The Swan Motor Manufacturing began life in Frodsham High Street in Cheshire in around 1910 and exhibited its first motorcycle at the Olympia Show in 1911. This was an open-frame machine with, unusually for the time, front and rear suspension.
The founder of the company was FH Thornton who lived in a large house opposite the factory. In 1912 a team of three Swans took part in the International Six Days Trial in Somerset and Devon, with Mr Thornton being one of the riders, and one of the Swans – ridden by an M Garrey, gained a Silver Medal. However, they may have been more of a menace of other riders; on a hairpin in Teignmouth a competitor fell off his bike on a hairpin and was run over by one of the Swans, while the next day Mr Thornton himself knocked over a pedestrian.
In 1913, more advances were made with a model with a light alloy plate frame, reinforced with steel and an inner frame which pivoted on ball bearings and supported the gearbox and forks. The engine choice was either a 3½ hp Precision or a JAP. Cover plates hid the crankcase and gearbox, protecting the rider from oil and grease, while there was an option for a wire ‘birdcage’ over the upper part of the engine for lady riders. Due to the use of light alloy, it was claimed that the Swan weighed just 165lbs.
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Despite being a small concern, it seems that the Cheshire company was very innovative and might well have made quite a name for itself had it continued in business. But it
closed its doors in 1913 and, for once, it appears that that this wasn’t due to war clouds on the horizon as with so many of its contemporaries. Mr Thornton had been away on business and, when he returned, he discovered that his employees had been pilfering parts and selling them, out of the back door, as it were. In quite a dramatic reaction, he sacked all the staff, closed down the works and buried all the remaining Swan parts in a hole on the site. Two bungalows now stand on what was the site of the Swan works – one wonders whether the parts still lie beneath the soil or if they were excavated during construction with no one realising what there were.
Original article appeared in Old Bike Mart. To subscribe, click here: https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/old-bike-mart
