| AdminHistory | Manufacture of guns, bicycles, cars and motorcycles
The Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd was founded in Birmingham in June 1861 by 14 master gunsmiths of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association, who had supplied arms to the British government during the Crimean War. A factory in Armoury Road, Small Heath was completed by 1863. By 1878, the demand for weapons had declined and the Small Heath factory lay idle for a year following the end of its last contract in August 1878. A small order enabled the factory to be re-opened and, in 1881, the company decided to make bicycles and tricycles of its own design. Cycle work stopped in Small Heath in 1888 to free the plant for rifle manufacture but it returned to cycle component manufacture in the 1890s and made its first motorcycle in 1903. Following the outbreak of war in 1914 the emphasis was once more switched back to armaments.
By World War II, BSA had 67 factories. A BSA factory for the manufacture of guns was built in Marshall Lake Road, Shirley, Solihull in 1941. It was sold to Lucas in 1961 and later sold for retail development BSA expanded after the Second World War and bicycle production was moved to the new Waverley Works, Acocks Green, Birmingham, whilst the Small Heath factory was turned over mainly to motor cycle production. The original 1862 Victorian building in Armoury Road, Small Heath has been demolished, although the 1915-1916 extension, known as the ‘Old BSA’ building and which is the oldest surviving example of a ‘model factory’ built using ‘Truscon’ trussed steel and concrete, still survives but is in a dilapidated condition.
Mergers and acquisitions
In 1873, the Birmingham Small Arms Company acquired the Adderley Park Rolling Mills for the production of ammunition shells. In the same year, the company name was changed to the Birmingham Small Arms and Metal Company. The company reverted to its previous name of The Birmingham Small Arms Company in 1896.
In 1906, BSA took over the Royal Small Arms factory at Sparkbrook, Birmingham.
In 1907, BSA bought Eadie Manufacturing Company, Redditch which was engaged in the manufacture of military and sporting rifles and components.
In 1910, BSA purchased The Daimler Motor Company (1904) Ltd of Coventry. In 1960, Daimler was sold to Jaguar.
In 1918, BSA acquired Burton Griffiths and Co.
In 1919, the company divided into three divisions under separate management: BSA Cycles Ltd. (at Small Heath and Redditch); BSA Guns Ltd (at Small Heath); and BSA Tools Ltd (at Sparkbrook).
In 1920, BSA bought some of the assets of the bankrupt Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco) although it did not embark on aircraft production itself. In the same year, it also acquired William Jessop and Sons.
In 1925, BSA Tools Ltd became a private company, operating from works at Sparkbrook, Birmingham.
In 1931 the Lanchester Motor Company was acquired and production of their cars transferred to Daimler's Coventry works.
In 1939, BSA acquired Birtley Co. Ltd, makers of earth-moving equipment. Birtley was sold to the Caterpillar Tractor Company in 1956.
In 1943, BSA bought Sunbeam Ltd from Associated Motorcycles Ltd, London.
In 1944, BSA bought motorcycle manufacturers, Ariel Motors Ltd, Bournbrook, Birmingham. The Ariel name survived until 1970, although production was moved to Small Heath in 1963.
In 1947, BSA purchased J. J. Saville and Co., crucible steel and file makers, Sheffield.
In 1951, BSA acquired the motorcycle concern of Triumph Engineering Co. Ltd. Faced with the closure of the Meriden factory in 1973, workers staged an 18-month sit-in and, in March 1975, formed the Triumph Meriden Motorcycle Co-operative. The co-operative continued trading until July 1983 when Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd went into liquidation.
In 1953, BSA bought New Hudson Ltd. A boom in the sales of motorcycles saw the establishment of BSA Motorcycles Ltd, separate from BSA Cycles Ltd. The mid-1950s also saw BSA buying Idoson Motor Cylinder Co. Ltd, suppliers of cylinder barrel and head castings to the motor cycle factories.
In 1954, BSA bought Carbodies of Coventry, which was put under the control of Daimler.
In 1957, the BSA bicycle arm was sold off to Raleigh Industries.
In 1961, BSA bought the Churchill Machine Tool Co. Ltd.
In July 1973, BSA was absorbed into Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT), a subsidiary of Manganese Bronze Holdings, in a rescue plan initiated by the UK Department of Industry. A plan to concentrate production of Norton, BSA and Triumph motorcycles at Small Heath ran into difficulties and, after a two year battle, the BSA factory at Small Heath was closed. The last motorcycle was made there on Christmas Eve 1975.
Motorcycle production of BSAs continued in Coventry but was moved to Blockley, Gloucestershire in 1986. In 1991 BSA Company merged with Andover Norton International Ltd to form a new BSA Group. In 1994 this was taken over by a newly formed BSA Regal Group which, since April 1995, has been based in Southampton.
In 1986 BSA Guns was liquidated, the assets bought by Gamo and renamed BSA Guns (UK) Ltd. The company continues to make air rifles and shotguns, and is still based in Small Heath, Birmingham.
This administrative history was compiled by Tracey Williams, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Archivist & Local Studies Librarian in 2012, used with her permission on transfer of the Solihull material (2025/028) previously stored at Solihull Archives & Collections to Birmingham Archives & Collections. |