Thornycroft Album

John Isaac Thornycroft designed a steam carriage in 1862, and in 1864 he set up the Steam Carriage and Wagon Co in Chiswick. He set up a shipyard as John I Thornycroft and Co, building the Royal Navy's first torpedo boat. In 1896 a lightweight vertical steam launch engine was fitted into a van. Production versions were soon selling well, and in 1898 a new works was opened in Basingstoke. In 1902 steam wagon production was licensed to Stewart of Glasgow as the Stewart-Thornycroft, and in 1904 the shipyard moved from Chiswick to Southampton. Steam vehicle production at Basingstoke ceased in 1907, replaced by motor vehicles, which had first been produced in 1902. In 1948 the vehicle firm was renamed Transport Equipment (Thornycroft) Ltd, to further separate it from the shipbuilding company, and in 1961 it was taken over by Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd. ACV was itself absorbed by Leyland a year later. In the early 1970s, as sales diminished, Thornycroft vehicle production ceased.