The following are key individuals associated with the 1923 – 1939 UK motorcycle manufacturer Grindlay Peerless.
Grindlay family
Alfred Robert Grindlay
Alfred Robert Grindlay CBE, JP, was born in Coventry in 1876, son of William Vaughan Grindlay (1843 – 1891). Upon leaving school, Alfred joined a local cycle firm and began learning the skills he would employ to great effect later in his career and by 1901 be was working at Riley Cycle Company, one of the major firms in the Coventry. Grindlay progressed steadily within the company, until 1911, while working as a foreman at Riley Cycle Company, he applied for a patent (24,683) regarding 'improved means for carrying spare wheels' for motorcars. That same year Alfred left Riley Cycle Company and took over the Coventry Motor & Sundries business, establishing Grindlay Sidecars.
During World War I he combined forces with Thomas Edward Musson (b. 1875) founding Musson & Grindlay, specialising in sidecar production. However, parting ways with Musson in 1923, Alfred established Grindlay Peerless.
By the late 1920s, Alfred's two sons, Reginald Robert Grindlay (b. 1900), and Alfred Stephen Chaplin Grindlay (b. 1910) had joined the company and begun to take greater responsibilities including assisting their father to develop a two-seater sports car based on the original Morris 8 light car. Multiple versions were available and in several colours. Production lasted around two years, and the company reverted to general motor body building and engineering, lasting through to 1996.
In addition to his contribution to the British motor industry, Grindlay was a prominent Coventry City Council member. In 1943, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work as Chairman of the Coventry Saving Committee.
During the World War II, in 1941, Alfred was appointed Mayor of Coventry. He presided over Coventry during the notorious period of the Coventry Blitz and led work to rebuild the city afterwards, for which he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1946, for his service to the nation and was personally commended for his efforts by King George VI. The formal investiture took place on Tuesday 20 May 1947 at Buckingham Palace.
Having been a Coventry City Councillor for nearly 39 years, Grindlay was award the Freedom of the City on 15 November 1962. His award is described by Coventry City Council as being "In recognition of his eminent and devoted service to the city during a period of unprecedented municipal development and as a token of public esteem".
Alfred died in Coventry in 1965 aged 89 years.
Reginald Robert Grindlay
Reginald Robert Grindlay was born in 1899 in Foleshill, Warwickshire, and attended Bablake School as a boy. Following his service aboard an Allied minesweeper vessel during the Great War, for which he earned the British War Medal and Victory Medal, in the late 1920s he followed his father into the family automotive business helping to develop the Grindlay Peerless racing brand. Reginald was a passionate motorcycle racer and was regularly involved in competitions at Brooklands motor-racing circuit. In 1924 he married Vera Irene Smith.
A prominent Freemason, Reginald was a co-founder and officer designate of Stivichall Lodge No. 5799 in Coventry. He was also a member of the Grand Lodge of England, the Provincial Lodge of Warwickshire, and was a master of the Victory Lodge No.4009 in Coventry.
Reginald spent much of his life at his primary residence, Holly Lodge in Berkswell, Warwickshire but spent his final months at his country house, Derwent Island House in Cumbria, dying in nearby Cockermouth in 1965, aged 66. He is buried at All Saints Church in Allesley, Coventry.
Alfred Stephen Chaplin Grindlay
Alfred Stephen Chaplin Grindlay was born in 1909 and joined his father and older brother into the automotive industry. He was for a time, the general manager and director of the Coventry Motor Sundries Limited, and the director of the Coventry Engineering Company. In 1938 he married Francis Phyllis Burchell, an accomplished horse rider who played the role of Lady Godiva during the Coventry Hospital Carnival in the early 1930s.
Alfred was an active sportsman and mountaineer, playing rugby for Old Coventrians Rugby Football Club and Coventry Rugby Club. On Easter Monday 1934, Alfred fell 150 ft while climbing in North Wales, landing on a narrow ledge above a sheer cliff edge. He escaped the accident without injury and was transported to hospital in Bangor.