The Wadham family were well established commercially in Waterlooville. Charles Wadham ran a drapery business in Waterlooville from the 1870’s. His nephews, however, were more interested in engineering. Harold (John) Wadham started a cycle building business in Waterlooville in 1900. His own model, the ‘Waterloo’ soon became a popular racing cycle. Five years later, he was joined by his brother Wilfred, and they formed the Wadham Bro’s partnership at a workshop in Stakes Hill Road. Fire destroyed the premises in 1907, but new workshops were quickly built behind the Waterloo Hotel on Hambledon Road, followed by a car showroom in London Road that boasted the first petrol pump in Waterlooville. The brothers first exhibited at the Olympia show in 1912 (Jones, The Early Years of Waterlooville , 2015 Vol 1).
During WW1, Wadham’s workshops turned to the repair of military vehicles and the manufacture of munitions. With some of their workforce called up, women were recruited to take their place. Wadham’s Fordson tractors were put to work to ploughing local land for food production (Jones S., 2015 Vol 2).
Following the closure of a competitor, Wadham’s expanded in the 1920’s and again in the 1930’s, opening multiple car showrooms in Southampton, Cowplain, Chichester and Southsea. The Southsea Motor Engineering Company was set up for the distribution of Armstrong-Siddeley cars. When coaches replaced the trams (cross reference to trams), Wadhams built Thorneycroft buses for Portsmouth City Council, and the green ‘Denmead Queen’ coaches for the Southdown Motor Company (Jones S. , 2015 Vol 2).
When WW2 broke out, many of the workforce were called up and women again took their place. Wadhams began to build ambulances for the army, while some of their workshops turned to manufacturing aircraft parts for Airspeed (Portsmouth) and Vickers Supermarine (Southampton). Production continued for the duration of the war, despite suffering bomb damage from air raids at their sites in Waterlooville, Southsea and Southampton (Jones S. , 2015 Vol 2).
Post-war, Wadhams became appointed main dealers for Ferguson tractors. Sadly, soon after, both brothers died. Harold (66) died in in 1947, followed by his brother Wilfred (67) in 1949.
The limited company continued and celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 1955. Growth continued and a new factory was built in Hambledon Road to cater for modern techniques and materials. New factories were also built in Chichester and Southampton, and new showrooms began selling Riley, Wolseley and Morris cars (Jones S. , 2015 Vol 2). In 1965, Commercial vehicle magazine reported that 40% of all British ambulances were built at Wadham’s Waterlooville. In 1968 Wadhams amalgamated with Stringer Motors to form Wadham Stringer, which became Wadham Kenning in 1987. After 90 years, the name Wadham was lost with the sale to Inchcape in 1992 (Wikipedia, 2024). The Waterlooville site continued to build coaches until 2007. The site was eventually sold, and the Sainsbury’s superstore was built on the site in 2014 (Jones, A History of Waterlooville, 2015 Vol. 3).
Bibliography
Graces Guide. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Wadham_Brothers
Jones. (2015 Vol 1). The Early Years of Waterlooville. Retrieved from The Early Years of Waterlooville 1800-1910 and A History of the Forest of Bere: https://archive.org/details/TheEarlyYearsOfWaterlooville1810-1910AndAHistoryOfTheForestOfBere/page/n7/mode/2up
Jones. (2015 Vol. 3). A History of Waterlooville Vol 3. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfWaterloovilleVol.3/page/n5/mode/2up
Jones, S. (2015 Vol 2). Retrieved from A History of Waterlooville: https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfWaterloovilleVol.21911-1951/page/n51/mode/2up
Wikipedia. (2024). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadham_Stringer