Pashley

Ice cream vendor's model. Exhibit at Grampian Transport Museum.

October 1935.

November 1935.

April 1936.

1940.

1950.

April 1951.

1956.

1966. Bantam Open Mk 2 Trailer.

of Chester Street, Aston, Birmingham, and later of Stratford-upon-Avon

See William Rathbone Pashley and his son Richard Charles Leonard Pashley‎‎

1925 New company. 'Pashley and Barber, Ltd.— Capital £1.000. Manufacturers of cycles, carriages, and apparatus for use in sports and games. etc. Subscribers: W. R. Pashley, cycle manufacturer, and Mrs. M. R. Pashley, both of 30, Warwick road Birmingham. Registered office 174.5 New John Street West, Birmingham.' The name Barber was from his Mother-in-Law's maiden name Florence Annie Barber.

Pashley and Barber declared that they were 'Manufacturers of every type of cycle' and that 'Birmingham produces the finest cycles, these are Birmingham's best'. The model range included everyday roadsters, clubman racing machines, tradesmen's carrier cycles and tandems.

Competition in the cycle trade was very fierce and Pashley realised that success would come through identifying a market niche. A new company, Pashley Carrier Cycles, was formed to concentrate on building carrier cycles designed to withstand the abuse thrown at them by errand boys.

1935 Pashley Carrier Cycles, 140. Chester-street. Aston, Birmingham, exhibited at the Ice Cream and Dairy Show, at Olympia, London.

1936 The company was incorporated as W. R. Pashley Ltd and moved to a larger new factory (over 30,000 square feet) in Chester Street, Aston. As prosperity returned after the depression, the company increasingly focused on delivery and vending tricycles - for dairy products, ice cream and general deliveries. Pashley made almost every component of their cycles in their own factory - for the frames, only the tubing and lugs were bought in. Frame building, brakes, wheels, sheet metal work, polishing and enamelling were all carried out in the works.

1938 W. R. Pashley Ltd., who specialize in ice-cream cycle carriers.

WW2 Turned some of its production capacity over to the war effort and produced Browning machine gun mounts among other equipment.

Post-WW2 Carrier cycles were still in high demand but it was the continuation of the supply of larger tricycles, and the infant development of the motor car for the mass market, that received most of Pashley's attention. Having made motor rickshaws in the late 1940s, Pashley started the manufacture of Brockhouse Indian Motor Tricycles in 1950 - J. Brockhouse and Co of Birmingham having acquired the Indian Motorcycle Company of Massachusetts and sub-contracted the manufacture to Pashley. These had a conventional 'two wheels at the back' tricycle layout, similar to the Pashley Pelican motorised rickshaw - with seats for up to four passengers - and the driver. Pashley were the first company to fit hydraulic brakes to what was, technically, a motorcycle. This innovation may have been influenced by Rath's younger son, John Pashley, who worked at Girling. The prototype Pelican Rickshaw has been returned to the company and awaits restoration.

1949 The firm introduced a three-wheeled commercial vehicle. With three speeds and a 197cc Villiers engine, the rear part was based on a motorcycle and the front had twin independently sprung 8-inch wheels with an open truck body between them. It had a steering wheel and inter-connecting drum brakes. The whole of the rear section was enclosed by a steel bonnet on which went a pad for the driver. Four body types were listed.

1949 'A vehicle which may appear on the roads of India as a rickshaw left John O' Groats at dawn to-day in an attempt to cover 869 miles to Land's End. It is tricycle powered by a 250 c.c. Villiers engine and manufactured by Messrs W. R. Pashley, Ltd., Birmingham. The crew of three are Richard Pashley (22), John Pashley (18), and Pat Norton (29). Each will take a spell in the saddle while the others snatch some sleep the open seat behind. They will stop only to refuel or change drivers, during which time the engine will be kept running. Richard Pashley said, "We expect to average about 20 m.p.h. and hope to complete the trip in 48 hours. If we arrive at Land's End by noon Saturday we shall quite satisfied. " We made pedal rickshaws for export to India and we decided to go one better and build mechanical rickshaws. This tricycle, the first of its kind, has had preliminary tests around Birmingham with hundredweight weights."

1952 Makers of carrier bicycles and box tricycles for delivery roundsmen. Employing 35-40 workers.

1953 Pashley also moved briefly into car manufacture with a conventional tricycle layout. Perhaps the most successful of the motorised Pashley tricycles was the '3cwt Light Delivery Truck' with a Kendrick wheel layout. This meant two wheels at the front, giving the driver a view of both the loadspace and the overall vehicle width, useful for manoeuvring in tight spaces.

