William Edward Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes GBE (17 August 1894–12 December 1964) was a noted Coventry motor manufacturer and the innovative Chairman of the Promotion Committee which founded the University of Warwick.
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William (Billy) Rootes was born in Goudhurst, Kent. His father, William, owned a general engineering business in Goudhurst, which included bicycles. William attended a motor show organised by Sir David Salomons in Tunbridge Wells in 1895. Billy and his brother Reginald (Reggie) shared their father's interest in things mechanical. In 1905, whilst their parents were out, Billy took Reggie out for a drive in their father's New Orleans motor car. Unfortunately, Billy crashed the car. Billy attended Cranbrook School, and on leaving school in 1909 was apprenticed to the Singer car company. William had moved the family business to Hawkhurst by this time, and expanded into the motor trade. Billy left Singer in 1913 to start his own car agency. He sold all of his first batch of cars within a few months of leaving Singer. The business was moved to Maidstone before World War I, and the firm worked on the maintenance and repair of aero engines during the war.[1]
Billy and Reggie were knighted respectively in 1942 and 1946 for their work setting up shadow factories.[1] Billy was created a Baron in 1959, some five years before such honours ceased to be inheritable under the UK honours system: his eldest son, would accordingly become the second Baron Rootes on Billy's death.
Rootes married firstly in 1916 Nora Press. The marriage produced two sons, William Geoffrey Rootes (1917 - ) who between 1967 and 1973 served as Chairman of the family business (by now a subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation and renamed as Chrysler United Kingdom)[2] and Brian Gordon Rootes (1919 - 1971) who also held a succession of senior positions within the company (interrupted by a period of military service during the Second World war) between 1937 and 1967[3].
Although Lord Rootes’ untimely death in 1964 prevented him being installed as the University's first Chancellor, his name is still strongly connected with the University in many ways. These include the Rootes Social Building, Rootes student residences and the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund.
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by New Creation |
Baron Rootes | Succeeded by William Geoffrey Rootes |
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