|
|
Prev
|
Index |
Next Many old Nuneatonians have fond memories of travelling to Caldwell, Bramcote and Attleborough on one of Monty's old buses. I say old because probably most of them were purchased second hand, and in some cases third or even fourth hand. Monty's services had a delightful homespun character to them; few buses were identical which made travelling on his routes something of an adventure. However, the character of these buses were just part of the fantastic Monty Moreton story and the founder of the business 80 years ago.
Monty Moreton senior was born at Hartshill in June 1884 and started work at the age of 10 in a local stone quarry. A rapid succession of jobs introduced him to the mining industry and he then worked at Stockingford Drybread and Ansley Hall Collieries before spending the next 25 years with Stanley Bros. Ltd at their Nuneaton colliery at Stockingford. When that pit closed in 1922 Monty found him out of work so he travelled around looking for a job. He fancied leaving the mining business and took up labouring at Desford. Whilst he was away in Leicestershire a chance conversation in a pub in Market Bosworth led him to buy his first motor omnibus. He paid £220 for it out of his savings, and not being able to drive got the former owner to show him how it worked on the way home. He then set about working as hard as he could to build up his business.
His first trip was at 5.30am every morning taking miners to work and then he would remove the bus body, fit a lorry body and use this for delivering coal and general haulage throughout the day. He then re-fitted the bus body before taking the miners home at night. It was said when he died that he had spent his whole life at work. When his son, Monty Junior, was 17 he bought a second bus and the pair of them built the business up between them. At this time their joint wage bill was £9 per week!
Monty junior was born in 1906 and took over the family firm when his father died. He was, like his dad, a very colourful, but well respected character. He became member of Nuneaton Borough Council in 1949. Chairman of the General Works Committee and North East Warwickshire Water Board as well as being a Warwickshire County Councillor. He was mayor between 1959-60.
Monty Junior retired in 1971 and his son also called Monty, his brother Bill Moreton and cousin, Sam Holland, carried on the business. Changing times and changing fortunes brought about lean years for the firm after this date and it closed in 1980 leaving behind many happy memories of summer excursions to Skegness, Yarmouth and Cleethorpes. In addition to his local routes he also ran a variety of trips out in the summer and regular holiday routes to the seaside. All this in addition to taking workmen every day to the factories in Coventry. Monty was one of several bus operators that started in the 20's running either in competition with the Midland Red and each other. Gradually some of the other routes were taken over by the Midland Red but Monty Senior carried on, with a war of attrition with big brother, the Midland Red, leaving only two independent operators in 1939. The other was A.J. & A. Kiteley trading as "Swift Motor Services" which was acquired by the Midland Red in 1939, the Swift buses themselves passing to their former rival Monty. Monty Moreton Limited was formed in May 1941. About 1944 he acquired the business of L & R York of Wolvey.
In the post war period he developed the busiest stage service to the Caldwell estate.
Amongst his services was the daily route from Chapel End to Gipsy Lane via the Bus Station. His Monday-Friday Wolvey-Hinckley service. Nuneaton-Wolvey and the daily Bus Station to the Caldwell Estate (Red Deeps). In the summer he ran regular trips to Mablethorpe, Great Yarmouth and the Isle of Wight. Works services comprised morning and evening routes to Hinckley, Baddesley Colliery and the Chrysler works in Coventry.
His garage was located in Attleborough almost opposite the Albion Buildings and extended down to the Wem Brook overlooking the Pingle Fields.
The first bus purchased with his £220 appears to have been a Ford model T with a Dixie body acquired in 1923. This was a convertible model the bus body could be removed and a lorry body fitted. In those days a lot of the early bus operators had these sorts of vehicles. The services must have been successful despite the miners having a rather rough ride on indifferent roads with solid rubber tyres and rather rickety wooden bodies, bench seats only loosely connected to the chassis. I have not yet come across any accidents due to this "Heath Robinson" arrangement due to failure to secure all the bolts resulting in bodies coming loose and depositing its passengers on the road in a heap of splintered wood, I dare say there was some. His first two buses had this arrangement but they did not last long in service being withdrawn in 1926 possibly sold on to another operator. The body from one was used on another Monty vehicle a Chevrolet purchased in 1926. Over the years there were very many acquisitions including some from the War Department and operators as far away as Yorkshire and Cheshire.
Monty's livery was a distinctive cream and red, which looked very good on these old buses.
|