History Of the Rover Company 1877 - 1973
Reproduced with permission from the British Motor Industries Heritage Trust
From the year of its foundation,1877, The Rover Company's story provides an interesting and romantic chapter in the history of transport. The seeds of this great enterprise were sown by John Kemp Starley and William Sutton when they joined in partnership - Trading as "Starley & Sutton" - to manufacture pennyfarthing cycles and tricycles in the lower floor of one of the groups of buildings at West Orchard, Coventry, which subsequently for many years formed The Meteor Works.
Coventry was a small town in those days and there were only a limited number of works devoted to the manufacture of cycles and customers too were few and far between.
The machines of the day were very crude indeed but J.K Starley who had served for some years with his uncle, James Starley, "Father of the Cycle Industry", whose monument stands on the green at Coventry, devoted his time and inventive genius to the perfection of the tricycle.
ROVER TRICYCLE 1884
The name "Rover" was used by Starley and Sutton for the first time in 1884 when they used the designation for one of their popular tricycles.
In spite of his interest in three-wheeled machines J.K.S realised that there was no real future for the cumbersome tricycle or for the somewhat dangerous pennyfarthing cycle and he worked incessantly on the idea of producing a two-wheeled machine which would be as safe as a tricycle and as light as a pennyfarthing.
He succeeded in doing this and in 1885 produced The Rover Safety bicycle of which, Henry Sturmey of the 'Cyclist' said, "The Rover has set the fashion to the World". The Rover Safety machine was the forerunner of the bicycle as we know it today.
Starley was confident of success with the new machine but his partner William Sutton had doubts and the partnership was dissolved in 1888. The business was taken over by Starley under the new title "J. K. Starley & Co." producing the safety cycle and some tricycle designs. The "Safety" machine became increasingly popular and created a cycling boom in Great Britain and Starley's business became a model of what such concerns should be.
ROVER SAFETY BICYCLE 1885
At the height of the cycle boom in 1896 Starley sold his very successful business for conversion into a limited liability concern for £150,000 and The Rover Cycle Company came into being.
The Company became one of the most successful manufacturing firms in the country and at the turn of the century the management began to take an interest in the developments which were taking place with the internal combustion engine and its utilization as a means of transport.
In 1902 the first Rover Motor Cycle was introduced, selling at £55. It was a 2 1/4 h.p. machine called the Imperial Rover Motor Cycle and from this start in the field of motorcycling the Company made a name for itself when it introduced the famous 3) h.p. machine in 1911. Rover motor cycles and Rover cycles were outstandingly successful in sports events throughout the British Isles and earned a reputation second to none. In its motor-cycle range the Company produced a 5/6 h.p. twin, a 4 h.p., a 250 c.c. light- weight model and a 350 c.c, model. It was with considerable regret that enthusiasts learned in 1923, of the Company's decision to close down this side of its business.