Nuffield, Lord (1877-1963), William Richard Morris, used mass-production methods to revolutionize automobile manufacturing in the United Kingdom. A former bicycle racer and mechanic, Morris made his first motorcar in 1911. His Morris Motors Ltd. began mass-producing cars in the United Kingdom in 1919. During the 1920’s, Morris flourished as an innovative automobile manufacturer. He used assembly lines to make cars, and aggressive advertising and loan options to sell them. By 1926, Morris’s firm was making 100,000 cars a year, including a model known as the MG. In 1951, his firm merged with Austin to form British Motor Corporation. Morris was its first president until he retired in 1954.
William Richard Morris was born on Oct. 10, 1877, in Worcester, England. He was made a baronet in 1929 and became Lord Nuffield in 1934. A philanthropist, Nuffield gave 1 million pounds and a site to Oxford University for Nuffield College. In 1943, he established the Nuffield Foundation for educational, medical, scientific, and social research with a gift of 10 million pounds. Nuffield died on Aug. 22, 1963.
