DEATH OF MR. HARVEY DU CROS, J.P.
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On Saturday, 21st December, at his Irish residence, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Mr. Harvey Du Cros, Senn, passed away at the ripe old age of 72, from heart failure. His career has been one of com mercial romance, and, without the slightest doubt, it may he said of him that he was truly a creator and a prince of industry.
He came from Huguenot stock, his forefather, Jean Pierre Du Cros, having emigrated with his widowed mother frona Montpellier in the Reranlt district of Southern France, in order to escape from the religious persecutions that followed' the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They settled in Ireland, Jean Pierre serving as a lieutenant in the English wars of that period. He had descended from a noble French family, and everyone who had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Harvey Du Cros, particularly when he was stenciling a turbulent meeting of shareholders was forced to recognize that, nob only Was he an Irishman, but, from his polished manner and his graceful style, could recognize the echoes of his paternal ancestry.
young Harvey Du Cros started without assistance and in quite a small way, first. as a clerk employed by an old, established Quaker firm in Dublin, and then as an employee with a Scottish firm of paper manufacturers with offices in Dublin, first as clerk; then as manager, and ultimately as partner, until he was able to retire at the age of 40 with a well-secured competence. He had married, at 20 years of age, and had six sons, the whole of whom are known, and many of them justly famous in connection with the motor And allied trades, and the whole family of seven (for the father was more like an elder brother than the parent of the boys), became famous for their prowess as .athletes. Harvey Du Cros, in 1881, had taken every first place in Ireland for boxing, fencing and gym • nastics, and in the same season had the unique distinction of winning the light, middle and heavy-weight boxing championships.
/le was a keen Rugby footballer, and worked wonders at captain of the Beetive Rangers. He had five of his own club members with him in the first international contest which resulted in a victory for the Irish team. He trained his boys as gymnasts, and the whole seven would give amateur displays, of a high order of excellence, at sports gatherings. The elder sons were prominent at boxing, and cycle-track racing was very closely pursued, with an amount of headwork and skilful combination which made the Du Cros boys known as the " Invincibles," whilst Arthur Du Cros particularly distinguished himself tuythe winner of many championships.
Mr. Du Cros was then chairman of the Trish Cyclists' Association, and it was this connection with cycling that led him on to a new fortune, for in the year 1888, Mr. James Boyd Dunlop, a Belfast physician conceived the idea of putting air inflated tyres on a cycle belonging to his son, iu order to eliminate he yibra tion of the machine when passing over the rough stone setts of Belfast. The unexpected discovery was made that' the pneumatic tyre was faster than any solid tyre, and early specimens appeared on the track. Mr. Du Urea examined the invention, recognized its defects, and gathered some idea of the forthcoming revolution which it portended. Instead, therefore, of retiring from business, he determined to establish the pneumatic tyre as a commercial undertaking, and in the autumn of 1888 he figured as the chairman of a .company knowa as the Pneumatic • Tyre and Booth's Cycle Agency, Ltd., with a capital of L25,000, of which only 217,000 was subscribed.
We well remember the prospectus, and the feeling that the cycle agency portion of the business was the .soundest part of the proposition.
Tyres were made in Dublin and. Mr. A. )".. Wilson brought the first set over to England with a good deal of fear and trembling on uhe part of Mr. Harvey Du Oros. It will he remembered that the first pneumatic, often referred to as the " mummy " tyre, could not be detached, whilst the valve did not allow for deflation. The tyre evoked considerable opposition, and cushion tyres were brought out in competition and rivalry as looking like a more reasonable device. However, despite its appearance and defects, the pneumatic tyre caught on—for cycle work, of course. The North British Rubber Co. were the first to introduce a detachable tyre, taking up Bartlett's patents.
Then came the discovery that Dunlop's invention had been anticipated in 1845 by Thompson, who, however, had never succeeded in getting his idea taken up commercially. Mr. Du Urns was not to be beaten, although the Dunlop patent was now valueless, and he set out to purchase the patent for the hest valve and for the simplest and most masterly method of making a tyre detachable' viz., the Welch patent. The goodwill already created in the name of DualoLyras thus secured.
The era of litigation which' followed was long and very trying, but it ultimately ended in victory, and then came the period of commercial expansion. The Hooley boom might easily have been the financial undoing of the concern, but it was no doubt Harvey Du Cross genius which, justified the heavy capitalization which resulted. When the Welch patent expired, preceded, of course, by the expiry of Bartlett's patents, Mr. Du Cros at a banquet Publicly burned the patent and then declared that, although it was now open to the world to make tyres without restriction, Dunlops would arise as the pluenix from the ashes of the patent, which, so far as the cycle tyres
were concerned, became true through the employment, of a new system of rapid vulcanization. The development of the motor tyre and of the heavy commercial vehicle tyre rapidly
• followed, and there is no question but that to-day the Dunlop Rubber Co. holds a foremost place in the world's market.
Mr. Du Cros was personally identified with the introduction to the British m'arkeb Of certain French cars, viz., the Panhard, Clement and Gladiator, and he took a leading financial part in the companies that produced the . Napier, Austin and . Swift cars and motor vehicles.
We recall a very cordial interview which we had with him and his son, George Du erns, at the 'offices of the Dunlop Co., in Regent Street. In the course of the conversation we advanced the theory that a•man who, was a clever organizer must, in all obviousness, have a mechanical mind, because organizing entailed and called for a . strong constructive ability. We saw Mr. George Du Urns smile so we at once and .boldly applied the theory to Mr. Harvey Do Gros, when G
both laughed outright, and Mr. eorge Du Cros said, "Why, my father has no appreciation of medhanics at all " ; to which Mr; Harvey Du Cros added, "No, • I do not understand the workings of mechanical contrivances at all. The carburetter is a great 'puzzle to me, for instance," and Mr. George Du Cros chimed in "Yes, we have been trying to explain to my father what a clutch does, but he does nob get hold of the idea at all." Very much abashed, we had to admit that Mr. Du Cros had shattered a cherished theory of ours, for there was no question about his organizing capacity at any rate. For two years, 1906 to 1908,, he represented Hastings in Parliament as a Tariff Reformer, on his retirement being succeeded in the representation by his son, Sir Arthur Du Cros, Bart. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on the occasion of the complimentary dinner in his honour in November, 199, presided over by the late Prince Francis of Teck, to celebrate the coming of age of the pneumatic tyre. He retired from business a few years ago, and his place has been ably taken in the commercial world by Sir Arthur Du Oros, who is now chairman of the Dunlop Rubber Co. and its allied concerns.