Editing Joseph Bamford

{{short description|English businessman}}
{{redirect|Joseph Cyril Bamford|his company|JCB (heavy equipment manufacturer)|his grandson|Jo Bamford}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Joseph Cyril Bamford
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1916|06|21|}}
| birth_place        = [[Uttoxeter]], [[Staffordshire]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2001|03|01|1916|06|21|df=y}}
| death_place        = London, England
| known_for          = [[JCB (heavy equipment manufacturer)|J.C. Bamford Excavators]] (JCB)
| alma_mater         = [[Stonyhurst College]]
| occupation         = Businessman
| years_active       = 1945–2001
| successor          = [[Anthony Bamford]]
| spouse             = {{marriage|Marjorie Griffin|1941}}
| children           = [[Anthony Bamford]],
Mark Bamford
| relatives          = [[Jo Bamford]] (grandson)
}}
'''Joseph Cyril Bamford''', [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] (21 June 1916 – 1 March 2001)<ref name="ObsInd">{{cite web|last=Ritchie|first=Berry|title=Obituary: Joseph Bamford|work=[[The Independent]]|date=7 March 2001|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010307/ai_n14377002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607180344/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010307/ai_n14377002|archive-date=7 June 2008}}</ref> was a British [[businessperson|businessman]]. He was the founder of [[JCB (heavy equipment manufacturer)|J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited]] (JCB), a manufacturer of heavy equipment.

==Biography==
Joseph Bamford was born into a [[recusant]] [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] family in [[Uttoxeter]], [[Staffordshire]], which owned Bamfords Ltd, an agricultural engineering business.<ref name="ObsGuard">Phillips, Dave [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,446404,00.html Engineer who gave his name to a machine on every building site – the JCB digger], ''The Guardian'', 5 March 2001.</ref>

His great-grandfather Henry Bamford<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bamford |first1=Henry |title=Bamford Family Tree |url=https://henrybamfordandsonsuttoxeterengland.co.uk/family-tree/ |website=Henry Bamford and Sons, Uttoxeter, England |publisher=Henry Bamford |accessdate=28 January 2019}}</ref> was born in [[Yoxall]] and had built up his own [[:wikt:ironmonger|ironmongers]] business, which by 1881 employed 50 men, 10 boys and 3 women. Bamfords International Farm Machinery became one of the country's major agricultural equipment suppliers, famous for its balers, rakes, hay turners, [[tedder (machine)|hay wufflers]], [[Mangelwurzel|mangold]] cutters, and standing engines, which were exported all over the world. The company eventually ceased trading in 1986.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

After attending [[Stonyhurst College]], he joined the [[Alfred Herbert company]] in [[Coventry]], then the UK's largest machine-tool manufacturer, and rose to represent the firm in [[Ghana]]. He returned home in 1938 to join the family firm, but in 1941 was called up by the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] to serve in [[World War II]]. Working in supply and logistics, he returned to the African [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]] to run a staging post for [[United States Air Force|USAF]] planes being ferried to the [[Middle East]].<ref name="ObsInd"/>

===JCB===
[[File:Aa jcbs first welder.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Bamford's first welding set]]
Upon his return home in 1944, Bamford initially worked for [[English Electric]] developing electric [[welding]] equipment in [[Stafford]]. A short return stint with the family firm proved too stifling, and his uncle Henry released him, saying he thought Joe had "little future ahead of him."<ref name="ObsGuard"/> After selling [[Brylcreem]] for a short while, in October 1945 Bamford rented a {{cvt|10|by|15|ft|m|0}} lock-up garage for 30 shillings (= £1.50) a week, and made a farm trailer from scrap steel and war surplus [[Jeep]] axles, using a prototype electric welder bought for £2-10s (= £2.50). He opened for business on the day his first son, [[Anthony Bamford|Anthony]], was born,<ref name="ObsGuard"/> and sold the trailer for £45 and a cart, which he also repaired and sold for another £45.<ref name="ObsInd"/>

