[D]

Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan left his job as a draughtsman for the Great Western Railway to start in business with a friend in 1906. Morgan built the Malvern premises as Morgan & Company Garage & Motor Works in May 1905. They also ran Malvern's first bus service from the site. After the success of his three-wheeler at the 1910 Olympia Show the garage business was run down and the premises adapted for production of the Morgan Runabout.

During the Great War the factory produced shells and ammunition, but also continued with limited car production.

After the end of the war the main production was moved to a new site at Pickersleigh Road. The Worcester Road factory became the machine shop until the 1930's. In 1936 Morgan agents Bowman-Acock Ltd acquired these premises. The building still exists (as of May 2000) but may be demolished soon.

1935 saw the first four-wheeled car, the 4/4. After the war the 4/4 was re-introduced with an engine built for Morgan by the Standard Motor Company whose chief Sir John Black was a friend of Morgan from the early days.

Further Standard engines followed with the Plus-Four using the Vanguard unit and later the Triumph TR2, TR3 and TR4 engines.

Henry's son Peter HG Morgan took over when his father died in 1959, although he had been involved with the company for many years. Peter ran the company untill 1999 when his son Charles, in turn, took over the day to day running of Morgan while Peter continued as chairman. Peter died aged 83 on the 21st October 2003.

Several attempts to modernise the Morgan have been made, but their customers prefer the traditional designs.

The photographs of the red 1935 car and the BRG 1955 car were kindly provided by Ross G Frater of Brisbane.

E-Mail: history@britishmm.co.uk