From bicycle manufacturing to early motorcycles, Wearwell looked set to become a major name in the British motorcycle industry. But financial wrongdoing brought the company’s promising future to an abrupt end.
Like so many, Wearwell started out as a bicycle manufacturer. The Cogent Cycle Co was founded by Henry Clarke and the business included his five sons, Tom, George, William, Jack, and Henry. When Mr Clarke died in 1889, his sons moved into new premises in Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, and renamed the company the Wearwell Cycle Company. It was to become one of Wolverhampton’s leading cycle manufacturers.
In 1899, eager to take advantage of the new trend for powered vehicles, William formed the Wearwell Motor Carriage Company in Pountney Street. Its first automobile featured two 2¼ hp engines mounted side by side, but it proved to be a resounding failure.
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William decided that the company might see more success with powered two-wheelers and approached local company Stevens (which would, of course, later become AJS). Stevens had by this time built its first motorcycle while it also supplied Wearwell with components for its bicycles. The two companies went into partnership to make machines under the Wearwell-Stevens name.
The first Wearwell was a heavy-duty bicycle fitted with a 2½ hp Stevens engine and sold for 42 guineas. It was, perhaps a little to the surprise of both parties, an immediate success. In 1903 the Motette tricycle was introduced, which was essentially the powered bicycle with an extra wheel, the front wheel having been replaced by a two-wheeled axle on which a wicker seat was perched. It was priced at 53 guineas which was about a year’s wage for the average working man.
In 1905 the motorcycle name was changed to Wolf and some thirteen or fourteen models were offered, including lightweight, commercial and heavy-duty versions of the Motette. The latter was basically a car with a steering wheel and 8hp vertical twin engine.
By 1907 Stevens had begun to supply Wearwell with frames as well as engines while the Stevens brothers rode Wolfs in competition and saw much success in speed and reliability trials.
At this point, Wearwell seemed on track to be a major player in the British motorcycle industry. Indeed, had it not have been for what happened next, we might know the name and not that of AJS. For that we have a Mr King to thank. He was the Company Secretary of Wearwell and, unbeknown to most of the Clarkes, he had been using the company’s money to gamble at pool. Unfortunately, Mr King wasn’t very good at the game and so had lost a great deal of money that wasn’t his. When he was found out, he tried to commit suicide. William Clarke refused to bring any criminal charges against him when he found out that one of his brothers – sadly, we don’t know whom – was also involved in the embezzlement.
So much money had disappeared that the company was forced into liquidation. It would not, however, be the last we will hear from William Clarke…
The original article appeared in Old Bike Mart
