Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Edwardian era. The Vickers brothers died and, without their guidance, Wolseley expanded rapidly after the war, manufacturing 12,000 cars in 1921, and remained the biggest motor manufacturer in Britain. Over-expansion led to receivership in 1927 when it was bought from Vickers Limited by William Morris as a personal investment. He moved it into his Morris Motors empire just before the Second World War. After that, Wolseley products were "badge-engineered" Morris cars. Wolseley went with its sister businesses into BMC, BMH and British Leyland, where its name lapsed in 1975. Founding 1901 The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun that bears his name, and by then a member of the combine Vickers Sons & Maxim, had consulted Herbert Austin at The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited in the late 1890s a number of times in relation to the design of flying machines, which Maxim was developing and constructing. Maxim made use of a number of suggestions made by Austin in Maxim's activities at his works in Crayford, Kent. Once the sheep shearing company had decided they would not pursue their automobile interest, an approach was made and agreement quickly reached. The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company of Adderley Park Birmingham was incorporated in March 1901 with a capital of £40,000 by Vickers, Sons and Maxim to manufacture motor cars and machine tools. The managing director was Herbert Austin. The cars and the Wolseley name came from Austin's exploratory venture for The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited, run since the early 1890s by the now 33-year-old Austin. Wolseley's board had decided not to enter the business and Maxim and the Vickers brothers picked it up. After his five-year contract with The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company ended Austin founded The Austin Motor Company Limited. Austin's Wolseley cars Austin had been searching for other products for WSSMC because sale of sheep-shearing machinery was a highly seasonal trade. About 1895–96 he became interested in engines and automobiles. During the winter of 1895–96, working in his own time at nights and weekends, he made his own version of a design by Léon Bollée that