Arthur John McCormack

Arthur John McCormack, CBE, (1866−1936) was an English businessman and patent holder. He is principally associated with Vickers' Wolseley Motors Limited where he was MD from 1911 to 1923 when Wolseley was Britain's largest motor manufacturer.

Arthur was born on Feb 6, 1866 in London, England to William McCormack and Matilda Winter. He was the oldest of 12 children. In his early career, McCormack was involved in the Motor Industry via motorcycling where he honed his skills as a racer and an engineer working at Clyde Cycles and Gladiator Cycle Company.

He had joined Panhard & Levassor where he was technical manager in 1902 and was named the riding mechanic to Charles Jarrott (racing driver) when he won the 1902 Circuit des Ardennes race. While at Panhard & Levassor in 1904 he was responsible for selling a 35HP car to the Sultan of Johore showing that he had both mechanical and business acumen.

He left Panhard in 1905 and joined Gladiator where he entered a car into the Gordon Bennett Trials on May 23, 1905 and then into the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy later that year. In 1906 he entered the Scottish Trials in the Gladiator and again entered the Tourist Trophy (although the records show he failed to start).

He became Technical manager at Wolseley's Adderley Park from 1907 in 1911 he was appointed Technical Director and joint MD (with Ernest Hopwood who resigned in 1919) at Wolseley Motors. While at Wolseley he was involved in the design of a number of patents. One is Patent #: 18,168 where the assignee is The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, Limited; Arthur McCormack Date: 1912 Title: Improvements in the Means Employed in Cooling Internal Combustion Engines of Aeroplanes and other Power-propelled Aerial Bodies. He was MD at Wolseley when the company modified the Hispano Suiza HS-8 and called it the Wolseley Viper

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