Blackburne (motorcycles)

Blackburne was a trade name of Burney and Blackburne Limited a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1913 to 1922 at Tongham near Farnham, Surrey. They were also a major supplier of engines to other motor cycle and light car makers and continued to make these until 1937. Burney and Blackburne also made small aircraft engines.

The origins of the Blackburne motorcycle engine can be traced back to Geoffrey de Havilland who had designed (and made) a motor cycle before he became fascinated with aircraft. He sold the designs and patterns to two student friends for £5 when short of money in c1905, and they went on to form the Blackburne engine company [1].

A patent for adjustable belt pulleys for motorcycles dating back to 1912, shows Cecil Stanley Burney, Edward Alexander (Alec) Burney, and pioneer aviator Harold Blackburn trading as Burney and Blackburne (not Blackburn), operating from Northchurch, Berkhamsted. They were incorporated shortly afterwards as Burney and Blackburn Ltd, at which point Harold Blackburn sold his stake to the competition riders Cecil and Arthur Roberts. As a "dividend" for his investment, Blackburn was given a motorcycle and sidecar from the original production batch. Harold Blackburn used this machine to promote flying displays in Yorkshire.

Production moved to Tongham, Surrey shortly after incorporation, and they remained there throughout the war, but adverts for their engines from 1922 show a change of address to Atlas Works, Bookham, Surrey [2]. This was the same year motorcycle production ceased, and the main focus became engine manufacture. The Atlas works was 56,000 square feet by the end of the war, and is the subject of research by P. Taplee of the local history society [3]. Although there are reports of a link with Osborn Engineering Company (OEC)[4], these were most likely just another customer for Blackburne engines.

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