Thornycroft was an English vehicle manufacturer which built coaches,

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, and

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

s from 1896 until 1977.

History

In 1896, naval engineer John Isaac Thornycroft formed the Thornycroft Steam Carriage and Van Company which built its first steam van. This was exhibited at the Crystal Palace Show, and could carry a load of 1 ton. It was fitted with a Thornycroft marine launch-type boiler (Thornycroft announced a new boiler designed for its steam carriages in October 1897). The engine was a twin-cylinder

compound engine A compound engine is an engine that has more than one stage for recovering energy from the same working fluid, with the exhaust from the first stage passing through the second stage, and in some cases then on to another subsequent stage or even st ...

arranged so that high-pressure steam could be admitted to the low-pressure cylinder to give extra power for hill-climbing. A modified version of the steam wagon with a 6-cubic-yard tipper body was developed for Chiswick council in 1896 and went into service as a very early self-propelled dust-cart. While the original 1896 wagon had front-wheel drive with rear-wheel steering, the tipper dust-cart had rear-wheel drive and front-wheel steering. The Thornycroft tipper was built by the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works, though engined by Thornycroft. Thornycroft's first

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...

vehicle was built in 1902, and the company completed the move into internal combustion engine power in 1907. Thornycroft's Basingstoke factory supplied nearly 5,000 motor vehicles for the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

effort. It also provided large numbers of engines of various powers to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and other government departments at the beginning of the war and for the next two years. Thereafter the Basingstoke factory manufactured marine engines for the Coastal Motor Boats being built at the John I. Thornycroft & Company works in

Woolston, Southampton Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, Hampshire, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston. The area has a strong maritime and aviation history. The former ...

. The 180HP 6-cyclinder Thornycroft marine engine was also used in 20 petrol shunters made for war use by

Manning Wardle Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Precursor companies The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially s ...

& Co. Thornycroft also made the Thornycroft depth-charge thrower for

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

. In 1924, the

, anticipating the immediate need for motorised transport in the event of another war, set up a subsidy scheme whereby purchasers of approved vehicles would receive a £120 subsidy per vehicle with the proviso that the War Office could buy the vehicles at a pre-arranged price when needed. The Thornycroft A1 chassis was chosen for this scheme. From 1931, Thornycroft used descriptive names for its vehicle range. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the company designed the

Terrapin Terrapins are one of several small species of turtle (order Testudines) living in fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydidae. The name ...

and other war-related vehicles. In 1948, the company name was changed to Transport Equipment (Thornycroft) Ltd to prevent confusion with the shipbuilding Thornycroft company. The company was well known for providing

fire engine A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an ...

chassis, with multi-axle drive for uses such as airports. A limited number of 4x4 chassis were also provided to

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

-based fire engine manufacturer, Carmichael for sale to civilian brigades in the 1950s. Thornycroft was taken over on 1 March 1961 by AEC parent Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV), with production limited to Antars, Big Bens and Nubians, although the Thornycroft-designed six-speed

constant mesh gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear changes ...

was used in AEC and later medium weight Albion and Leyland trucks. ACV was taken over by Leyland in 1962. Leyland already had a specialist vehicle unit in

Scammell Scammell Lorries Limited was a British manufacturer of trucks, particularly specialist and military off-highway vehicles, between 1921 and 1988. History Scammell started as a late- Victorian period wheelwright and coach-building business, G Sc ...

. Vehicle production at Basingstoke ceased in 1969 with production transferred to Scammell at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

. The factory continued to manufacture gearboxes. It was sold in 1972 to Eaton Corporation.Thornycroft to leave Basingstoke
''Commercial Motor'' 12 January 1973 page 28

Models

Bus and coach

*Type J *Beautyride *Boudicea *Cygnet (Single Deck) *Daring (Double Deck) *Lightning *Nippy *Patrician

Lorry

1959 Thornycroft Swift GL JR6 (4868698532)

1960 Thornycroft Trident (WGP) (33360641336)

* Type J 40 hp, 1913 * Type K 30 hp, 1913 *

Hathi Hathi is a fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling for the Mowgli stories collected in ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) and ''The Second Jungle Book'' (1895). Hathi is a bull elephant that lives in the jungle. Kipling named him after ''hāthī' ...

, 1924 – four-wheel drive

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two ...

for the army * A1 Subsidy, 1924 * A1 RSW / A3 RSW, – an off-road capable rigid six-wheeler to an army specification, 1926 * QC / Dreadnought, 1930 – 12 ton rigid six-wheel chassis. *Hardy *Dandy *Sturdy - 5/6 tonner *Trusty - 8 ton forward control 4 wheeler *Bullfinch *Strenuous *Mastiff *Tartar 3-ton 6x4, both civilian & military versions and production (3,000 - 4,000) between 1938 and 1945. : (see Thornycroft Bison for an unusual variant) *Taurus *Iron Duke *Amazon *Stag *Bulldog *Jupiter - 6.5 ton *Nubian – 3-ton vehicle available as 4 x 4, 6 x 4, 6 x 6 *Big Ben *

Antar Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) is an independent, national non-government, not-for-profit, community-based organisation founded in 1997 which advocates for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in A ...

– 85-ton – 6 x 4 pipeline and tank transporter *Swift *Trident

References

External links

Image of a Thornycroft Steam Wagon from around 1904'Thornycroft of Basingstoke'
- (Hampshire Cultural Trust) - extensive coverage of history and vehicles
Thornycroft vehicle preservation groupThorneycroft Classic Motor HistoryYoutube video of an existing Thorneycroft rifle in the Royal Armories in Leeds, England
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct truck manufacturers of the United Kingdom Former defence companies of the United Kingdom Military vehicle manufacturers Associated Equipment Company Steam wagon manufacturers Steam road vehicle manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1896 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1977 1896 establishments in England 1977 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1896 British companies disestablished in 1977