Peter Henry Geoffrey Morgan (3 November 1919 – 20 October 2003) was an English

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

and

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Morgan Motor Company Morgan Motor Company Limited is a British automobile, motor car manufacturer owned by a British investment group Investindustrial. Morgan was founded in 1910 by H. F. S. Morgan, Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan. Morgan is itself based in Malvern ...

(MMC) from 1959 until his death in 2003. Peter inherited the

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern (, locally also: ) is a spa town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is ...

-based company from his father H.F.S. Morgan. Despite pressures to "modernize", he maintained the family firm's traditions of hand-crafted workmanship and slow organic growth until his son Charles took over as managing director. Morgan was born in Chestnut Villa, his parents' house which was adjacent to the car factory in Malvern Link and where he grew up alongside his four sisters. He attended a local preparatory school, the Link School, before going to

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

in Northamptonshire. On leaving school he attended the Chelsea College of Automobile and Aero Engineering obtaining a first class diploma in 1940. His first job was with the British Ermeto Corporation but he shortly left and joined the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

(RASC) where he served in the motor workshops in Sierra Leone before taking over responsibility for running the Nairobi workshops and being promoted to Captain. He was demobilised in 1946. In 1947 he joined the Morgan Motor Company as a draughtsman and joined the board as a director in 1949 becoming vice chairman in 1951. His first major project was the re-introduction of the Morgan 4/4 car in 1955. When his father H.F.S. Morgan died in 1959, he took over as chairman and had difficulties sorting a serious tax problem. Morgan retired on his eightieth birthday in 1999 but remained on the board as Chairman until 2003. Outside work he had a great interest in steam power and built an extensive ride-on miniature railway in his garden. He married Jane Christie, a friend of his sisters', at

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

towards the end of 1940 and they had three children, Sonia, Jill and Charles. The couple divorced in the 1970s. Morgan married again in 1982 to a Canadian, Heather Williams. They remained deeply devoted until his death.

References

External links

Guardian obituary of Peter Morgan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Peter 1919 births 2003 deaths British automobile designers People educated at Oundle School People from Malvern, Worcestershire British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps officers 20th-century English businesspeople