From bicycle manufacturing to early motorcycles, Wearwell looked set to become a major name in the British motorcycle industry. But financial wrongdoing brought the company’s promising future to an abrupt end.
Like so many, Wearwell started out as a bicycle manufacturer. The Cogent Cycle Co was founded by Henry Clarke and the business included his five sons, Tom, George, William, Jack, and Henry. When Mr Clarke died in 1889, his sons moved into new premises in Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, and renamed the company the Wearwell Cycle Company. It was to become one of Wolverhampton’s leading cycle manufacturers.
In 1899, eager to take advantage of the new trend for powered vehicles, William formed the Wearwell Motor Carriage Company in Pountney Street. Its first automobile featured two 2¼ hp engines mounted side by side, but it proved to be a resounding failure.