| Granville Eastwood Bradshaw | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1887 Preston, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 1969 Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Parents | William & Annie Bradshaw |
| Work | |
| Institution memberships | Royal Aeronautical Society |
| Practice name | ABC Motors |
| Significant projects | Motorcycle and Aero-engines |
| Significant awards | Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
Granville Eastwood Bradshaw OBE, AFRAeS (1887–1969) was an English engineer and inventor who designed motorcycle and aero-engines.
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Bradshaw was born in Preston, Lancashire in 1887 as the son of William and Annie Bradshaw. His father was a jeweler and optician.
Bradshaw's early work was involved with the early pioneers of flight, which led him to become an expert on stressing. He designed the Star Monoplane including the engine for Star Aircraft when he was 19, which he later flew.[1] He then started to work on aero-engines and was the co-founder of the All-British Engine Company (later ABC Motors then Walton Motors).
The ABC radial aero-engines designed and built during the First World War were extremely advanced and the government placed large orders for the Dragonfly. A number of aircraft were designed to use the Dragonfly, but the engines were plagued by problems and failed to live up to the promises. The design was taken over by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough to try to resolve the issues, but with the end of the war, it was abandoned.
He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his war work in 1918.[2]
Following the war, the company and Bradshaw concentrated on motorcycles. When the company re-organized in 1920, Bradshaw became a consultant which allowed him to sell his designs to other companies. He designed a number of engines for Panther motorcycles. His biggest seller was selling patents for gambling machines, although he lost all the money he made in further business deals. He later concentrated on torodial internal-combustion engines. Bradshaw produced a long list of inventions and designs, although very few achieved commercial success.
A biography Granville Bradshaw: a flawed genius? by Barry Jones was published in 2008.
In 1911 he married Violet Elsie Partirdge in Wolverhampton. Violet petitioned for divorce in 1926.[3] Bradshaw married again in 1927 to Muriel Mathieson in Kensington, London. He died in 1969 at Hitchin in Hertfordshire.[4]