ABSTRACT
The foundations of British motor-vehicle production were laid in Coventry in the 1890s as the city moved away from its traditional industries of textiles and watchmaking towards the manufacture of cars and their components. Coventry's rapid industrial expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was also associated with electrical and aeronautical engineering, machine tools and artificial fibres, producing a cluster of enterprises based on relatively high levels of science and technology. The social impact of Coventry's relatively late industrial revolution further illustrates the exceptional speed and magnitude of change. The emergence of aeronautical engineering industry was related to Coventry's involvement in the First World War when several of the leading motor firms went over to the production of airframes and aero-engines. The nature of Coventry's industrial development was greatly influenced by two world wars. Coventry's industrial malaise reflected the wider problems of the national economy, but Lord Mayor's Conferences in 1968 identified certain issues of special local importance.
