Rothwell & Milbourne of Malvern - Triumph car dealer 24

Rothwell & Milbourne of Malvern compliments slip

This is the 24th article in my series about Triumph car dealers and features Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd of Malvern.

Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd advert in the Malvern Official Guide 1960

Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd of Malvern - Standard car dealer and Jaguar distributors for South Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Radnorshire.  Started as a partnership and then incorporated as a limited company (number 520804) on 19/09/1953 and was dissolved on 06/06/1990.

MACVITIE, Arthur Linnell, Born 20 December 1895 educated at Bishop Veseys Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield. bought the business in May, 1926.

In 1953 listed as car and light commercial vehicle stockists. Central Garage, Worcester Road, Malvern, Worcs.  Also at St. James Garage, W. Malvern; and Cowleigh Garage, Cowleigh Road, N. Malvern

On 23 November 1960 Mr A L MacVitie the then proprietor handed over the keys of a new E type Jaguar to its new owner the racing driver Innes Ireland.  In the mid 1970's the business was owned by Mr John and Mrs Judy MacVitie.

Rothwell and Milbourne Ltd dashboard plaque

A dashboard plaque for Rothwell and Milbourne Ltd as attached to a Triumph Spitfire.

Bond cars based on Triumph components were sold by the firm as evidenced by this advert for the Bond Equipe GT4S.

Rothwell & Milbourne of Malvern advert from Motor 14 November 1964

New Service Department at Malvern

The opening of Rothwell & Milbourne's new Service Department by Councillor G. T. Baldwin, Chairman of Malvern Urban District Council was reported in the Standard Triumph Review September 1959. On the extreme left is Mr A. L. MacVitie, Managing Director, Mr. John MacVitie and Mr J Bulman, Clerk to Malvern V.D.C.

Forecourt at Rothwell & Milbourne, Malvern September 1959

Triumph 1300 launch event

Triumph 1300 launch at Rothwell & Milbourne

It was reported in the Standard Triumph Review February 1966 that over 600 invitations were sent out by Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd, Standard-Triumph Area Dealers, of Malvern, when they held a Sherry Party at their Central Garage to introduce the new Triumph 1300. Many invitations were taken up and discerning motorists were joined by several local notabilities at what proved to be a most impressive debut for the new car. Discussing the car are Mr. A. L. McVitie (Chairman of Rothwell & Milbourne) in the centre with the Chairman of Malvern Urban District Council on his left and the Principal of Malvern College of Electronics on his right.

Triumph dealers in Malvern

From the various directoris I have I can see that Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd are listed as a dealer in 1951, 1955, 1959, 1965, 1968, 1972 and 1974:
Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd, Central Garage, Worcester Road, Malvern WR14 4AE.

Some other firms also sold new Standard Triumph cars in the Malvern area.
1955:
B S Ranford Ltd, Barnard's Green.
Richmond Garages (Malvern) Ltd, 245 Worcester Road.

1959:
Richmond Garages (Malvern) Ltd., 245 Worcester Road.

1965:
A D Daniels, Wells Road.
B S Ranford Ltd, 86 Barnards Green,
Richmond Garages (Malvern) Ltd, Barbourne Road,
J.W. South, Four Ways Garage, Rye Cross, Berrow.

1988:
no Austin Rover dealer

1991:
RoverGroup cars
W Westover Motors, 10 Moorlands Road, WR14 2JB

B S Ranford Ltd, Barnard's Green

This photo of B S Ranford Ltd, Barnard's Green was posted to facebook by Matt Egone Nfc Vester. I wonder when it was taken?

Plea for more information

If you have any more information or recollections about Rothwell & Milbourne Ltd, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr gallery of images I have found on Flickr.

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credits: compliments slip from Jez Phillips; Service Department and 1300 launch from Standard Triumph Review; Rothwell and Milbourne Ltd dashboard plaque from Andrew Newman.