Archibald Goodman Frazer Nash (30 June 1889 – 10 March 1965), was an early

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

motor car designer, engineer, and inventor who specialised in manufacturer of light "cycle cars" and sports cars in England. Nash added his third name Frazer and a hyphen to his surname in 1938 and so either form may be correct depending on the period.

Early years

Nash was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Sindh Province Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(now

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

) on 30 June 1889."Archibald Goodman Frazer-Nash"
''Grace's Guide''. Retrieved 3 August 2020. In 1905, while at

Finsbury technical college The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has bee ...

, he met

Henry Ronald Godfrey Ronald Godfrey (1887–1968), full name Henry Ronald Godfrey, was an English motor car design engineer of the first half of the 20th century possibly best known for his successful Singer-engined H R G thoroughbred sports cars built between 1935 an ...

who later became a business partner in GN cars and Nash & Thompson. After

City and Guilds The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has bee ...

he served an apprenticeship with

Willans & Robinson Willans & Robinson Limited manufacturing engineers of Thames Ditton, Surrey. Later, from 1896, at Victoria Works, Rugby, Warwickshire, England. They were manufacturers of stationary reciprocating steam engines then steam turbines, diesel motors an ...

in Rugby.The Cars of Archie Frazer-Nash. ''Motor Sport magazine'', Page 22, May 1963 Nash began an association with the aircraft industry in 1917 and remained in the Technical Department of the Royal Air Force until March 1919.Parnall Aircraft Limited. ''The Times'', Monday, 27 May 1935; p. 23; Issue 47074 A skilled pilot, he then bought his own

Le Rhône Le Rhône was the name given to a series of Rotary engine, rotary aircraft engines built between 1910 and 1920. Le Rhône series engines were originally sold by the Gnome et Rhône#Le Rhône, Société des Moteurs Le Rhône and, following a 1914 ...

-powered

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

aircraft and flew with Godfrey to the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

Automotive career

GN and Frazer Nash cars

In 1910, Nash had partnered with Godfrey to produce the GN cycle car."GN Car Company."
''British Motor Manufacturers''. Retrieved: 7 January 2010. First sold in 1911, the GN cycle car was a lightweight two-cylinder car that stayed in production (apart from the war years) until 1922 in the UK and 1925 in France, where it was made under licence by

Salmson Salmson is a French engineering company. Initially a pump manufacturer, it turned to automobile and aeroplane manufacturing in the 20th century, returning to pump manufacturing in the 1960s, and re-expanded to a number of products and services ...

. Frazer Nash's racing successes in highly developed versions of the cars contributed to their popularity. In 1923, Nash started the Frazer Nash company to produce an evolution of the GN, still chain-driven, which became the

Frazer Nash Frazer Nash was a brand of British sports car manufactured from 1922 first by Frazer Nash Limited founded by engineer Archibald Frazer-Nash. On its financial collapse in 1927 a new company, AFN Limited, was incorporated. Control of AFN passed ...

sports car. Frazer Nash Ltd. was reconstituted as AFN Ltd in 1927 and taken over by H.J. ("Aldy" or "HJ") Aldington in 1929. At that time Nash resigned from any management role though he remained a small shareholder and instead devoted himself to his more profitable new engineering business.

Engineering

Nash & Thompson

Royal Air Force- 1939-1945- Coastal Command CH854

He was responsible for "many highly successful commercial inventions" starting with his Vickers-Nash Indicator. A friend, Gordon Burt of

Mowlem Mowlem was one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in the United Kingdom. The company was established as ''John Mowlem and Co.'' by John Mowlem and initially worked on behalf of various local authorities across London ...

, was having trouble with jib cranes and Nash came up with a device to calculate and display the weight of a load a crane was about to lift. In 1929 he launched Nash Safe-Load Indicators, manufacture was later licensed to Vickers. Encouraged by this success and the promise of a better income than provided by AFN Limited he started a separate engineering company,

Nash & Thompson Nash & Thompson was a British engineering firm that developed and produced hydraulically operated gun turrets for aircraft. As part of Parnall Aircraft it was also an important manufacturer of hydraulic-powered radar scanners used on radar sys ...

, described as

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

contractors and armament engineers with a special interest in its application to aircraft.

FN servo-operated gunner's installation

In 1935 Nash & Thompson was sold into a new grouping, Parnall Aircraft Limited, formed with Parnall's shopfitters turned wartime fuselage and vessel manufacturers and Hendy Aircraft Company. In the documentation of the amalgamation special provision was made for the Frazer-Nash (sic) Servo-operated Gunner's Installation which had completed extensive trials with the RAF. Manufacturing rights to his Frazer Nash Safety Wing-tip Flare Apparatus had been sold to S Smith & Sons and "the Governments of USA, Italy and other foreign countries". Nash remained on the board of directors as technical director. H R Godfrey left to form his

HRG Engineering Company HRG Engineering Company also known as HRG, was a British car manufacturer based in Tolworth, Surrey. Founded in 1936 by Major Edward Halford, Guy Robins and Henry Ronald Godfrey, its name was created from the first letter of their surnames. Car ...

with Halford and Robins.

Later years

After the Second World War, Nash again started inventing engineered products for defence, aircraft and atomic energy fields. After his death in 1965, the business continued growing as Frazer Nash Group until forced into receivership in 1990 by the UK government defence expenditure cuts. Divisions that survived the demise of the Frazer Nash Group included Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Frazer-Nash Manufacturing and Frazer-Nash Research. The latter is now a division of Kamkorp, which purchased

Bristol Cars Bristol Cars was a British manufacturer of hand-built luxury cars headquartered in Bristol, Bristol, England. It was formed from the car division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company after the World War II, Second World War and later became indepe ...

in 2011.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Jenkinson, Denis.''From Chain-Drive to Turbocharger: The A.F.N. Story''. London: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1984. . * Tarring, Trevor and Mark Joseland. ''Archie Frazer-Nash .. Engineer''. London: The Frazer Nash Archives, 2011. . * Thirlby, David A. ''The Chain-Drive Frazer Nash''. London: MacDonald & Co. Ltd, 1965. * Thirlby, David A. ''Frazer Nash''. London: The Haynes Publishing Group, 1977. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Frazer-Nash, Archibald English racing drivers British automobile designers British founders of automobile manufacturers Brooklands people Brighton Speed Trials people 1889 births 1965 deaths 20th-century British inventors 20th-century British engineers Automotive businesspeople British aerospace engineers 20th-century British businesspeople People from Hyderabad, Sindh