Humble origins of firm icon for the ingenuity of That’s a global those diggers
This month digger firm JCB, one of the area’s biggest employers, is celebrating its 75th anniversary. We take a look back at the company’s history from day one to the present day, which involves a littleknown connection to Ashbourne...
JCB was founded on October 23, 1945, by the late Joseph Cyril Bamford in a tiny lockup garage in Uttoxeter, and its formation happened on the same day as his son Anthony, now Lord Bamford, was born.
The company’s history is well documented, but what is less well-known is that Lord Bamford was born in Ashbourne - in the former maternity home in Green Lane.
Mr Bamford remarked “being presented with a son tended to concentrate the mind and when you were starting at the bottom, there was only one way to go and that was up”.
The foundation for the growth that was to follow was the manufacture of a tipping trailer made out of wartime scrap which today stands proudly in the showroom of JCB’S World HQ.
It was produced in his garage and sold for £45 at the town’s market. The buyer’s old cart was also taken in partexchange and Mr Bamford refurbished it and sold it for another £45 – achieving the original asking price of the trailer.
By 1947 the company was expanding and because Mr Bamford’s landlady also disapproved of his Sunday working, he moved a few miles down the road to a stable block at Crakemarsh Hall, which was owned by a Mrs Julia Cavendish, a survivor of the Titanic disaster. JCB also set on its first full-time employee, Arthur Harrison, who became foreman.
By 1950 JCB was on the move again, this time to the site of a former cheese factory in Rocester. The location had been identified by Bill Hirst, who revelled in the fact his workplace was now closer to home and enabled him to “spend an extra 10 minutes in bed.” Bill had joined JCB as a £1-a-week teaboy in 1947. He rose through the ranks to be
come service director.
1953 proved to be a pivotal year for new products when Mr Bamford invented the backhoe loader with the launch of the JCB Mk 1 excavator. It was the first time a single machine had been produced with a hydraulic rear excavator and front mounted shovel. This ingenuity still bears fruit today: JCB has manufactured more than 600,000 backhoes and they are now made on three continents.
1953 was also the year that the famous JCB logo - recognised the world over - was first used on a machine and it was eventually registered as a trademark five years later.
With the launch of a range of new backhoes, by the time the 1960s arrived it was clear this machine was revolutionising the building industry, increasing productivity and reducing reliance on manpower.
As the new decade dawned, the company was also harnessing new tools to generate business and promote the brand. In 1961, JCB Aviation was formed and the company’s first-ever plane, a twinengine de Havilland Dove, made its inaugural flight, with customers from Europe now able to make a return visit to the factory in a single day. JCB Aviation is older than many of today’s airlines.
It was in 1962 that the JCB Dancing Diggers first took a bow and JCB’S first overseas subsidiary in Holland was opened. A year later the JCB 3C backhoe, an acknowledged design classic, was launched. Such was the growing success of the company that in 1964, with sales up by 60% to £8 million, employees shared in a £250,000 bonus. Some employees were able to buy their first homes with the bonus they received.
In the same year, JCB exported its first machine to the USA – a JCB 4C backhoe loader. In 1969 JCB produced a record 4,500 machines and by now was exporting more than half of them. It was in recognition of this export success that the company received in this year a Queen’s Award – the first of 27 such accolades. As 1970 dawned, J C B opened up for bus iness in the USA, setting up a base in Whitemarsh, Baltimore.
Between 1971 and 1973 turnover doubled to £40 million. In 1975 JCB’S founder retired, telling staff in a farewell message: “Anthony faces the tough job of moving JCB forward through the next decades into a new century. This is a demanding task but he has been well trained for it and is supported by a very strong team from works staff to management. There cannot be any limit to the successes.”
And so a new era had dawned – and one that would see huge expansion of both manufacturing facilities and product ranges. It started in 1972 with the opening of JCB France. In 1977 the wraps came off the Loadall telescopic handler, a machine which revolutionised the way loads were handled on both construction sites and on farms. The Loadall has gone on to be one of the most successful products in JCB’S history.
