In these days of the hard sell it is very refreshing to find a firm that practices what it preaches on its advertising material and Morris Oils (now Morris Lubricants) is an excellent example. Still manufacturing specialist oils for steam engines, vintage commercials, classic cars and motorcycles in the traditional manner, I was intrigued to find out more about their history.
Even if you do not own a vintage vehicle, many readers will have seen the Channel Four television series Salvage Squad, fronted by Suggs and Claire Barratt last year, which featured the Morris Oils’ Sentinel steam waggon undergoing some much-needed boiler work to keep her on the road.
The Sentinel, owned by David Goddard, a director of Morris Lubricants, is a well-known sight on rally fields in its distinctive original green and gold company colours, usually crewed by sons Edward and Andrew Goddard, also directors of the firm.
I met David, Diana and Edward Goddard at the Steam Car Club of Great Britain’s annual outing in July, (Old Glory No.175), as in addition to the waggon the family also own two Stanley steam cars and, amongst others, a Burrell traction engine. The conversation led me to an invite to Morris Works headquarters at Castle Foregate in Shrewsbury in
mid-August, to see both the production of oils and a chance to photograph the Sentinel.
One might be forgiven in thinking that Morris Lubricants only created specialist oils, lubricants and associated products, including the celebrated ‘Golden Film’ range, but a quick delve into their history would indicate that that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Dating back to 1869, the founder, James Kent Morris, came from the splendidly-named Ruyton-XI-Towns, this red-sandstone village received its unusual name in 1301 when 11 small hamlets united, and as a result its main village street stretches for a mile and is one of the longest in the country, located around 10 miles from Shrewsbury. James set up business as a chandler (candlemaker) in the Frankwell district of Shrewsbury. A grocery store was next purchased in Frankwell and the firm gained a reputation for first class baking and confectionery in the then new premises at Welsh Bridge where the company’s headquarters are still housed.
Over the years 38 Morris’s grocery stores opened in and around Shrewsbury, of which a fifth are still trading. The grocery division grew into the Save-Rite chain of supermarkets and were sold to the Co-Op in 1999. Confectionery shops and cafes in Shrewsbury once numbered a dozen, plus three butchers shops, the last of these closing in the 1960s. At one time and another five bakeries have opened and closed and I noticed even a drapery and lingerie shop once featured in the portfolio, seemingly a long way from manufacturing lubricants!
In addition to the food and bakery division the company diversified into property, acquiring and developing properties, again in the Shrewsbury area, for its own use and for letting or sale. These included in the 1990s two business parks to satisfy a local demand for industrial units.
Morris has always been proud of its Shropshire roots and its civic responsibilities in Shrewsbury. Its original oil works in Hills Lane included the historically-important 16th century Rowley’s House, which has a museum of Roman artefacts, the company donating this building to the town in 1927.
Two new divisions, also very different from the oil business, started in the late 1980s and early 90s - Morris Care, administering three residential homes and Morris Leisure’s two caravan parks at Stanmore Hall, Bridgnorth and Oxon Hall, Shrewsbury.
This year the Company has been split between two branches of the original Morris family, and the Lubricants and Leisure divisions are now run by the Goddard family and others, still trading as Morris Lubricants and Morris Leisure. Edward and Andrew Goddard are fifth generation direct descendants of the original James Kent Morris.
The newly-formed company’s core business remains Morris Lubricants which is now the largest independent lubricant blender in the country. James Kent Morris died young in 1891 and it was his eldest son James Morris who realised that candles would soon be made redundant by the new forms of lighting, and founded the lubricants division which imported best Pennsylvania oils from the USA, referred to as Golden Penn stock, hence the ‘Golden Film’ trade name.
At this time the company began its long association with Sentinel Waggon Works, originally Alley & MacLellan of Polmadie, Glasgow, which relocated to new works in Whitchurch Road, Shrewsbury in 1915, close to Morris Oils. The Sentinel Waggon Works in Shrewsbury was probably the most prolific producer of steam waggons, and as sole suppliers of cylinder and crankcase oils to Sentinel, Morris Oils were able to work closely to blend and produce steam oil products used throughout the industry.
Morris Lubricants owned four Sentinel waggons, employed on duties that included the collection of oil and flour for both the lubricants and grocery divisions from Liverpool Docks, but sadly not their current DG4.
