H. J. Mulliner & Co.
on a Bentley Continental chassis
H. J. Mulliner & Co. was a well-known British coachbuilder operating from Bedford Park, Chiswick, West London. The company which owned it was formed by H J Mulliner in 1897 but the business was a continuing branch of a family business founded in Northampton in the 1760s to hire out carriages. In December 1909 the controlling interest in this company passed to John Croall & Sons of Edinburgh. Croall sold that interest to Rolls-Royce in 1959.
"Mulliner" is now the personal commissioning department for Bentley.
Henry Jervis Mulliner
on a 3½hp De Dion-Bouton chassis
on a Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis
Henry Jervis Mulliner (1870-1967), born in Liverpool but raised in Chiswick, was the second son of Robert Bouverie Mulliner (1830-1902) from Northampton, third son of Francis Mulliner (1789-1841) of Leamington Spa and Northampton. Robert Bouverie Mulliner had first established a thriving coachbuilding business in Liverpool in the mid 1850s then sold that to his brother and in the early 1870s started another in Chiswick on the outskirts of London.[1]
His son H J Mulliner incorporated his own company in 1897 while with Mulliner London Limited.[note 1] He found a special interest in the automobile side of that business and expanded in 1900 by buying from Mulliner London Limited the Mulliner showroom in Brook Street, Mayfair, London.[2] The location was more convenient for his clients than Chiswick. One of the early clients was C.S. Rolls who had a body built on a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost for his own use.[3]
John Croall & Sons Edinburgh
In 1906 the London works were moved from Mayfair to Chiswick and in December 1909 H J Mulliner sold a controlling interest in the company to John Croall & Sons of Edinburgh.[4] A family connection was maintained as Croall employed H J Mulliner's wife's brother, Frank Piesse (1885-1960), to run the company.[3]
Although bodies were fitted to other chassis, by the 1930s virtually the entire output was being fitted to Rolls-Royce and Bentleys.[3]
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce acquired Mulliner in July 1959 and merged it with Park Ward which they had owned since 1939 forming Mulliner Park Ward in 1961.[5] A financial columnist noted that the (cash) outlay for Rolls-Royce was relatively small as the net assets of John Croall were around £250,000. It was noted that Mulliner was one of the last independent coach builders, others being controlled by motor manufacturers or distributors.[6]
 Family tree |
See also
Notes
- ↑ In 1882 A G Mulliner of Liverpool, whose father had opened it a decade earlier, and A F Mulliner of Northampton placed the ownership of the showroom at 28 Brook Street London W1 in a jointly held company, Mulliner London Limited (HJM to GAOliver)
References
- ↑ Census records 1841 through to 1911, Births Deaths and Marriages records 1837 through to 1983
- ↑ George Arthur Oliver, A History of Coach Building. Cassell, London 1962 (with foreword by Col. H J Mulliner)
- 1 2 3 Nick Walker, A-Z of British Coachbuilders Bay View Books 1997. ISBN 1-870979-93-1
- ↑ Kenneth Richardson, C N O'Gaallagher, The British Motor Industry 1896-1939, Archon Books, London 1977 ISBN 0-208-01697-X
- ↑ News in Brief, The Times, Wednesday, Jul 07, 1959; pg. 4; Issue 54506
- ↑ The Times, Wednesday, Jul 07, 1959; pg. 10; Issue 54506
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to H J Mulliner coachwork. |
- Design for a coupé de ville on a Bentley 4¼ litre chassis
- The former multi-storey works in Flanders Road behind the Norman Shaw showroom is now an office building known as Mulliner House