John Samuel Irving (1880–1953), MIAE, was a British automobile engineer best known for designing the Irving-Napier land speed record breaking car '' Golden Arrow''.Captain J. S. Irving. ''The Times'', Tuesday, 31 March 1953; pg. 8; Issue 52584

Apprenticeship

Born in Manchester in 1880 he joined the

Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), before 1910 known as the Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by Harry John Lawson, H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing bas ...

in 1903 after serving an apprenticeship in toolmaking and general engineering. He was awarded the London City and Guilds silver medal for motorcar engineering in 1908. He was a lecturer at both

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Technical Institutes. Irving remained with Daimler until 1910.Interview: Captain J. S. Irving, designer of the Irving-Napier Special. ''Motor Sport'', page 7 May 1929

Balloons, RAE and RFC

From Daimler he joined the Balloon Factory at South Farnborough later known as the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

with Colonel

Mervyn O'Gorman Mervyn Joseph Pius O'Gorman (19 December 1871 – 16 March 1958) was a British electrical and aircraft engineer. After working as an electrical engineer, he was appointed Superintendent of what became the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnboroug ...

and was made chief of their engine research and development. He was closely involved with experiments in and the development of airship design. From the outbreak of war Irving served with the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

during the

first World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and later chose to be addressed by his rank of captain, Captain Jack Irving.

Automotive industry

Sunbeam airships and motor racing

After the war Irving joined

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

as Chief Experimental Engineer developing power plants for the airships R33,

R34 R34 may refer to: * Nissan Skyline (R34), a mid-size car ** Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34), a sports car * R34 (New York City Subway car) * R34 (South Africa) * HM Airship ''R.34'', a rigid airship of the Royal Air Force * , a destroyer of the Royal Na ...

, R36 and

R38 The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships were o ...

. He later became Engineer to Sunbeam. He also took responsibility for Sunbeam's car and motor-boat racing. Particular successes were winning the French Grand prix in 1923 and the many Talbot Darracq successes and also the twin-engined 1000 horsepower Sunbeam land speed record-breaker of 1927 under the patronage of

Louis Coatalen Louis Hervé Coatalen (11 September 1879 – 23 May 1962) was an automobile engineer and racing driver born in Brittany who spent much of his adult life in Britain and took British nationality. He was a pioneer of the design and development of inte ...

.The inside story of the Irving-Napier ''Golden Arrow''. ''Motor Sport'', page 56 July 1981

Humfrey-Sandberg and the Irving-Napier ''Golden Arrow''

From Sunbeam Irving took an appointment with Humfrey-Sandberg Co developing their freewheel and easy gear change device. Humfrey-Sandberg granted him permission to use part of his time designing and constructing '' Golden Arrow'' for ex-Sunbeam driver

Henry Segrave Sir Henry O'Neal de Hane Segrave (22 September 1896 – 13 June 1930) was an early British pioneer in land speed and water speed records. Segrave, who set three land and one water record, was the first person to hold both titles simultaneou ...

. A measure of Irving's success was that as well as setting new land speed records Segrave reported the ''Golden Arrow'' was very docile compared with other cars of its kind. After the car's first and only test run Segrave drove the car up some planks to get it off the beach then drove it back through the main street of Daytona to its garage. Contemporary reports refer to the car as the Irving-Napier ''Golden Arrow''.

Humber

Captain Irving was appointed technical director of the combined Humber and Hillman motor manufacturers in the late 1920s. His responsibilities included the design of Hillman's new Minx in which he was assisted by A H Wilde recruited from the Standard Motor Company.

Bendix

He joined Bendix Limited in 1931. A member of the

Institution of Automobile Engineers HORIBA MIRA Ltd. (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) is an automotive engineering and development consultancy company headquartered near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It provides product engineering, research, testing, ...

since 1908 he was a member of their council from 1931 until his death and served as the institute's president in 1936–1937. Captain J S Irving died at Acocks Green, Birmingham 28 March 1953. He married in 1904; a son and daughter survived him.Deaths. ''The Times'', Monday, 30 March 1953; pg. 1; Issue 52583

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Jack 1880 births 1953 deaths People from Birmingham, West Midlands Engineers from the West Midlands (county) English aerospace engineers 20th-century British engineers Royal Flying Corps officers British automobile designers People in the automobile industry