Sunbeam Cycles made by John Marston Limited of Wolverhampton was a British brand of bicycles and, from 1912 to 1956 motorcycles. On John Marston's death after the First World War it was bought by Nobel Industries, Nobel became ICI. Associated Motor Cycles bought it in 1937; then, BSA bought Sunbeam in 1943. Sunbeam Cycles is most famous for its S7 balloon-tyred shaft-drive motorcycle with an overhead valve in-line twin engine. History Sunbeam Cycles was founded by John Marston, who was born in Ludlow, Shropshire, UK in 1836 of a minor landowning family. In 1851, aged 15, he was sent to Wolverhampton to be apprenticed to Edward Perry as a japanware manufacturer. At the age of 23 he left and set up his own japanning business making any and every sort of domestic article. He did so well that when Perry died in 1871 Marston bought Perry's business and amalgamated it with his own. In 1887 Marston began making bicycles and, on the suggestion of his wife Ellen, he adopted the trademark brand Sunbeam; their Paul Street works were named Sunbeamland. John Marston was a perfectionist, and this was reflected in the high build-quality of the Sunbeam bicycle, which had an enclosure around the drive chain in which an oil bath kept the chain lubricated and clean. Sunbeam bicycles were made until 1936. Engines From 1903 John Marston Limited had made some early experiments in adding engines to bicycles but they were unsuccessful; a man was killed. John Marston's aversion to motorcycles did not encourage further development. Following experimental products made in the late 1890s, cars were built from 1902. A quite separate organisation located a mile away in Blakenhall, named Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited, was founded in 1905. However, suffering from a slump which hit car making, Marston was pushed into making motorcycles from 1912 onwards (at the age of 76), for which there was a large and increasing market. Following in the tradition of their bicycles, the motorcycles were of high-quality, usually with a single cylinder, and known as the Gentleman's Machine. Sunbeam motorcycles performed well in the early days of the famous TT (Tourist Trophy) races in the Isle of Man. Another Marston company product line started in 1931, with marine outboard engines first marketed as Marston Seagull, later known as British Seagull. Ownership After the First World War John Marston Limited was sold to a consortium.