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Cecil Kimber

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Nationality
  
British

Employer(s)
  
MG Cars

Children
  
Lisa, Jean (by 1)

Name
  
Cecil Kimber


Parent(s)
  
Henry and Fanny Kimber

Organizations founded
  
MG Cars

Cecil Kimber wwwclassiccarmagazinecoukarticlesimagesmg

Born
  
12 April 1888
London

Spouse(s)
  
(1) Irene Hunt; (2) Muriel Dewar

Died
  
February 4, 1945, London, United Kingdom

Institution memberships
  
Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Education
  
Stockport Grammar School

Engineering discipline
  
Automobile

Jean Kimber Cook on the MG Cars Channel -


Cecil Kimber (1888-1945) was an automobile engineer, most famous for his role in being the driving force behind the MG car company.

Contents

Cecil Kimber The Abingdon Works Centre of the MG Car Club 4th October

Biography

Cecil Kimber Historic Rally amp Classic Race Cars MG Cars 90 anos de

He was born in London on 12 April 1888 to Henry Kimber, a printing engineer and his wife Fanny. After attending Stockport Grammar School he joined his father's company and took an early interest in motor cycles buying a Rex model, but after an accident on a friend's machine that severely damaged his right leg he took to cars and in 1913 bought a 10 hp Singer. This interest caused him to leave the family firm in 1914 and get a job with Sheffield-Simplex as assistant to the chief designer. During World War 1 he moved first to AC Cars and then to component supplier EG Wrigley. He made a large personal financial investment in Wrigleys but he lost this when the company lost heavily on a deal with Angus-Sanderson for whom he had styled their radiator. Wrigley had also been a major supplier to Morris Motors Limited and was bought by W R Morris in 1923 and presumably with the help of contacts, Kimber got a job in 1921 as Sales manager with Morris Garages, also Morris's personal property —he founded it in 1909— and the Morris agency in Oxford.

Cecil Kimber Cecil Kimber Blue Plaque Unveiled MG Car Club

While there he developed a range of special bodies for Morris cars eventually leading in 1928 to the founding of MG as a separate marque specialising in sports cars. The new company moved from Oxford to Abingdon in 1929 and Kimber became managing director in July 1930. The main shareholder remained William Morris himself and in 1935 he formally sold M.G. to Morris Motors which meant Kimber was no longer in sole control and had to take instructions from head office leading to him becoming increasingly disillusioned with his role.

Cecil Kimber CecilKimberjpg

With the outbreak of World War II, car production stopped and at first MG was reduced to making basic items for the armed forces until Kimber obtained contract work on aircraft but this was done without first obtaining approval and he was asked to resign and left in 1941.

Cecil Kimber CecilKimber3jpg

He soon found other work first with coachbuilder Charlesworth and then with specialist piston maker Specialloid.

Death

He was killed in the King's Cross railway accident on Sunday 4 February 1945, having boarded the 6pm express to Leeds. Shortly after leaving the station and entering Gasworks Tunnel, the locomotive's wheels started slipping on a newly replaced section of rail laid on the rising gradient. However, in the darkness, the driver failed to realise that the train was no longer moving forward and had started to roll back at a speed of some 6 or 7 mph. The signalman noticed this and attempted to avert a collision with another train in the station by switching the points to an empty platform, but was too late. The rear carriage was derailed, rolled onto its side and was crushed against the steel support of the main signal gantry. The first-class compartment where Kimber had been sitting was demolished and one other passenger was killed.

Cecil Kimber married twice, first to Irene (Rene) Hunt with whom he had two daughters, Lisa and Jean, and after Irene died in 1938 to Muriel Dewar.

He was elected as President of the Automobile Division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

References

Cecil Kimber Wikipedia