William John Daniels, ''"Jack"'' Daniels, (8 February 1912 – 27 November 2004) was a British car engineer who worked directly with Sir

Alec Issigonis Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Άρνολντ Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης) (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by ...

for 35 years and was associated with such projects as the 1948

Morris Minor The Morris Minor is an economy car produced by British marque Morris Motors between 1948 and 1971. It made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 ...

and the 1959

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

. He was an invited guest at the 1999 awards ceremony in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

when the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century. His working life from 1926-1977 was spent as a draughtsman, designer and development engineer for

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

's 'ever evolving'

Morris Motors Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same ve ...

;

Morris Garages MG is a British automotive marque founded by Cecil Kimber in the 1920s, and M.G. Car Company Limited was the British sports car manufacturer existing between 1930 and 1972 that made the marque well known. Since 2007 the marque has been contro ...

(

MG Cars MG is a British automotive marque founded by Cecil Kimber in the 1920s, and M.G. Car Company Limited was the British sports car manufacturer existing between 1930 and 1972 that made the marque well known. Since 2007 the marque has been contro ...

);

British Motor Corporation The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a United Kingdom, UK-based vehicle manufacturer formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris Motors, Morris and Austin Motor Company, Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merge ...

;

British Motor Holdings British Motor Holdings Limited (BMH) was a British vehicle manufacturing company known until 14 December 1966 as British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC). BMH was created as a holding company following BMC's takeover of both Jaguar Cars and th ...

;

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

. His project involvement included the 1935 MG R-type racing car; the 1962

Morris 1100 Year 1100 ( MC) was a leap year starting on Sunday in the Julian calendar. It last year of the 11th century and the first year of the 12th century. In the proleptic Gregorian calendar, it was a non-leap century year starting on Monday (like ...

; the 1969

Austin Maxi The Austin Maxi is a medium-sized, 5-door hatchback family car that was produced by Austin Motor Company, Austin and later British Leyland between 1969 and 1981. Despite its practical design and remarkable space efficiency (it is shorter, narrow ...

; the 1973

Austin Allegro The Austin Allegro is a small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland (BL) from 1973 until 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti between 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent ...

and the 1971

Morris Marina The Morris Marina is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive C-segment, small family car that was manufactured by the Morris Motors, Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Mo ...

.The Independent, 2 Dec 2004, Obituary. Jack Daniels. Draughtsman to Issigonis on the Mini
/ref>The Guardian, 15 December 2004, Obituary. Jack Daniels, He realised the vision of Alec Issigonis for the Morris Minor and Mini
/ref> www.aronline.co.uk - 2 December 2004, Obituary : Jack Daniels, Draughtsman to Issigonis on the Mini
/ref>

Early life and education

Daniels was born into a farming family in

New Marston New Marston is a suburb about northeast of the centre of Oxford, England. History New Marston is built on land that was originally part of the Manorialism, manor of Headington. It was rural until the 19th century, when housing began to develop ...

, a once rural area now engulfed by Oxford city. He was educated at the now defunct 'Oxford Central school for Boys' in Gloucester Green where he excelled at woodwork and technical drawing and the school recommended him to

. Thus in 1927, aged 16, he joined as their first unindentured apprentice engineering draughtsman, and by 1929 he was attached to Hubert Charles, MG's Chief Draughtsman, who he described as "my real tutor".

Career

The MG operation was moved to Abingdon, where Daniels formed the working partnership with Issigonis that would last for 35 years. He converted the freehand ideas sketches, sometimes on table-cloths etc, into working technical drawings. After apprenticeship he worked on various projects for

(M.G.), including the advanced MG R-type racing car, which had fully independent suspension. Around 1936 he moved to the new factory in Cowley.

Morris Minor

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the factory designed military vehicles, but from 1942 he was already working, with Issigonis, on a secret new Morris car, codenamed "Mosquito" after the warplane. It was launched in 1948 as the

. Issigonis described Daniels as "the best all-round draughtsman in the country".

Mini

After Issigonis' departure in 1952, Daniels completed the task of turning a groundbreaking idea into reality - a front-drive, transverse engined, 'Minor' prototype, which he used from February 1956 to commute to the new BMC engineering centre at

Longbridge Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within this place. Public transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus ...

, Birmingham. He called it the company's "safest car" because of its outstanding roadholding. In 1955 Issigonis returned, and the front wheel drive Minor was key to the Mini project which was launched in 1959. Jack Daniels characterised their relationship as "90 per cent his perspiration versus the 10 per cent inspiration" of Issigonis "We got on well together, but he was the gaffer."

Legacy

Rob Oldaker, product development director of MG Rover, originally a trainee under Daniels at

, said "Jack will be remembered for his pragmatic input to many cars. He guided many towards successful careers in the industry."

Personal life

Daniels was married to Mabel, with whom he had one son, one daughter, and one son deceased. In 1956 he moved with his wife and family to

King's Norton Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council ward within the borough of Birmingham. The district lie ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Later life

Daniels died near

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

after suffering from cancer for two years.

References

External links

* ''Jack'' Daniels interviewed on YouTub
The Story of the Mini Cooper
1912 births 2004 deaths British automotive engineers Deaths from cancer in England {{automobile-bio-stub