Having no interest in taking over rival businesses, his [[philosophies|philosophy]] of: ''"Focus on what you do best, be innovative, and re-invest in product development and the latest manufacturing [[technologies]];"'' resulted in a series of market-leading innovations:
*1948 – introduced the first [[hydraulic]] tipping trailer in Europe
*1950 – moved to an old cheese factory in [[Rocester]] where the workforce totalled six
*1951 – began painting his machinery yellow
*1953 – brought out his breakthrough product, the [[backhoe loader]]
*1957 – brought out the "hydra-digga", incorporating the excavator and the major loader as a single all-purpose tool which was useful for both the agricultural as well as construction industry, which JCB grew with<ref name="ObsGuard"/>
*1991 – brought out the [[JCB Fastrac]] high speed agricultural tractor.

In 1958, he bought ten [[Scooter (motorcycle)|motorscooter]]s with the number plates JCB1 to JCB10, to get their number plates to transfer to his firm's vehicles.<ref>[http://www.speedace.info/JCB.htm J.C. Bamford profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101150708/http://www.speedace.info/JCB.htm |date=1 November 2015 }}, speedace.info; accessed 14 November 2015.</ref>

With exports to the United States beginning, profits increased from 1960 onwards. JCB won seven [[Queen's Award for Export|Queen's Awards for Export]]s as its sales spread to more than 130 countries around the world, while Bamford himself was appointed a CBE for Services to Export in 1969.<ref name="ObsInd"/> In 1993, he became the first British citizen to be honoured in the [[Association of Equipment Manufacturers]] Hall of Fame, and remained the only British inductee until his son [[Anthony Bamford|Anthony]] was inducted in 2008.<ref>[http://www.aem.org/HallOfFame/HallOfFamers/ AEM Hall of Fame website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222144449/http://www.aem.org/HallOfFame/HallOfFamers/ |date=22 February 2014 }}; retrieved 14 February 2014.</ref>

===Marketing===
What made Bamford different from many engineers was that he was also a marketeer. Bamford personally demanded to know daily from his staff how many "JCB Yellow" vehicles were off the road awaiting spares. Bamford created an image that JCBs were there to work, and if an owner-operator's machine was down, then Bamford wanted to know about it—which gained him 95% of the owner-operator market in the UK.<ref>[http://www.themarketingleaders.com/articles/oct06/john_coldwell.htm The Marketing Leaders – Marketing Leadership: the outsider looking in] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010643/http://www.themarketingleaders.com/articles/oct06/john_coldwell.htm |date=28 September 2007 }}, themarketingleaders.com; accessed 14 November 2015.</ref>

Bamford placed a 12&nbsp;V socket into the cab of his vehicles, and delivered the first 100 personally, arriving in his [[Rolls-Royce (car)|Rolls-Royce]] with number plate JCB1. One of the first [[Learjet]]s in Europe was purchased to fly in non-UK customers (the fleet has since got larger<ref>[http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=JCB&distinct_entry=true Aviation Photos: JCB], airliners.net; accessed 14 November 2015.</ref>), who were met by another European first, a stretched [[Cadillac]] with the same number of seats as the jet. Bamford also conceived the "dancing diggers," whose 1999 display in [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]] stopped the gamblers.<ref name="ObsGuard"/>

===Personal life===
A non-smoking [[teetotaller]], who was so careful with his money that he claimed his wife still made their own [[curtain]]s, Bamford worked from 09:00 until 23:00 every day. He saw his role in life to be like the [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] [[John Cadbury|Cadbury]] and [[William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme|Lever]] families. He built [[Rocester]] along the lines of [[Bournville]] and [[Port Sunlight]] into an effective marketing home for the company, and an efficient production centre and a virtual "home" for his employees. He saw no need to recognise [[trade union]]s. The Rocester works were surrounded by {{convert|10000|acre|km2|0}} of landscaped grounds in which his company's employees could shoot, fish, swim, and sail.<ref name="ObsInd"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Joseph Bamford [Obituary]|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|date=2 March 2001|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1324701/Joseph-Bamford.html|access-date=7 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731164643/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1324701/Joseph-Bamford.html|archive-date=31 July 2017}}</ref>

