Laurence Pomeroy

Determined to "get on" in 1903 Pomeroy joined Humphreys & Co Civil Engineers in Victoria Street, London.

[1] From there he became a draughtsman with Thornycroft in Basingstoke before moving to Vauxhall Motors in Luton in 1905, where he became assistant to chief engineer Frederick Hodges.

Hodges, was given an extended winter holiday in 1907–08, and during this time Pomeroy was asked by a joint managing director of Vauxhall, Percy Kidner, to redesign one of their current engines.

After World War I, in 1919, Pomeroy left Vauxhall (he was then working on an overhead camshaft six and a V12 and the board was not interested in either of them)[1] and moved to the United States.

[1][5] The British Daimler company and AEC (makers of London buses) began a joint venture in 1926.

[1] This new 81.5 x 114mm, 3568 cc, six-cylinder was rated at 25 hp for tax purposes, and featured a monobloc aluminium cylinder block, detachable head, and balanced sleeve valves.

Investors became concerned with the dwindling sales volume, lack of competitive products, and the company's need to update their machine tool equipment.

[6] A difference of opinion developed with the company's new chairman, Geoffrey Burton (who did not have motor industry experience).

[1] In 1938, Pomeroy joined De Havilland Aircraft company as general manager of their engine division.

Following the outbreak of the war, he joined H. M. Hobson (Aircraft and Motor) Components Ltd.[1] Pomeroy died of a heart attack on 27 May 1941, in Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex.

[9] Readers of the popular weekly, The Motor, during the 1940s and 1950s were exposed to Pomeroy design successes at Vauxhall while his son served as the technical editor of magazine from 1936 to 1958.