Colin + Aphra Vivien Macartney-Filgate. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1965 Owen Finlay Maclaren MBE, retired aeronautical designer and formertest pilot, design the prototype "baby buggy" - an aluminum pushchairwhich folds like an umbrella and weighs 6lbs.
A British patent application is filed on 20 July, 1965.

For more information on the Company, its products, and history go to
http://www.maclarenstrollers.com/

Maclaren Limited
Station Works
Long Buckby
Northampton, NN6 7PF
England
Phone 44 (0) 1327 842662
Fax 44 (0) 1327 842208
[Mac 14Febxx.FTW]


Below is part of an article in The Financial Times at
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030919008220&query=maclaren&vsc_
In an article called "Wheels of fortune" by John Gapper
FT.com site; Sep 19, 2003

"It was five miles from Long Buckby, at Owen Maclaren's 15th- centuryhouse in the village of Barby, where the first folding pushchair wasinvented. Maclaren was close to retirement from a remarkable career inaeronautical design and engineering. After studying at Cambridge, hebecame a pilot, and developed landing gear that allowed an aircraft totake off and land in a cross-wind. In 1942, he invented a sealing devicethat enabled a Spitfire to survive a bullet through the radiator, andafter the war he worked on anti-skid brakes for the aviation arm oftyre-maker Dunlop.

Maclaren became frustrated at Dunlop and, in the early 1960s, he set up acompany called Andrews Maclaren, with backing from his friend BillAndrews. Its main products were chrome-plated aircraft parts, but OwenMaclaren also developed a sideline in consumer goods inspired by thefolding mechanism of aircraft landing gear. His first consumer inventionwas a picnic chair called the Gadabout, which could be folded and carriedlike an umbrella. The Gadabout was a modest success but it had nothinglike the impact of Owen Maclaren's most famous and enduring invention.

Inspiration for the pushchair struck him after his daughter Janet marriedGeorge Hambleton, an executive for Pan American Airways. In the early1960s, Pan Am posted Hambleton first to Helsinki and then to Moscow.Anne, their first child, was born in 1962, followed by two boys. TheHambletons split their time between Moscow and London, forcing them totake their children on and off aircraft constantly. At the time, theperambulator was the main form of transport for babies, and the biggestBritish manufacturer was Silver Cross of West Yorkshire. These prams werevery hard to take on aircraft - or even to put in cars. "In those days,it was terrible travelling with children because of the prams. Mygrandfather saw my mother's suffering, and necessity was the mother ofinvention," says Anne Hambleton. When she was two, Owen Maclaren designeda 6lb aluminium pushchair that the Hambletons could stow easily on anaircraft. The pushchair had one X-shaped cross-frame at the back, andanother on the bottom. As the handles were squeezed together and pushedforward, the buggy folded into a column with wheels on one end andhandles on the other. Maclaren's design is largely unchanged todaybecause its combination of sturdiness, lightness and convenience is hardto beat.

Owen Maclaren set up a small production line in the stables at the rearof his house, and hired women from Barby to assemble the pushchairs outof aluminium tubes and stitch the fabric. It was not particularlyhigh-skilled work, but it meant jobs where there had been none before."There were 20 ladies from the village who would assemble them. Iremember running around in the courtyard, and playing with all the tubesand bits and pieces," says Anne, who now lives in Vermont.

As soon as the Maclaren folding pushchair started to hit stores such asSelfridges in London, orders poured in and the business thrived. "We hadour first child in 1971 when the Maclarens were becoming popular,"recalls James Dyson, inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner. "The needfor it was completely obvious because you could not get on a plane with apram or the old pushchairs. Along came this thing, and it was amazing.You could fold it up and put it on the back floor of the car, or in theoverhead locker of an aircraft. As a concept for solving a designproblem, it was brilliant."

But Owen Maclaren was not primarily interested in making money from hispushchair. He took most satisfaction in having invented something usefulthat provided jobs in his local area: "It is a village industry and makesa lot of people happy," he said in an interview with his local newspaperin 1971. Mike McCulloch, Maclaren's general manager at Long Buckby, saysOwen Maclaren was always more of an engineer than a businessman. "He wasan inventor who came up with a fantastic innovation that revolutionised amarket, but I don't know how much of a business strategy he ever had."

For a long time, the company's co-operative spirit worked well enough."He had a lovely house in Barby and when we went round there formeetings, the cows would put their heads through the window," says oneformer manager. As production expanded, Maclaren took additional space tomake the pushchairs, first in Daventry and then at Long Buckby. Amongthose who worked with him, Owen Maclaren is remembered as an amiablefigure who would walk around chatting to workers. "He was extremelygenerous in a quiet way and there were no union problems while he wasalive," says George Hambleton. One former manager remembers Owen Maclarenshutting the factory at Long Buckby for the day of the Queen's SilverJubilee in 1977. "Mr Maclaren brought in crates of champagne for everyoneto drink. He was a smashing old man."

The Financial Times at
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030919008220&query=maclaren&vsc_
In an article called "Wheels of fortune" by John Gapper
by John Gapper is an associate editor of the FT

Owen + Marie Blacklock. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He fought in the First World War, where he was mentioned in despatches. He gained the rank of officer in the service of the Royal Irish Regiment and Royal Engineers. He was with the Gold Coast Civil Service.

Dermot + Aphra Jane Bennett. Aphra died in Feb 1935. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Andrew Maclaren 1870-1914
Born 1870 Scotland
Died 1914 UK
Son of Robert Maclaren 1817-1889 and Mary Jane Findlay 1830
Husband of Eva Friend. Father of Denholm, Owen, Brian, & Bruce.

Joined up as private with butler (and Rolls Royce) in 1914 died ofTyphoid in Camp in UK

Andrew + Eva Friend. Eva was born in Australia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

On 4 June 1862 his name was legally changed to Townley Patten Hume Macartney-Filgate by Royal Licence. He gained the rank of Captain in the service of the 18th Hussars and Scots Greys. He was Inspector-General of Gaols and Registration, Bombay Presidency. He held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.).1 He lived at Lowtherstone, County Dublin, Ireland.

Townley married Tryphena Elizabeth Fitzgerald in 1862. Tryphena died in Oct 1918. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]