Sir Laurence John Hartnett CBE (26 May 18984 April 1986) was a British engineer and businessman who made several important contributions to the Australian automotive industry, and is often called "The Father of the Holden". He played a pivotal role in the development of Australia's automotive industry by leading General Motors-Holden during the design and production of the first Australian-made car, the Holden 48-215. Hartnett was also involved in defense production during World War II. His innovative vision and leadership left a lasting legacy in both the automotive and industrial sectors of the country.
Childhood
Hartnett was born into a middle-class family in Woking, England. His mother, Katherine Jane Taplin, was the daughter of Wiltshire farmer George Taplin and his wife Kate.Remembrance of Kate Taplin, wife of George Taplin, born 21 May 1839 died 19 September 1876 Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives His father, Irish born John Joseph Hartnett, was a doctor and inventor of patent medicinesAdvertisement for 'Borreno' Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives from Clonakilty, County Cork, who had an M.D. from Dublin and in 1892 had published a pamphlet on the treatment of tuberculosis.J.J. Hartnett Antiseptic Treatment of Pulmonary Consumption London: Henry Renshaw, 1892 In addition he had invented an inhaling machine by means of which tubercular patients could breathe fresh, dry, medicated air.R.Y. Keers Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Journey Down the Centuries London: Ballière Tindall, 1978 pp. 68, 70, 112 John Hartnett and Katherine Taplin married in Portsmouth on 1 May 1897 and went to live in Woking where in March of the following year their only child, Laurence (known as Larry) was born.Hartnett to Gina Hartnett 23 February 1982, 23 March 1982; John Hartnett to florence [sic] 16 July 1897 Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives The latter, however, was to retain no memory of his father who died nine months later.K. Hartnett to D.J. McCarthy 6 July 1899 Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives Shortly afterwards, mother and son went to live with Katherine's childless sister and brother-in-law for whom Katherine acted as housekeeper, initially in Southsea and then in Kingston-upon-Thames.Joe Rich Hartnett: Portrait of a Technocratic Brigand Sydney: Turton & Armstrong, 1996 p.2 Larry began his schooling in 1903 in the home of a pair of middle-aged spinsters who taught him and some eight or nine other children in their dining room. From there he graduated two years later to Kingston Grammar School and from 1909 he attended Epsom College, which specialised in educating the sons of doctors who were, themselves, generally destined to enter that profession. Larry had obtained a foundation scholarship, offered to those doctors' sons whose families could not afford the fees.C.J. Swete A Handbook of Epsom East Ardsley, Wakefield: E.P. Publishing Ltd, 1973 p. 63; G. Home Epsom: Its History and its Surroundings London: The Homeland Association, 1901 p.42; Epsom College School List 1910 p. 5-6, in Epsom College archives In his first year, the school's Natural History Society created an Aeroplane Section in which he took a close interest, pasting photos of aircraft and newspaper cuttings about aviation into an exercise book as well as making detailed drawings of their parts and participating in the construction of a full-sized glider which the Section launched on a five hundred metre flight in 1912. Epsom was the first school in England to include aeronautical training as an optional extra subject.Epsomian 30 October 1909 pp. 1, 10, 13, 7 December 1910, 22 January 1911, 26 October 1911, 1 November 1913; L.J. Hartnett to A.C. Scadding 16 September 1984, Exercise Books headed 'Aeronautics' 1912 in Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives While College records show that Hartnett did not on the whole shine academically, in 1914 an essay he wrote on China won the Epsom College geography prize for which he received a book called Engineering Today by Thomas Corbin.Epsom College School Lists, in Epsom College Archives; Epsomian 28 February 1914
Early career After leaving school in 1915 he became a management apprentice with British arms manufacturer Vickers Ltd, demand for whose products had been heightened by the outbreak of war with Germany in the previous year.L.J. Hartnett Big Wheels and Little Wheels Wildgrass Books, 1981 p.5; J. Bettany to Katherine Hartnett 6 July 1915 in Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives; J.D. Scott Vickers: A History London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962 In the day-time his training focused on industrial management at the company's Crayford plant while in the evenings he studied theoretical subjects such as metallurgy and mathematics at a nearby technical school. Then in March 1918 he decided to enlist in the war, entering the Royal Naval College at Greenwich as a Probationary Flying Officer, a rank he retained until hostilities ended in the following November.Joe Rich Hartnett: Portrait of a Technocratic Brigand Sydney: Turton and Armstrong, 1996 pp. 21, 24 He received practical training at Chingford and Northolt airports before being appointed to Number 304 Bomber Squadron in Shropshire.Hartnett to John Linneman 16 June 1978, Hartnett to P. Liddle 3 February 1983 Hartnett Papers Melbourne University Archives However, the Armistice was signed before he had been able to fly a single mission. Nevertheless, prior to his return to civilian life, he did do a stint as manager of an Air Force ground transport unit thereby qualifying in Aerodrome Management.International Aerial Register and Gazette London, 1919 pp.128, 131