1977 also marked the start of a number of high-profile visits to JCB by members of the British Royal Family when the Prince of Wales toured the Rocester factory. A year later another landmark was achieved: the construction of
JCB’S second factory in the UK, JCB Transmissions in Wrexham.
But it was the decision to start manufacturing in India in 1979 that heralded a period of global expansion as Anthony Bamford spotted the potential of this market. Today JCB has factories in New Delhi, Pune and Jaipur and India is now its biggest market behind the UK.
Product innovation continued to be the lifeblood of the company and in 1985 the 3CX Sitemaster backhoe loader was launched and went on to be JCB’S biggest-ever-selling backhoe. It’s also the year JCB celebrated the production of its 100,000th backhoe.
1986 was a milestone year for JCB’S charitable work when the NSPCC became the company’s nominated charity. It was then that Carole Bamford, now Lady Bamford, instigated the setting up of an NSPCC fundraising committee when her three children were young. To date JCB and its employees have raised millions of pounds for the NSPCC. In 1987 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited JCB’S World HQ and drove a machine off the production line.
In 1988 the wraps came off the JCB GT, a backhoe capable of 100mph and a fantastic promotional tool which continues to draw the crowds wherever it appears around the world.
By 1990 JCB was expanding into new fields with the launch of the JCB Fastrac tractor – the world’s first genuine high-speed, full suspension tractor. It cost £12 million to develop and took the world of agriculture by storm. It was also the year that Anthony Bamford was knighted by the Queen and became Sir Anthony Bamford, an honour he said “recognised the efforts of the whole JCB team.” To celebrate, JCB employees were given an extra day’s holiday.
Product development continued unabated with the launch of the 2CX backhoe loader in 1990 followed three years later by the even smaller 1CX. In 1995 JCB was celebrating its 50th anniversary with a visit by the Queen to its World HQ, where she unveiled a replica of the Uttoxeter garage where Mr Bamford began his business all those years ago.
Future Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair visited in 1996 and helped assemble a 4CX and in 1997 the innovative Teletruk forklift – which can lift and place loads over obstacles – was launched. In 1998 JCB opened its second factory in Wrexham, Wales, and a year later opened JCB Earthmovers in Cheadle. In 2000 the first machines began rolling off the production line at JCB’S new North American headquarters in Savannah, Georgia.
On March 1 2001, flags at JCB factories around the world flew at half-mast following news of the death of Joseph Bamford. The Financial Times said he was blessed with a rare combination of “engineering genius and marketing flair.”
In 2001 JCB expanded its charitable work with the setting up of the Lady Bamford Charitable Trust in India with the adoption of a school a few hundred yards from JCB’S factory in Ballabgarh, near New Delhi. In 2004 employees gathered at the World HQ for a commemorative photo to mark the production of the 500,000th machine. It had taken just short of 60 years to reach that milestone. In 2005 JCB opened its factory in Pudong, China, and announced news of the biggest order in its history, a $140 million deal to supply the US Army with a high-speed backhoe loader for military engineering tasks, a machine known as the High Mobility Engineer Excavator (HMEE). In 2006 Sir Anthony Bamford’s son Jo became a Director of JCB, the third generation of the Bamford family to hold such a position.
This year also saw JCB set a world record with the JCB Dieselmax streamliner car. Powered by two JCB Dieselmax engines, it reached speeds of 350.092mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA to attain the record of the world’s fastest diesel car, a title it still holds today.
JCB’S support of underprivileged children spread further around the globe with the opening in 2007 of the Lady Bamford Center for Early Childhood Development in Savannah, Georgia to support the education and social development of pre-school children. Meanwhile, in 2008 JCB Heavy Products – which manufactures tracked and wheeled excavators - moved to its new factory on the outskirts of Uttoxeter.
This was followed in 2009 by a £40 million investment in JCB’S factory in Ballabgarh, India, to create the world’s biggest backhoe loader factory.
In 2009 Prince William toured the company’s headquarters and helped employees celebrate the production of the 750,000th machine.
A national shortage of engineers inspired Lord Bamford to establish the JCB Academy in Rocester in 2010 to train the country’s engineers and business leaders of the future.
The facility has been a huge success with nearly 1,000 students passing through its doors and with every single one going on to employment or further education.
