of Cricklewood, London
of 425 Oxford Street, London, W (1914)
The prestigious firm of Charles Thrupp and Co had been building coaches in London since 1760 and had showrooms in Oxford Street.
1760 Joseph Thrupp or his father established his coachmaking business in George Street (near Portman Square).
1858 George Henry Maberly, who was the scion of another family of coachbuilders, joined the firm.
1866 Did Charles retire about now? His son, George Athelstane Thrupp, brought into partnership George Henry Maberly. The business was thereafter known as Thrupp and Maberly.
1872 Death of Charles Joseph Thrupp
1881 Employing 55 men and 5 boys.[1]
1885 Held the Royal Warrant, coachmakers[2] (and for many years thereafter).
1896 From horse-drawn carriages, they moved into making car bodies with an order from the Queen of Spain for an electric Victoria, the fifth electric vehicle they had made[3]. More commissions followed and the business grew leading to large numbers of bodies for staff cars being made during World War I.
1914 Coach and motor body builders. Employees 200. [4]
After the war the company produced a range of bespoke bodies for up-market British and European marques.
1919 January. Advert: 'Motor engineers, coach builders and aeroplane constructors'. [5]
1920 Voluntary liquidation for purposes of reconstruction[6]
1924 they moved to new premises at 108 Cricklewood Lane, Cricklewood, London but kept a showroom in North Audley Street in the West End of London
1925 bought by the Rootes brothers.
Rather than becoming an in-house coachbuilder for Rootes, Thrupp & Maberly remained a prestige coachbuilder concentrating on luxury bodies for Rolls-Royce, Daimler and Bentley.
1928 Ordered safety glass from Acetex Safety Glass[7]
1929 they built the body for Sir Henry Segrave's land speed record car the Golden Arrow.
1932 The Rootes brothers, who had bought Humber and with it Hillman in 1928, bought some bodies for the top of the range Humbers.
1936 Additional premises were obtained in the old Darracq works in Warple Way, Acton, London adjacent to a company called British Light Steel Pressings, part of Rootes Group, with whom they merged in 1939.
1937 Introduced electrically-powered dividers in Humber Pullman limousines[8]
WWII Built staff cars on Humber chassis.
When peacetime production resumed the Acton works was disposed of and ,as the market for luxury coach-built vehicles was in major decline, they concentrated on special bodies for Rootes Group vehicles including making all the open-top models.
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Range of re-bodied cars. [9]
By the mid 1960s this work was declining also and the Cricklewood factory closed in 1967.
1968 Voluntarily wound-up[10]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1881 Census
- ↑ London Gazette 20 January 1885
- ↑ The Engineer 1896
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Autocar 1919/01/04 p31
- ↑ London Gazette Issue 27 January 1920
- ↑ The Times, Jun 26, 1928
- ↑ The Times, Nov 23, 1937
- ↑ 1963 Motor Show
- ↑ London Gazette 7 January 1969