In 1919 he purchased a South London business which he renamed the Wallington Motor Company. In addition to making parts for gas stoves, it bought, sold, hired and repaired bicycles as well as the occasional automobile.Big Wheels and Little Wheels p.19; Agreement between F.L. Bessemer, L.J. Hartnett, L. Skeldon and F.A. Watkin 16 September 1919 in Public Records Office, London; Memorandum of Association of Wallington Motor Company Ltd BT31 24982/1584 64 Demand for motor cars in England in the immediate aftermath of the war was far greater than the supply and Hartnett increased the automotive side of his new venture by instructing his employees to make inquiries in nearby villages with a view to locating war widows who couldn't drive but whose husbands prior to enlisting had left their cars up on blocks to await their owners' return. He would offer to buy these vehicles, which often needed work done to make them roadworthy, with a view to repairing and reselling them at Wallington Motors.Joe Rich Hartnett: Portrait of a Technocratic Brigand pp. 29–30 Initially, he was very successful. But then the bubble burst as the economy slowed and motor cars became harder to sell.D. Thompson England in the Twentieth Century1914-1963 London: Jonathan Cape, 1964 p.60; Autocar 16 October 1920 pp. 660, 669 Already in September 1920, the Wallington Motor Company was forced to take out a £200 bank loan to remain afloat. Three months later, a further £600 was borrowed.Certificate of Registration of Mortgage or Charge 28 October 1920, Summary of Share Capital and Shares of the Wallington Motor Company Limited 14 January 1921, in Public Records Office, London BT31 24982/1584 64 Even so, the venture was unable to meet its liabilities, closing its doors for the last time in December 1921.Extraordinary resolution to wind up Wallington Motor Co Ltd on 30 December 1921, Notice of appointment of liquidator, in Public Records Office, London BT31 24982/1584 64
Undeterred, in the following year, Hartnett set up as an automobile engineer, renting part of a Wallington boot repair shop and dealing in bicycles, motor bikes and cars.Letterhead of L.J. Hartnett Automotive and Consulting Engineer, in Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives But the economy had grown sluggish and when this, too, failed he turned to earning a precarious living as a freelance automotive consultant. He obtained commissions with firms such as the Nyasa Consolidated Company which wanted him to inspect vehicles it was considering buying for its commercial operations in central and east Africa. But the pickings were meager and time weighed on his hands. In 1923 he sold a patent for improving insulators on radio aerials to a ceramics firm.Hartnett curriculum vitae; Notification from Carmaels, Ransford and Newton, chartered patent agents, Chancery Lane, Provisional Specification No. 4820 19 February 1923 in Hartnett papers, Melbourne University Archives
His next important career move came in March 1923 when he was offered and accepted a job as Automobile Engineer with trading firm Guthrie and Company which administered rubber plantations in southeast Asia as well as importing goods such as tea, alcoholic beverages and motor cars into the region. On his arrival in Singapore two months laterS. Cunningham-Brown The Traders London: Newman Neame Ltd, 1971; Guthrie & Co to Hartnett 11 April 1923 in Hartnett papers, Melbourne University Archives he was put in charge of Guthrie and Co's automobile distribution and sales operation in Grange Road. There, he handled mainly Buick cars for which the company had obtained the local franchise from American manufacturer General Motors in the previous February. Hartnett's job was to unload and assemble these vehicles when they arrived by ship and to distribute them to a network of dealers he had appointed and whose activities he supervised throughout the region. He conducted the Singapore dealership himself.Hartnett to Sutherland Pilch 22 January 1926 in Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives; Big Wheels and Little Wheels p.23-4
The Grange Road operation flourished as booming worldwide demand for rubber brought prosperity to southeast Asia, greatly increasing demand for motor vehicles.Straits Times 17 August 1925; India Rubber Journal 20 September 1924 At the same time, Hartnett benefited personally from the boom by speculating in rubber futures as a sideline.Joe Rich Hartnett: Portrait of a Technocratic Brigand p.41 He also took an extracurricular interest in commercial radio during this period. When his employer imported a small transmitter, he began broadcasting music and talks from the Grange Road premises for about 15 minutes each day with financial support from local advertisers. However, he had neglected to obtain a licence and the colonial authorities, fearing that such a small, shoestring operation would fail and thereby make it more difficult for any subsequent larger venture to succeed, soon forced him to close down. So, he moved the operation to Johore where the British fiat had less force and whose Sultan initially welcomed it. But it didn't last long there either as pressure exerted on Guthrie and Co by the imperial government in Singapore once more ensured its closure—this time definitively.Straits Times 28 April 1924 p.13; Joe Rich Hartnett: Portrait of a Technocratic Brigand pp.41–2; L.J. Hartnett Big Wheels and Little Wheels pp.125–6; Hartnett to Garlick 2 June 1926, in Hartnett Papers, Melbourne University Archives