Motor Company, taking some senior staff with him. His brother Harry joined him in this new business, having worked with him at Wolseley in Birmingham. Austin gathered £37,000 (equivalent to £4,369,468.69 in 2018) and searched for a factory to build a new car. He bought an old print works in Longbridge, outside Birmingham (then in Worcestershire; Longbridge became part of Birmingham in 1911). The Austin car factory in Longbridge later became one of the world’s largest car manufacturers.

By 1908, Austin produced seventeen different car models. During World War I, Austin made weapons and built Austin Village in Turves Green for workers. After the war, the car business struggled, and the Austin company nearly went bankrupt in 1921. The "Baby Austin" was introduced in 1922 and sold for £225 (£12,417.65 in 2018), making cars affordable for first-time buyers. By 1925, it sold 25,000 units yearly, with prices dropping each year. In 1931, the Austin 12/6 was launched, followed by the Austin 12/4 in 1933.

Military production

In 1914, the company used its resources to support the war effort. In 1917, Austin was honored with a knighthood for his work. He also received the Belgium Order of the Crown of Leopold II for helping 3,000 Belgian refugees by providing jobs at Longbridge.

During World War II, the company focused on producing aircraft, parts for Horsa gliders, special vehicles for the army, parts that help move gun turrets, containers for bullets, magazines for machine guns, tommy guns, and Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, engines for ship lifeboats, and parts for jerrycans.

Before 1938, Lord Swinton led the Air Ministry. He resigned in 1938 after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain asked him to step down because progress in rebuilding the Royal Air Force was too slow. Sir Kingsley Wood became the new minister and created a plan to triple British aircraft production before World War II. The plan had two parts:

• Building nine new factories
• Expanding existing factories to make it easier to switch to aircraft production or increase output

The government provided money for these new factories through grants and loans. Rolls-Royce Limited’s Merlin engine was important for many aircraft developed by the Air Ministry. Austin was responsible for managing the plan with companies that mainly made cars. Charles Bruce-Gardner handled technical communication with the aircraft industry.

Parliamentary career

From 1918 to 1924, Austin was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham King's Norton. He did not give any speeches in the House of Commons during this time. In 1936, he was made a Baron, known as Baron Austin of Longbridge in the City of Birmingham. In 1937, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree by the University of Birmingham.

Lord Austin died due to a heart attack and pneumonia. His only son, Vernon, had died in battle in France in 1915. After Lord Austin’s death, the title of Baron Austin ended. He and his wife also had two daughters: Irene, who later became Mrs. Waite, and Zeta, who later became Mrs. Lambert.

Lord Austin was buried next to his wife, Helen, Lady Austin, in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in Lickey. This location is near his former home at Lickey Grange and the factory at Longbridge, which is close to Bromsgrove and Birmingham.