Highs and lows
The birth of Villiers
Born 1836 in Ludlow, Shropshire, John Marston moved to Wolverhampton in 1851, starting a seven year apprenticeship at the Jeddo Works of tinsmiths and japanners Richard Perry Son & Co. Training completed, he bought the like business of Daniel Smith-Lester of Bilston. Marriage followed and his first son Charles (who was to play major roles later) was born 1867. Four years later, Marston bought Richard Perry Son & Co., Marston, and soon moved his existing business into the Wolverhampton site. John Marston was a successful businessman and his factory performed well, leading to expansion plans by 1877.
These expanded businesses fabricated large quantities of household and other items from sheet steel, and earned a reputation for the high quality of their enamel finishes. Son Charles (the first of nine children born to Ellen and John Marston) joined his father’s business in 1885 and soon showed the same dedicated work ethos as his father, studying business and science at Mason College (later Birmingham University) while working in the business’s dispatch department either end of his college days.
For health reasons and pleasure, John Marston enjoyed cycling and, in c1888, he, the works and William Newill designed and built their first cycle with a low frame, to suit Marston’s short stature. Folklore enters history here, suggesting the sight of the sun's gleaming reflection on the cycle’s lustrous black enamel picked out with gold leaf prompted Ellen Marston to suggest the name ‘Sunbeam’ for future production models. The name was registered and soon the works became known as ‘Sunbeamland.’
Charles shared his father’s
