BLACKBURNE
The Blackburne has its origins in those two fledgling industries of the early 20th century, aviation and motorcycling. At the very beginning of the century, an 18-year-old student at the Crystal Palace Engineering School in Sydenham designed a motorcycle powered by a 1½hp engine that he built
himself. Five years later, in 1905, he was working as a draughtsman for the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co. But what he really wanted to do was build aeroplanes. To raise money towards that end, he sold the castings, patterns and manufacturing rights to two friends for £5. That young man was Geoffrey de Havilland, who would go on to design the remarkable Mosquito warplane and the DH106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner.
It would be some years before his two friends, Cecil and Edward Alexander (Alick) Burney, went into business. In 1910, Cecil became head of the experimental department at Rudge-Whitworths but, in 1912, the brothers decided to set up their own company, helped by a £200 investment from pioneer aviator Harold Blackburn, as Burney and Blackburne; for some reason an ‘e’ was added to Blackburn for the company name.
In 1913, the first Blackburne motorcycle was launched, equipped with a 3.5hp side valve engine with a large outside flywheel and a one-piece forged crankshaft. Shortly afterwards, Harold Blackburn – who had always been more interested in airplanes than he had in motorcycles – sold his stake in the company to Cecil and Arthur Roberts. As a parting gift he was given one of the first Blackburne motorcycle combinations which he used to promote flying displays.
During the First World War, production slowed (although, unlike other companies, it didn’t cease, thanks to Cecil and Arthur Roberts’ father continuing to run the firm) and the two Burney brothers, along with the Roberts, volunteered as dispatch riders on their own machines. Sadly, Arthur Roberts was killed in action. As Pete
Kelly reports in this month’s From The Archive, running repairs were often done ‘on the ground’ and so Alick Burney ran a motorcycle repair base in France while his brother was in charge of repairing electrical lighting units for a signals station.
Following the outbreak of peace, three models – including an 8hp V-twin combination – were offered; in 1919, Blackburne sold its rights to OEC and concentrated on engine production until 1938. A huge number of marques used the Blackburne engine, among them Cotton, Excelsior, Rex-Acme, ChaterLea and OK Supreme to mention but a few. In fact, it’s believed that some 70 motorcycle manufacturers (along with 11 aircraft companies and even seven lawnmower companies!) used the Blackburne engine.
And what became of the gentleman who gave his name (albeit with that extra ‘e’) to this motorcycle? He became the first pilot to carry newspapers by air and, in 1914, piloted the first scheduled airline service in Great Britain. He joined the RAF and served in the First World War; he was mentioned in dispatches four times, won the Military Cross and the Air Force Cross, and, when he retired in 1929, he was Wing Commander Harold Blackburn.