East London Rubber Co
East London Rubber Co
of 29-33 Great Eastern Street, London EC2
Also of Temple Street Bristol and Furnival Street Sheffield
1877 Business established as general rubber merchants; Alfred Kerry was manager
The business expanded and extended into bicycle tyres, being one of the first to offer solid rubber tyre, from which the business developed into a broader range of cycle accessories.
c.1903 Introduced the first Kerry motorcycles using a Belgian engine in frames made for the company by others.
1904 Kerry Tri-kars.
1907 At around this time the Abingdon Works Co joined with the East London Rubber Co to make Kerry-Abingdon motorcycles; East London Rubber preferred this arrangement to manufacturing themselves.
1908 Moved to larger premises in Great Eastern Street. Developed further business supplying parts for the motor trade.
1915 The Kerry-Abingdon arrangement came to an end.
Further lines were taken on including wireless, electrical supplies, motor clothing, sports goods, and general garage equipment and tools.
1934 Flotation as public company, wholesale merchants and factors, employing 450 staff[1]
1934-5 Catalogue of Autumn and Winter Motoring Sports & General Clothing.
1939 Carhome products.
WWII Had 3 engineering shops working for the Ministry of Supply; amongst the jobs undertaken was making cold-starting equipment for Russian tanks and jib cranes for removing tank engines[2]
1943 Name changed to Kerry's (Great Britain) to reflect the wide range of products and sectors that the company addressed[3]