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Mulliners Limited of Birmingham was a British coachbuilding business in Bordesley Green, Birmingham with factories in Bordesley Green Road and in Cherrywood Road. It made standard bodies for specialist car manufacturers. In the 19th century there were family ties with founders Mulliners of Northampton and the businesses of other Mulliner brothers and cousins but it became a quite separate business belonging to Herbert Mulliner. A Northampton coach building family founded this business in Leamington Spa for the prosperous custom attracted to the newly fashionable spa town early in the 19th century. Direct ownership and control by Mulliner family interests was lost in 1903 when it was sold to Charles Cammell, which then merged into Cammell Laird. H H Mulliner ceased to be a main-board director of Cammell-Laird in 1909. Mulliners Limited continued under various ownerships until the end of 1960, when Standard-Triumph International closed it down. ==Herbert Hall Mulliner== Henry Mulliner (1827-1887) of Leamington Spa, second son of Francis Mulliner (1789-1841) of Leamington Spa and Northampton, had six sons and six daughters. Henry published his book ''Carriage Builder's Tour in America'' in Leamington in 1883. Henry's Leamington Spa coach building business in Bedford Street and The Parade later had its carriage works in Packington Square and showroom in Chapel Street. Henry's second son Arthur Felton Mulliner (1859-1946) on Henry's death took over the family's Northampton business.〔Censuses 1841 through to 1911, official records of Births Deaths and Marriages 1837 through to 1983〕 Henry's third son, Herbert Hall Mulliner (1861-1924), in the light of the decline in quality of the Spa's visitors moved in 1885 to Birmingham.〔Advertisement, ''Birmingham Daily Post'', Tuesday 24 November 1885 "Carriage Accident Insurance On account of the large number of Street Accidents to Carriages in Birmingham, Mr H H Mulliner has arranged to Insure all kinds of Carriages, Carts, Light Vans etc in this neighbourhood against damages caused by collision, runaway horses, horses falling etc etc. The increasing number of Steam Trams and the extra Cabs there will be with the reduced fares render such insurance most advisable. The rates are very considerably less (from 17s. 6d. per annum) and the advantages much greater than those of any of the London Companies. Prospectus and full particulars on application to H H Mulliner Carriage Manufactory (Late Findlater’s) 300 Broad Street, Birmingham"〕 Following his father's death in November 1887 and consequent rearrangement of family ownership〔Leamington Advertisement ''Leamington Spa Courier'' Saturday 10 March 1888: "Benison Brothers, Carriage Builders, Leamington, Beg to inform their Customers and Patrons that they have purchased the Works lately occupied by Mulliner & Co Limited in Bedford Street & Portland Road and will be carried on (sic) in connection with their works in Upper Bedford Street. Clarendon Avenue Show Rooms Closed from this date lease having expired." Birmingham Notice of dissolution on 19 February 1889 of the partnership between C Hamilton Wood and Herbert H Mulliner in the business of Carriage and Coach builders at no 300 Broad Street Birmingham. ''The London Gazette'', 26 April 1889, issue 25928 page 2349〕 he made his home in Rugby and took up other interests including in 1895 the manufacture of scientific instruments. In 1897 he converted the coach and carriage making part of his business to motor vehicle bodies and was then employing 200. Used as well as new carriages were sold from the Mulliner showrooms in Broad Street, Birmingham, and H H Mulliner was the first to offer insurance of his carriages against accidents.〔A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham〕〔 Meanwhile continuing with scientific instruments he began producing in Birmingham with F. Wigley, tools for making the more complicated parts of ordnance and they formed companies: Mulliner Wigley Company Limited formed 1895 and Wigley-Mulliner Engineering Company Limited formed 1897. In April 1899 he married.〔He married at Lambeg church on 6 April 1899 Adelaide Letitia daughter of John Richardson of Lambeg House Lisburne co Antrim Ireland.(Marriages, ''Leamington Spa Courier'', Saturday 15 April 1899) They were to have three daughters.〕 The demands of the South African War led to major developments and the scene of operation was moved to Coventry to a site of some sixty acres.〔Messrs Mulliner’s works in Coventry The ''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' of Tuesday 25 February 1902 reported that Mulliners had purchased the premises on Stoney Stanton Road built for Mr Hooley’s cycle-tube manufactory where they were erecting new workshops which when complete would cover the area from the canal bank almost to Red Lane. They forecast "Before many months are past 1,000 hands will be employed initially on making gun carriages for the War Office and Admiralty." The railway line was to be extended from the brick works across the highway to the northern end of Mulliner’s works.〕 All the companies were amalgamated with Charles Cammell & Co Limited.〔''Coventry Evening Telegraph'' Friday 20 February 1903 "Mulliner Wigley & Co, carriage manufacturers etc of Coventry and Birmingham is being acquired by Charles Cammell Limited, iron and steel manufacturers of Sheffield"〕 In 1903 these companies merged into the newly blended armaments and shipbuilding business, Cammell Laird, of Birkenhead and H H Mulliner joined their main board. The ordnance operation became Coventry Ordnance Works and was separated out and jointly owned by Cammell Laird, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Glasgow and John Brown & Company of Clydebank with Mulliner as managing director, Wigley was responsible for the technical side.〔page 124, Kenneth Warren, ''Steel, Ships and Men: Cammell Laird, 1824-1993'', Liverpool University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0853239222〕 A special article detailed the background of the origins of H H Mulliner's involvement in the ordnance works in a supplement to ''The Times'' 9 June 1909. The main workshop at the Coventry Ordnance works was claimed by ''The Times'' in 1909 to cover a greater area under its single (110 feet to the apex) roof than any other factory in the country. The travelling cranes were of 110 tons capacity. It was also notable for the arrangement that machines were brought to the work instead of the work to the machines and several machines could work on the same piece at the same time. The cost of the oil alone to fill the well to harden the largest guns approached £5,000.〔Special Articles. NAVAL CONSTRUCTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND GERMANY, XII. * THE COVENTRY WORKS (From a Naval Correspondent) ''The Times'', Wednesday, Jun 09, 1909; pg. 17; Issue 38981 Category: Business and Finance〕 In 1908-1909 there was a very public "Mulliner scandal" because H H Mulliner was shown to have embellished reports of German rearmament in the hope of improving their order book for large naval guns. He was asked to tender his resignation from Cammell Laird's board and it was accepted. However he received a settlement of £100,000 which was in addition to the payment of £142,566 for the shares on the merger of the businesses in 1903.〔pages 140-146, Kenneth Warren, ''Steel, Ships and Men: Cammell Laird, 1824-1993'', Liverpool University Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0853239222〕 Among H H Mulliner's benefactions were gifts to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1913〔Museum Acquisitions. ''The Times'', Thursday, Jul 10, 1913; pg. 6; Issue 40260〕 and the purchase in 1920 and "complete modernisation at considerable expense" of Rainham Hall built 1729 in the London Borough of Havering as a setting for part of his outstanding collections of English furniture and English pottery.〔The collection was sold at Christie's, July 10, 1924 and following days ''Catalogue of the Important Collection of Old English Furniture, Objects of Art and Tapestry, formed by the late Col. H.H. Mulliner...'', removed from Clifton Court, Rugby and Albany, Piccadilly; the collection was catalogued by Margaret Jourdain, writing as "Francis Lenygon, ''The Late Stuart and Early Georgian Periods. The Decorative Arts in England 1660-1780'' (1924); numerous pieces of furniture from the Mulliner collection were illustrated in Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards, eds. ''The Dictionary of English furniture'' (1927).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mulliners (Birmingham)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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