Making Cars at Cowley
Join the TORCH Labour Network for its opening event on how cars came to be built in Oxford. Maurice East will begin his talk by exploring the life of William Morris, who grew up from humble beginnings on the rural fringes of east Oxford. He will chart his progress from repairing bicycles in his parent’s front room, to building his own motor garage in Longwall and developing a protype for the iconic Morris Oxford and Morris Cowley cars. These vehicles would earn him a personal fortune and result in the construction of a giant assembly plant at Cowley—one of the biggest in Britain. Maurice will analyse the development of new technologies at the plant, the meteoric growth of the business in the 1920s, and the migration of tens of thousands of workers from across the UK to work ‘on the line’ in Oxford. The social and economic changes which followed would transform the town into a blue-collar boom area with sprawling housing estates and a reputation for working-class organisation. The talk will conclude with some comments on how the rise of Oxford’s car industry temporarily upended the centuries old power balance between ‘town and gown’.
Date:
13 March 2025, 14:30
Venue:
Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details:
Massey Room
Speaker:
Maurice East
Organising department:
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Organiser:
Matt Myers (Faculty of History)
Organiser contact email address:
labournetwork@torch.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?:
Not required
Booking url:
https://torch.ox.ac.uk/labour-network#tab-5158246
Cost:
free, all welcome
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Krisztina Lugosi
