Historian and CovSoc member, Peter James, tells us the first part of a story about the development of the cycle industry in Coventry. Peter writes…..
Born on 21st April 1830 in Albourne near Brighton in Sussex, James Starley was the son of Daniel Starley a farmer. When he was young and growing up on the farm he helped his brother and father. He attended the National School at Hurstpierpoint leaving in 1841 when he was 11 years old. Leaving home aged 18 he went to Lewisham in South London where he worked as a gardener. This was where a few years later he met Jane Todd who he married in September 1853. They later had six children together.
While working as a gardener for John Penn who ran an engineering works in Greenwich his ability to invent gadgets and repair watches was recognised. John Penn introduced him to Josiah Turner who found him employment at Newton Wilson a sewing machine manufacturer in High Holborn London.
In 1861 he left Newton Wilson and moved to Coventry determined to set up his own sewing machine business. Along with Josiah Turner they found premises in Cheylesmore but struggled due to lack of finance. Eventually in 1863 having secured local financial backers they opened a factory in King Street and adopted the name Coventry Machinists’ Company.
He left in 1869 and worked at the back of his house in St. John Street making bicycles and sewing machines on his own. At John Penn & Co. he had met and worked with William Hillman who then joined him as a partner in this venture. Soon after in 1871 James joined William Borthwick Smith and set up business in St Agnes Works in Hales Street. This is where Smith, Starley & Co. manufactured Ariel cycles. The frame and wheels were made of steel with tangent wire spokes and rubber tyres.
Sewing machines were made at the Trafalgar Works a modest facility in Crow Lane. Recent research suggests that the company produced around 20,000 sewing machines there. In 1877 James invented a differential gear design and registered a patent number 3388.1877 in London. As well as featuring on the Starley Quadracycle this gear design was then included in the back axle of every rear wheel drive car. Shortly before he died aged 51 in 1881 he personally delivered a Starley Quadracycle to Queen Victoria at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight.
In conjunction with the differential gear his chain drive was also introduced on tricycles in 1877.
John Kemp Starley joined his uncle James Starley in Coventry in 1872. He worked with his uncle for a number of years building Ariel cycles before starting a new business in 1877. Along with William Sutton a cycling enthusiast they formed Starley & Sutton and by 1883 they were producing Rover cycles with a chain drive and same size wheels.
The Starley Memorial is a fitting tribute to someone who had a major impact on the industrial sector in Coventry in the 19th Century. James Starley helped the city become the home of the British cycle industry and the cycle capital of the world.