©By: John T. Blair (WA4OHZ)
1133 Chatmoss Dr., Va. Beach, Va. 23464; (757) 495-8229

Last update: 03/30/2006

I found the following family tree by Chris Ward (9/4/96) very interesting. This is not complete. But a good start.

As Chris Ward says:

"I just did all that became British Leyland eventually."

George Mowat-Brown of Middlesex, UK provided a nice enhancement to the linage with his detailed look at BMC/Rover.

Others are invited to pick up the piece and try to add to this tree. I'd like to see a nice graphic chart done up some day. Anyone interested?

Thanks to those that have provided the following information. John

1896 Wolseley
1898 Riley
1912 Morris (Morris Garages)
1923 Morris started the MG division
1938 MOWOG (Morris Wolseley Garages) or Nuffield. Which included
all of the above Morris, MG, Wolseley, and Riley.

Meanwhile at other garages...

1905 Austin
1913 Vanden Plas
1946 Merge of Vanden Plas and Austin.

Still elsewhere...
1896 Lanchester
1896 Daimler
1931 Merge of Lanchester and Daimler, Lanchester name dropped in 1955.
1931 Jaguar
1960 Merge of Daimler and Jaguar. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Still more elsewhere...

1896 Leyland I'm not going to insert any remarks here:)
1903 Standard
1923 Triumph
1944 Triumph and Standard merge.
1961 Merge of Leyland, Triumph, and Standard.
1963 Standard dropped. Begining of the Leyland Decisions?
(Note: Simon added - Actually, the last Standard-badged car was built in 1963, and although the Leyland subsidiary continued to be known as Standard-Triumph, only Triumph-badged cars were built by this subsidiary from 1963 onwards.)
1967 Rover-Land Rover join Leyland and Triumph.

Okay now back to my favorite part...

1952 BMC Which brought together Austin-Vanden Plas, Morris, MG, Wolseley, and Riley. Can I say that this is when the Best British cars started?
1952 Austin-Healey division later the same year as BMC.
1966 BMH who bring Daimler-Jaguar into the fold.

Okay here it comes, the end of an Empire...

1968 British Leyland. This is now everything mentioned so far.
1969 Riley dropped
1971 Austin-Healey dropped
1975 Wolseley dropped This is like the domino effect huh?
1980 Vanden Plas dropped
1984 Morris and Triumph dropped
1984 Daimler-Jaguar sold
1987 Austin dropped
1987 Leyland sold. Again, I have no comment to insert here.

And then from the ashes...

The Rover Group which now belongs to BMW.
MG, Rover, and Land Rover.

The following information on BMC/Rover was contributed George Mowat-Brown

1861 Coventry Sewing Machine Co. (James Starley Josiah Turner)
1869 Renamed the Coventry Machinists Co.(bicycles)
1888 J. K. Starley & Co. Ltd. (bicycles and tricycles - some battery-powered!)
1896 Renamed Rover Cycle Co. Ltd.
1904 Their first car, an 8 hp. Dropped the word 'cycle' from their title in the first decade of the century
1948 Land Rover
1965 Merged with Alvis to form Alvis-Rover
1967 Abdorbed by Leyland Motors (the controlling company of Standard-Triumph). The plan was for Triumph sports and family cars (Standard to be dropped), with larger vehicles sold as either Rover or Alvis. 4-WD/AWD as Land-Rover.
1968 (Merger with Morgan failed) - Under government pressure, Leyland Motors merged with British Motor Holdings (BMC [British Motor Co.], Jaguar, Vanden Plas, and Pressed Steel Fisher) to make BLMC [British Leyland Motor Co.], marketed under two groups of garages - Specialist Car Division [Jaguar-Rover-Triumph] (incidently, thus the SD 1, the SD 2 never making it into production!) and the Volume Car Division (Austin-Morris)
1977 Officially used the Jaguar-Rover-Triumph and Austin-Morris names
1980 Sold as Austin-Rover or Jaguar, Morris & Triumph dropped
1986 Renamed the Rover Group (with the MG name being reserved for future sports cars and all 4-WD to be grouped under Land-Rover) and Jaguar kept as a separate name.
1988 British Aerospace bought (denationalized) the group, kept the name Rover Group.
1990 Ford bought Jaguar (there were a number of failed bids during the previous years for either the whole group or, e.g., GM for Land-Rover)
1994 Sold to the German manufacturer BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke), but still marketed as the Rover Group. Remaining Austin names have slowly changed over the last decade (e.g. the Austin Metro became the Rover Metro, then the Rover 100) with only the mini (to be replaced at the end of the century) still to be called 'Rover'. The MG name continues for the open sports car and the Land-Rover for Land-Rovers, the Range Rover, and the Freelander.

To email me with comments or questions.