Watts of Lydney
Watts of Lydney Group of Althorpe House, High Street, Lydney, Glos.
See also Watts (Factors)
1850 David Lazarus Watts, a native of Devon, travelled to Lydney at the age of 39.
1851 Watts married local resident Elizabeth Stephens, and the couple opened a general store together in 1851.
Watts died in 1862, and Elizabeth Watts took over management of the store, aided by her five children. The family then opened a bakery, and later added a supply store as well.
1870 One of their sons, 14-year-old Josiah Watts , left home to become an apprentice in an ironmonger's shop in Bristol in 1870. After completing his apprenticeship, Josiah Watts returned to Lydney to set up in business on his own.
1877 Company founded
1880 Josiah Watts founded an ironmonger's shop in Lydney having borrowed £300 from an uncle; the shop was near the Lydney port. Watts's business flourished, with orders coming not only from the town's port operations, but also from the nearby railway. The company also began providing parts and equipment for the town's main industry, a tin plate factory.
1905 The company becomes 'J. S. Watts and Sons as sons Arthur and John Watts join. Josiah Watts's sons Arthur and John, born in 1887 and 1890 joined their father's business. Arthur Watts went on to become an apprentice to a motor dealership in Bristol, before returning to Lydney to add that activity to the business of the company
1910 The company opens a garage in Lydney.
1912 The company began selling Ford motor cars.
1920 Private company.
1920 Arthur Watts arranged to buy a fleet of more than 200 surplus vehicles, including support workshops and spare parts, left behind by the departing U.S. troops. The fleet provided the basis for John Watts's launch of a bus service in 1921. That company initially served a route between Ebbw Vale and Tredegar, but by 1922 had been expanded to include the Forest of Dean area. The family's involvement in busing led it to spearhead the merger of a number of area bus companies, creating the Red & White Bus Company, in 1937.
1922 Watney were motorcycles produced by them using 296cc Villiers two-stroke engines and 292cc JAP and 348cc Blackburne four-stroke engines. They had an Amac or B and B carburettor, and two-speed Burman gearboxes. For the four-strokes there was also the choice of three-speed, and belt final-drive. The frame had straight tubes and Brampton Biflex forks. The main brake operated on the rear wheel belt-rim.
1938, Watts formed a new business, which served as the basis of the later Watts of Lydney group: a tyre remolding and retreading business that became known as the Watts Tyre and Rubber Co. The Watts family interest in tyre retreading led to the formation of Tyresoles in 1941.
1948 Continued expansion of its tyre operation led to the opening of new warehouses in Cardiff and Neath in 1948. By 1948, Watts Tyre and Rubber Co. had opened a new, larger retreading facility in Lydney at the site of the town's old tin plate factory. The business acquired a franchise for the Vaculug retread process, introduced in England just one year earlier. That method, pioneered in the United States, was initially developed to retread agricultural tires. The process was later expanded for use with other vehicles, particularly heavy construction and other industrial vehicles.
1951 The company received a franchise for the Vaculug retreading process.
1953 The company begins manufacturing Duracraft industrial tyres, forming the new Tyre Division.
1961 Commercial vehicle sales and service, automobile electrical and radio engineers, tyre retread manufacturers. [1]
1966 Watts Industrial Tyres Ltd. was formed.
1974 The company diversified with Watts Urethane Product Ltd.
1979 The business was reorganized under holding company Watts of Lydney Group.
1983 A new rubber compounding plant was opened.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 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
- The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle by Peter Henshaw. Published 2007. ISBN 978 1 8401 3967 9
- http://www.answers.com/topic/watts-of-lydney-group-ltd?cat=biz-fin Watts of Lydney Group Ltd
- http://www.wattsonline.co.uk Watts online