A. Harrison & Sons

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A. Harrison & Sons (later: Harrison's of Dewsbury ) was a British coachbuilder who manufactured bodies for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the first half of the 20th century.

Company history

The company had its roots in the Bradford- based carriage manufacturer G. T. Cheetham & Co. Alfred Harrison was part of the management of Cheetham. When Cheetham became insolvent in 1906, Alfred Harrison took over part of the business and ran it under his own name in the neighboring town of Dewsbury ( West Yorkshire ). There was no connection to the London coachbuilder R. Harrison & Son , which was also active at the same time.

From the very beginning, A. Harrison mainly manufactured automobile bodies. Up until the outbreak of the First World War , the company gained a good reputation regionally. After the founder's death in 1916, his sons took over the management and the company. They manufactured car bodies for chassis from Armstrong-Siddeley , Bentley , Daimler , Delage , Minerva , Rolls-Royce and Sunbeam , but also commercial vehicle bodies .

Both sons of the company founder died in 1927. Shortly afterwards, the new management gave up the production of high-quality, individual car bodies and concentrated on bodies for commercial vehicles. The company later changed its company to Universal Vehicle Group and established itself as one of the largest ambulance manufacturers in the UK. In the meantime operations have ceased.

literature

  • James Taylor: AZ of British Bus Bodies , Crowood Press, 2013, ISBN 9781847976390 .
  • Nick Walker: A – Z of British Coachbuilders 1919–1960 . Shebbear 2007 (Herridge & Sons Ltd.) ISBN 978-0-9549981-6-5 .