Sunday 5th August 1866

Born on this day, John Davenport Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth, captain of the automobile industry in the United Kingdom and founder the Siddeley Autocar Company in 1902 to manufacture cars to Peugeot designs. During 1905 Wolseley—which then dominated the UK car market—purchased the goodwill and patent rights of his Siddeley Autocar Company business[4] and appointed Siddeley London sales manager of Herbert Austin’s The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited owned by Vickers, Sons and Maxim. A few months later Herbert Austin left Wolseley to found his own Austin Motor Company and Siddeley was appointed manager of Wolseley in his place and, without authority, added Siddeley to the badge on the Wolseley cars. He resigned from Wolseley in 1909 to go into partnership with H P P Deasy and manage the Deasy Motor Company, also of Coventry