John Marston (Industrialist)
| John Marston | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 06-05-1836 Ludlow, Shropshire, UK |
| Died | 1918 |
| Residence | England, U.K. |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Motorcycle and car manufacturer |
| Spouse(s) | Ellen Marston |
John Marston (1836-1918) was a successful Victorian bicycle, motorcycle and car manufacturer and founder of the Sunbeam company of Wolverhampton. His company was also one of the country's largest manufacturers of japanware and he was responsible for building 'Seagull' outboard engines for marine use and also for starting the Villiers engineering company. He was Mayor of Wolverhampton for two consecutive years and died in 1918 aged 82.
Born in Ludlow on 6 May 1836, in a landowning family. His father Richard Marston had been a Justice of the Peace and Mayor of Ludlow. John was educated at Ludlow Grammar School, and afterwards at Christ's Hospital, London. In 1851 at age 15, however, John was sent to Wolverhampton to be apprenticed to Richard Perry, Son & Co., tinsmiths and japanners, at the Jeddo Works of Wolverhampton as a japanner (metal lacquerer).Jeddo is an old name for Tokyo.
In 1859, at the age of 23, John Marston's apprenticeship was competed and he bought Daniel Smith Lester's japanning business at Bilston which had amalgamated with Fred Walton & Company and Thurston and Company and established his own business John Marston Limited, producing japanned tin goods. He did so well that when Perry died in 1871 Marston took over the business and merged it with his own.
John Marston began making bicycles in 1877 with the trademark Sunbeam suggested by his wife. The factory was renamed Sunbeamland and Marston based his production on high build quality, with enclosure lubricated chains, which until 1936 became the best cycles on the market. The top model was the 'Golden' with alloy wheel-rims, epicyclic two- and three-speed gears and real gold-leaf pin-striping. The 'Royal' was of the same quality but had red lining and simpler equipment. These and other models were made at 'Sunbeamland', Pool Street, Wolverhampton until 1937 and subsequently, to the same designs, by AMC and BSA until 1957.
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