Alfred Herbert Ltd and the British Machine Tool Industry

In manufacturing centers such as Coventry, a set of interrelated business firms emerged that embraced bicycle manufacture, engineering component manufacture, motor vehicle manufacture, and machine tools. At the centre of these activities was Herbert's, whose early development and its rise to prominence in the industry, owed much to the expanding bicycle trade. Founded in 1887, the company began by producing a range of components and machine tools for the Coventry bicycle trade as well as machinery for the ribbon trade. Bicycle production stimulated machine tools in Coventry and Herbert's, among others, took its share in the designing and building of machines particularly suitable for the bicycle trade. The company's early association with the bicycle industry set a technological pathway for future development as Herbert's diversified into supplying firms in general engineering, as well as supplying manufacturers in the emerging Coventry motor vehicle industry. In 1914 Herbert's was one of 17 firms in Coventry ' generally of somewhat greater size than firms in other areas, and specialising in support for the local cycle, motor and small arms trade'. The output of the British machine tool industry increased significantly between 1890 and 1914, and central to this expansion was Herbert's, which accounted for 42.1% of output of leading firms on the eve of the war. The founder of the company, Alfred Edward Herbert (1866 - 1957) symbolised the new men in the machine tool trade. A common characteristic of machine tool entrepreneurs was that they had served formal apprenticeships in firms engaged in mechanical engineering, 'facilitating a stream of new ideas, new machine tools or modifications to old tools'. In house training was a prerequisite to success and in 1880, Alfred was apprenticed to the engineering business of Joseph Jessop and Sons, Leicester. This enabled him to secure the post of works manager at the Coventry boiler making firm of Cole[s] & Matthews in 1887, and in partnership with William S Hubbard, they purchased the firm, having been provided with £2000 each by their fathers. Assistance was also provided by Alfred's brother William who owned the Premier Cycle company of Coventry. William facilitated the purchase of Cole[s] and Matthews by offering the owner 'an alternative source of income' as sales manager for Premier in Germany. The new business of Herbert & Hubbard acquired its initial reputation by manufacturing weldless manufacturing tubes using a French patent secured by William Herbert. 'The profits earned by the tube agency business were ploughed back into machine tool manufacture' and 'also laid the foundations of the agency side of the business' which later focused on the marketing of other firms machine tools, both British and foreign. Pursuing a strategy of profusion, manufacturing a wide range of machine tools for the expanding Coventry cycle trade, success was assured by guaranteed orders from the Premiere Cycle Company. In 1887 Herbert's was small firm, employing just 12. During the period 1888 to 1896 total sales were modest, peaking in 1891 at £29,000. Net profits were also modest, but in 1894 Alfred became the sole owner, converting the company to limited liability with a capital of £25,000 and trading under the name of Alfred Herbert Ltd. From 1896 to 1907 then firm experienced a rapid phase of growth, with total sales rising steadily, with the exception of 1901, to a peak of £324,000. This has been extracted from Alfred Herbert Ltd and the British Machine Tool Industry by Roger Lloyd Jones and MR Lewis. Return to Sir Alfred Herbert Index