JCB also announced a £40 million project to develop a new range of skid steer and track loaders to be manufactured at its North American HQ. As it looked to the future, JCB also celebrated its heritage with the opening of the “Story of JCB” in 2011, a permanent exhibition marking the growth of JCB and the Bamford family’s roots in industry.
These roots can be traced back almost 200 years when they started out as black
smiths in Uttoxeter, before, in 1871, they founded agricultural machinery suppliers Bamfords Ltd in the town.
Global manufacturing extended to Brazil in 2012 and Prime Minister David Cameron officially opened the new £63 million facility in Sao Paulo state. As JCB approached its 68th birthday in 2013, a new independent economic report revealed the company supported 24,000 jobs in the UK and contributed £545 million to the British Exchequer.
Hundreds of employees also gathered outside the World HQ for a commemorative photograph marking the production of the one millionth JCB machine. It was also the year JCB’S chairm an Sir Anthony Bamford b e - came a peer. In 2014, Lady Bamford presented a cheque for £2 million to the Countess of Wessex for the NSPCC after a marathon company-wide funding raising drive. Employees raised £1 million and the amount was doubled by Lord Bamford.
In India production started at JCB’S new £62 million Jaipur factory complex and plans were announced for a £20 million new HQ for JCB Germany in Cologne. In 2015 JCB marked its 70th anniversary with a continued focus on product innovation as the wraps came off the brand new 3CX Compact backhoe loader, a machine 35 per cent smaller than its bigger brother and designed to work on increasingly congested building sites.
2016 was a year of milestones as the company celebrated the production of the 200,000th Loadall telescopic handler. It took almost 30 years for JCB to sell the first 100,000 Loadalls but it has taken less than 10 for the next 100,000 to be sold – testament to the growing importance of the product and JCB’S strength in this sector. Today JCB is the world’s number one producer of telescopic handlers. In this year JCB also marked the production on its 100,000th mini excavator and celebrated 25 years of production of the revolutionary Fastrac tractor. 2017 was also a momentous year on two fronts: the launch of a new range of Jcb-powered access equipment after two years of secret development. JCB was entering for the first time a market worth $8 billion a year. The year also saw the company celebrate another Loadall milestone – 40 years since production started. Later in the year JCB marked the production of its 500,000th engine - enough engines to stretch from London to Paris.
If 2017 was a year of milestones, 2018 was certainly a year for exciting product introductions with the unveiling of JCB’S first electric excavator leading the way.
The 19C-1E electric mini excavator was developed in response to customer demands for a zero emissions machine which could work indoors, underground and close to people in urban areas. Once fully charged, it is ready to put in a full normal working day on the building site. The year also saw the launch of the successful X-series range of tracked excavators and the start of site dumper manufacturing at the World HQ in Rocester. JCB also announced a £50 million investment in a new factory to produce cabs in Uttoxeter.
By 2019 the new electric mini excavator was in full production at JCB Compact Products in Cheadle, with the initial first 50 orders delivered to customers. In 2019 Lord Bamford officially opened a new £50 million headquarters for JCB Germany.
As JCB entered its 75th anniversary year, the sad news was conveyed in January that Bill Hirst, the third employee recruited by the company in 1947, had died at the age of 86.
In March, JCB marked the production of the 750,000th backhoe loader before the world became a very different place as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. When the company’s production lines fell silent in March, JCB turned its attention to helping those in need.
In India and the UK, company chefs prepared more than 200,000 meals for those most in need. A Staffordshire production line closed down as a result of the Covid crisis was reopened to produce prototypes of special housings for a new type of ventilator following a national call to action.
By the time production lines reopened in June, JCB was also previewing an exciting new development after developing the construction industry’s first ever hydrogenpowered excavator as JCB continued to lead the sector on zero and low carbon technologies.
The 20-tonne 220X excavator powered by a hydrogen fuel cell has been undergoing rigorous testing at JCB’S quarry proving grounds for more than 12 months.
Joseph Bamford would no doubt have been most impressed at this achievement...
When the company’s production lines fell silent in March, JCB turned its attention to helping those in need