To mark its 80th anniversary, JCB has shared a series of images charting its history from a lock-up garage in Staffordshire to a global manufacturing company.
JCB was founded by the late Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE in the market town of Uttoxeter on 23 October 1945 – the same day his son Anthony, now Lord Bamford, was born.
The company’s first product was a tipping trailer, made from wartime scrap, which today stands proudly in the showroom of JCB’s World HQ. It was produced in Bamford’s garage and sold for £45 at Uttoxeter’s market.
By 1947, the company was expanding and Bamford moved a few miles down the road to a stable block at Crakemarsh Hall.
However, by 1950, JCB was on the move again, this time to the site of a former cheese factory in Rocester, where its world headquarters is based today.
In 1962, JCB’s Dancing Diggers first took a bow, and the company’s first-ever overseas subsidiary in Holland was opened.
A year later, the JCB 3C backhoe, described by the firm as a “design classic”, was launched.
Loadall launch
By 1977, the company launched the Loadall telescopic handler, a machine which aimed to transform the way loads were handled on both construction sites and farms.
The Loadall went on to become one of the most commercially successful products in JCB’s history.
JCB’s World HQ has welcomed various members of the UK royal family and political leaders, including Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
2017 was a momentous year for the company on two fronts. It launched a new range of powered access equipment after two years of secret development and later that year, it marked the production of its 500,000th engine.
UK investment
This week, the company announced a £100 million investment in the manufacturing facilities at its UK headquarters.
JCB is also marking its anniversary by giving its entire global workforce of more than 19,000 people an additional day’s holiday on 24 October.
Commenting on the milestone, JCB chairman Anthony Bamford said: “It makes perfect sense to invest heavily in our British factories and the £100 million we are investing now will put us at the forefront of our industry. Obviously, we are expanding overseas, not least in America, where we have been for decades. But the UK is our home.
“We directly employ more than 19,000 people around the world, more than 8,000 of whom are in the UK. And even though around three-quarters of our UK production is exported, we continue to make a huge contribution to this country and to the national economy.”
