KERRY-ABINGDON | 1907-15 | ENGLAND :

The Kerry-Abingdon name requires a small correction to the dates given in the heading. The arrangement between the East London Rubber Company and the Birmingham firm of Abingdon began around 1907, not 1909, and ran through to December 1915 when wartime conditions ended civilian motorcycle production.

At around this time the Abingdon Works Co joined with the East London Rubber Co to make Kerry-Abingdon motorcycles, with East London Rubber preferring this arrangement to manufacturing themselves. The distinction between the Kerry and Kerry-Abingdon names reflects the shift in manufacturing from the Belgian Sarolea concern, which had supplied the machines sold as Kerry from 1902, to the domestic production of Abingdon in Birmingham. A neat 3.5hp model was produced, soon followed by a 6hp V-twin, both belt-driven with a three-speed rear hub. There were also two large singles of 499cc and 623cc, with the company building its own engines, which were later supplied to other firms.

East London Rubber moved to larger premises in Great Eastern Street in 1908, developing further business supplying parts for the motor trade alongside the motorcycle agency. The 1910 Cycle and Motorcycle Exhibition saw the company showing the Standard model fitted with a 3.5 horsepower engine, alongside a Tourist Trophy model following similar mechanical lines. In 1914 the company offered fifteen sidecar models alongside the motorcycle range.

The Kerry-Abingdon name therefore represents a transitional and then settled phase of a long commercial history, during which the East London Rubber Company functioned as a factor and distributor rather than a manufacturer, with Abingdon in Birmingham providing the engineering substance behind the Kerry badge.