Bamford paid more than fair wages, which rose regularly, and annual bonuses based on reports of individual worth. In 1967 Bamford stood on a [[farm]] [[cart]] and handed out personal cheques totalling £250,000. This extraordinary focus in return gave unprecedented levels of workforce flexibility, with the average JCB employee through the strike-dominated 1970s and early 1980s, being seven times more productive than the average British manufacturing worker.<ref name="ObsInd"/>

===Retirement===
In 1975, Bamford left his wife Marjorie (née Griffin – married 1941), handed over the business to their two sons [[Anthony Bamford|Anthony]] and Mark,<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FZX/is_3_71/ai_n13471593 Bamford steps down as JCB managing director]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803190252/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FZX/is_3_71/ai_n13471593 |date= 3 August 2008 }}, BNET.com; accessed 14 November 2015.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=JCB founder Joseph Cyril Bamford dies aged 84 |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/jcb-founder-joseph-cyril-bamford-dies-aged-84-1.376072 |access-date=2024-01-23 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=25 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225205011/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/jcb-founder-joseph-cyril-bamford-dies-aged-84-1.376072 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-06-22 |title=JCB commemorates their founder with a bronze bust |url=https://www.totallandscapecare.com/business/article/15039786/jcb-commemorates-their-founder-with-a-bronze-bust |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Total Landscape Care |language=en-us}}</ref> and set up home with his secretary, Jayne Ellis, in [[Switzerland]] as [[tax exile]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/nov/14/bamford-court-feud-tory-funding The Guardian - Feud between Bamford brothers threatens to cast light on funding for Tories]</ref> He continued to design both boats and [[diesel engine]]s. Bamford was awarded the [[honorary degree]] of a Doctor of Technology from both [[Loughborough University]] in 1983<ref>[http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/hon_grads_80to89.html Honorary Graduates and University Medallists since 1966] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704103239/http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/publicity/degree_days/hon_grads_80to89.html |date=4 July 2007 }}, Loughborough University website; retrieved 19 August 2007.</ref> and [[Keele University]] in 2000.<ref>[http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/uso/pr/press/archive/2000/hd060600.htm Keele University Announces Honorary Degrees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122658/http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/uso/pr/press/archive/2000/hd060600.htm |date=29 September 2007 }} Keele University website; retrieved 19 August 2007.</ref>

His grandson, [[Jo Bamford]], briefly worked at JCB before moving into the hydrogen energy sector.

Bamford died in a London clinic on 1 March 2001.<ref name="ObsInd"/> At his death, JCB was the largest privately owned engineering company in Britain, employing 4,500 people and manufacturing 30,000 machines a year in 12 factories on three continents. It had revenues of £850m in 1999, earned from 140 countries.<ref name="ObsGuard"/>

His portraits by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies and Leslie Smithers (whilst he was still the head of his JCB empire) are in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)|National Portrait Gallery]].<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=as&occ=19%3BEngineering%2C+Construction%2C+Naval+Architecture+and+Surveying&lDate=&LinkID=mp69961 Joseph Cyril Bamford (1916–2001), Founder and chairman of JCB Inc., creator of construction and excavation equipment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711074115/http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=as&occ=19%3BEngineering%2C+Construction%2C+Naval+Architecture+and+Surveying&lDate=&LinkID=mp69961 |date=11 July 2007 }}, npg.org.uk; accessed 14 November 2015.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.jcb.com JCB]

{{JCB}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bamford, Joseph Cyril}}
[[Category:People from Uttoxeter]]
[[Category:People educated at Stonyhurst College]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:English billionaires]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:JCB (company)]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Staffordshire]]
[[Category:Bamford family]]