H.F.S. Morgan
| Henry "Harry" Morgan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan August 1881 Moreton Jeffries, Herefordshire, England |
| Died | 1959 Malvern, England |
| Occupation | Automobile manufacturer |
| Spouse(s) | (Hilda) Ruth Day |
| Children | Peter Morgan |
| Parent(s) | Prebendary (Henry) George Morgan (1852–1936) Florence Williams |
Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan (1881–1959), known as HFS, was an English sports car manufacturer and founder of the Morgan Motor Company (MMC) and its chairman from 1937 until his death in 1959.
Henry 'Harry' Morgan was born in Moreton Jeffries Rectory, Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, where his father, Prebendary H. George Morgan, was the local curate, and spent his early years there along with his three younger sisters, Frieda, Ethel and Dorothy. He attended Marlborough School but suffered from poor health possibly caused by malnutrition and was withdrawn by his parents and sent to Italy to recover. On returning he went to the Crystal Palace School of Engineering in Sydenham London and then joined the Great Western Railway company as an apprentice. It was during this period that he survived a brake failure while driving a hired 3½ hp Benz on a 1 in 6 gradient between Bromyard and Hereford. Paternal joy over his survival may have been slightly tempered by the resulting £28 repair bill received by his father. In 1902 with the help of a gift from his godfather he bought his first car, a Star.
He left the GWR in late 1904 and with his friend Leslie Bacon opened a motor sales and servicing garage in Malvern Link in May 1905 with agencies for Darracq and Wolseley cars. As well as this, he ran early bus services between Malvern Link and Malvern Wells, and later to Gloucester, with a 10 hp (7.5 kW; 10 PS) Wolseley. The bus service was a failure, so Morgan switched to hire cars.
In 1908, he bought a 7 hp (5.2 kW; 7.1 PS) Peugeot twin cylinder engine intending to build himself a motor cycle, but changed his mind and used it to power his first car, which he made in 1909 with help from William Stephenson-Peach, the father of friends, and the engineering master at Malvern College, where Morgan was allowed use of the well equipped workshop. The three-wheel car had a backbone chassis, one seat, and coil spring independent front suspension, unusual at the time.
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