Cecil Kimber (1888-1945) is most famous for his role in being the driving force behind the M.G. car company. MG is a British marque that has produced sports cars since 1924, although none have been made since MG Rover went bankrupt in the spring of 2005. ...

He was born in London on the 12th April 1888 to Henry Kimber, a printing engineeer and his wife Fanny. After attending Stockport Grammar School he joined his father's company and took an early interest in motor cycles buying a Rex model, but after an accident on a friend's machine that severely damaged his right leg he took to cars and in 1913 bought a 10hp Singer. This interest caused him to leave the family firm in 1914 and get a job with Sheffield-Simplex as assistant to the chief designer. During World War 1 he moved first to AC Cars and then to component supplier E.G. Wrigley. He made a large personal financial investment in Wrigleys but he lost this when the company lost heavily on a deal with Angus-Sanderson for whom he had styled their radiator. Wrigley had also been a major supplier to the Morris Motor Company and was bought by them in 1923 and presumably with the help of contacts, Kimber got a job in 1921 as Sales manager with Morris Garages, their agency in Oxford. Stockport is a large town in the north west of England. ... Singer was an automobile marque used by the Rootes Group of the United Kingdom. ... A.C. Royal Roadster 1924 A.C. 16/70 Sports Drophead Coupé 1935 A.C. ACE 2-Seater Sports A.C. Greyhound Saloon 1962 1999 Cobra Replica 1971 AC Frua AC Cars Group Ltd. ... The Angus-Sanderson was an English automobile manufactured fom 1919 to 1927. ... Morris Motor logo, from a UK Royal Mail van 1927 Morris Cowley 1928 Morris Minor Saloon 1946 Morris Ten Series M 1953 Morris Minor Series 2 1971 Morris 1000 Traveller The Morris Motor Company was a former British car manufacturing company. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ...

While there he developed a range of special bodies for Morris cars eventually leading in 1928 to the founding of M.G. as a separate marque specialising in sports cars. The new company moved from Oxford to Abingdon in 1929 and Kimber became managing director in July 1930. The main shareholder was William Morris himself and in 1935 he formally sold M.G. to Morris Motors which meant Kimber was no longer in sole control and had to take instructions from head office leading to him becoming increasingly disillusioned with his role. William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield GBE CH (10 October 1877–22 August 1963) was the founder of the Morris Motor Company and a philanthropist. ...

With the outbreak of World War 2 car production stopped and at first M.G. was reduced to making basic items for the armed forces until Kimber obtained contract work on aircraft but this was done without first obtaining approval and he was asked to resign and left in 1941.

He soon found other work first with coachbuilder Charlesworth and then with specialist piston maker Specialloid.

He was killed in a freak railway accident at King's Cross railway station, London in 1945. The wheels of the train on which he was travelling kept slipping on a newly replaced section of rail forcing the driver to pull to a stop in a tunnel. Unable to see in the darkness, the driver was unaware that the train had in fact started to slip back down the hill. A signalman, attempting to avert a collision with another train, decided to switch the points however the train was already too far back down the track. With the front and rear of the final carriage effectively running on different parallel lines there was nothing that anyone could do to prevent a colision with a metal signal gantry which proceeded to slice the overturned coach in two. Kimber was one of only two casualties. Kings Cross station (often spelt Kings Cross on platform signs) is a railway station in the district of the same name in northeast central London. ...

Cecil Kimber married twice, first to Irene (Rene) Hunt with whom he had two daughters, Lisa and Jean, and after Irene died in 1938 to Muriel Dewar.

He was elected as President of the Automobile Division of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

External References

• Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. editor N. Georgano. HMSO, London. 2000. ISBN 1-57958-293-1
• MG Sportscars. Malcolm Green. CLB. 1997. ISBN 1-85833-606-6