Henry Ronald Godfrey

Who was Henry Ronald Godfrey?

Henry Ronald Godfrey, was an early English motor car design engineer.

Born near London, he met Archibald Frazer-Nash at technical college, to produce the GN cycle car. A light-weight two-cylinder car first sold in 1911, it stayed in production through 1922.

After Archie left the company in 1922 to form Frazer-Nash, Godfrey also left to form repair business HR Godfrey Motors, which supplied GN spares and offered rebuilds. This enterprise formed the basis of his partnership with Stuart Proctor, with whom he formed Godfrey and Proctor. Continuing the servicing of GN's, they produced their own car based on the Austin Seven. However, the venture proved unsuccessful, with only about 10 cars produced by the time the company ceased trading in 1928.

In 1929, Godfrey formed a new partnership with Archie, Nash & Thomson in Kingston-upon-Thames. Involved in engineering work for the Admiralty and the Royal Air Force, the company designed the Frazer-Nash produced hydraulic gun turret, that was to be widely used in World War II.

In 1935, having raced at Brooklands, Godfrey formed HRG Engineering Company with Major E.J. "Ted" Halford and Guy Herbert Robins, who was previously with Trojan. HRG was based in Norbiton, with the first prototype shown at the end of 1935. Fully established in 1936, the company produced cars until 1956, and the reverted to development engineering work for others, before ceasing trading in 1966.