Peter August Poppe (1870-1933) of White and Poppe ond Rover
1870 August. Born in Norway
c1899 Birth of son Erling Poppe
c1901 Birth of son Gunnar Poppe
c1907 Birth of son Olaf Poppe
c1910 Birth of daughter Ingerid
1911 Living at 34 Westminster Road, Coventry. Peter August Poppe (age 40 born Skogn, Norway), a Motor Manufacturer and Employer. With his wife Frederick Emilie (age 33 born Horton, Norway) and their children Erling Poppe (age 12 born Steyr, Austria), Gunnar Poppe (age 10 born Coventry), Olaf Poppe (age 4 born Coventry) and Ingerid (age 10 months born Coventry). (Married 13 years with 4 children) One servant. [1]
1925 He designed the Rover 14/45 which proved to be unsuccessful
1930 Sacked from Rover along with his son Olaf
1932/33 Obituary [2]
Peter August Poppe was born in 1870 and received his technical education in Norway.
After an apprenticeship in general engineering and scientific instrument manufacture, he spent six years as a draughtsman in the Norwegian Government small arms factory, and was later sent to the Austrian Small Arms Factory as Representative of the Norwegian Government.
In 1898 he founded the Coventry firm of White and Poppe, of which he was Managing Director until 1923, when he left and was appointed chief engineer of Rover Co., Ltd., a position which he occupied until 1929.
He died on 13th February, 1933, at the age of 63.
He was elected a Member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers in 1923, and served on the Council from 1923 to 1927.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Coventry’s Motorcycle Heritage by Damien Kimberley. Published 2009. ISBN 978 0 7509 5125 9