1954 'Rickshaw owners in the teeming cities of the Far East will be driving their passengers soon in a plastic rickshaw made in Birmingham. It is made by W. R. Pashley Ltd., of Aston, the carrier bicycle manufacturers, and has a completely plastic body, a 600 c.c. engine, which gives 45 m.p.h. and does 60 miles to the gallon.'

1957 'A new design of motor rickshaw is being shown at the Casablanca International Trade Fair, which opened on Saturday. The rickshaw, a three-wheeler employing a motor-cycle type front end, a 350c.c. overhead valve single cylinder engine and a four-speed gear-box, has been designed especially to suit conditions in North and South Africa and Rhodesia. It is also suitable for many other world markets, including India, Pakistan, Penang, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Hongkong, Formosa and, in modified form, the United States. It is the product of joint efforts by W. R. Pashley, Ltd., of Chester Street. Birmingham. and the Enfield Cycle Co.. Ltd. of Redditch.'

As more conventional motorised transport became available to most businesses in the early 1960s, Pashley's focus moved away from motorised vehicles and, together with the carrier cycles, trolleys, carts and street barrows, a large number of road trailers were manufactured, both as simple chassis and fully bodied.

1960s Richard Pashley took control of the company on his father's retirement. Dick had recently moved to Stratford-upon-Avon, and took the bold decision to move the company from Aston to brand new premises on Masons Road, Stratford. At one time, Pashley had three factories all in the Masons road area. Production Manager John Kirby began working for the company in 1968 and remains with Pashley to this day.

With the advent of small wheel bicycles, pioneered by Alex Moulton in 1962, Dick Pashley developed a simple 'shopping' tricycle, now known as the Pashley Picador. Many thousands of these have been sold since, users benefiting from the stability and low step-through frame. Its all welded construction was very unusual for the cycle industry at the time, and many years passed before other manufacturers adopted it. A similar two-wheeled shopping bicycle, the Piccolo, was also manufactured.

1964 'A Birmingham firm, W. R. Pashley Ltd, will need about 20 workers for its new Mason’s Road factory for the building of trailers, carriers, cycles, street-cleaning vehicles and similar production.' Factory opened 1st January 1965.

As traditional roadster bicycles began being removed from the ranges of other British manufacturers, Pashley decided to focus on classic roadsters. Some companies sold rebadged Pashley Roadsters in the 1980s and 1990s. These were built to the original 1920s design. For many years, versions of these saw service in large numbers under the patronage of UNICEF. Pashley still make a traditional roadster bicycle and it is still in demand in UK and export markets.

Since inception Pashley has provided carrier cycles to industry and commerce. One of the early, equal-wheel carrier cycles Pashley sold in the 1930s (the 'Model L' for £7.10.0) had a front metal tubular carrier and nameplate in a similar manner to the 'Courier' that the company sells currently. This led on to motorised delivery tricycles and the manufacture of ice-cream carts, railway station platform refreshment trolleys and specialist units for the dairy and catering trades. The company continues to make ice cream vending tricycles (Classic 33) and carts (MPVC) alongside its other workbike products.

1974 Pashley acquired Gundle, the only other surviving manufacturer of carrier cycles. For many years Gundle models were built alongside the Pashley range, before being absorbed into the Pashley RH range. The RH range was named after Rath's local public house - 'The Robin Hood' in Hall Green. Pashley also made 'SW' (Small Wheel) bikes and does so today under the name 'Delibike' (see above image).

By the late 1970s, Pashley was supplying bikes to the Royal Mail. The original Royal Mail designed mail delivery cycle was single speed and equipped with rod operated brakes. Pashley was one of a small number of UK manufacturers (including Townsends Cycles) to produce this bike and in the 1990s became the sole supplier. During the mid-1990s. Pashley proposed interim upgrades to the 1992 Royal Mail design which resulted in the 'Millenium' model. This had wider tyres, reliable drum brakes and for the first time provided postal delivery staff with 3 gears.

1987 Board changes. 'The new managing director of W. R. Pashley Ltd, the Stratford-based bicycle manufacturer, is Bill Pashley. He took over at the beginning of the month when Richard Pashley stepped down. Mr Richard Pashley will continue as chairman of the company. The new board is chairman R. C. L. Pashley, managing director W. M. Pashley, commercial director J. Pashley, works director P. W. Walker, and secretary Mrs C. McDonald.'

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Wikipedia
• The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X