Harry Varley : A Man Who Made Motoring History

A remarkable eighty-year adventure spanning the golden age of twentieth-century mechanical and motor-vehicle engineering. Born into an ecclesiastical family, Harry Varley had a burning ambition to be the best engineer he could.

He was one of the three-man team that designed the iconic three-litre Bentley and fifty-seven years later, he created a new engine for the same car. A skilled draughtsman and designer, Varley worked at multiple companies on cars, aircraft and agricultural machinery. He designed the badge that appears on every Vauxhall, a revolutionary internal-combustion-engine piston and was employed on projects at Cubitt, Crossley and Streamline Cars.

On secondment in the Second World War, he helped develop the largest diesel engine made by Perkins Engines, balloon winches and gun mountings, finishing at Rolls-Royce where he retired as chief planning engineer. The design and manufacture of his Varley engine took nine years of grit and determination. Having received reports that it had achieved its design objectives, he died aged ninety-three, his life’s work complete.