Cecil Kimber

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Cecil Kimber
Born12 April 1888
London
Died4 February 1945(1945-02-04) (aged 56)
The M.G. Car Company

Cecil Kimber (12 April 1888 – 4 February 1945) was a motor car designer. He is best known for his role in having been the driving force behind

The M.G. Car Company
.

Biography

The one-off special built in 1925 for Cecil Kimber and known as the MG 'Old Number One'

Kimber was born in London on 12 April 1888 to Henry Kimber, a printing engineer and his wife Fanny. After attending

Morris Garages,[3] also a private company owned by Morris — he founded it in 1909 — and the Morris agency in Oxford
.

While at Morris Garages he developed a range of special bodies for Morris cars, which were sold under the

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.

With the outbreak of World War II, car production stopped and at first M.G. 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.

He soon found other work first with coachbuilder Charlesworth and then with specialist piston maker Specialloid.[1]

Death

Kimber was killed in the King's Cross railway accident on Sunday 4 February 1945, having boarded the 6:00 p.m. 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. 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 6–7 mph (9.7–11.3 km/h). 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; he 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.[2]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-870948-23-8
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-57958-293-1
    .
  3. ISBN 1 85833 606 6
    .
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