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About We’ll Take You There
Introduction
In the summer of 1914, Arthur Hornsby and his son Joseph created their own bus service in Ashby, near Scunthorpe. In November 1914, the company began carrying passengers between Ashby and Scunthorpe. The business flourished and expanded, offering additional routes and services. Hornsby buses have now been running the same route for the past one hundred years.
This exhibition celebrates and commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of Hornsby Bus Travel. It explores the history of a local family business and how that story fits into the wider social context of North Lincolnshire.
Birth of a Business
In July 1914, Arthur and Joseph Hornsby bought a 10-seater 1910 Minerva bus for £180 from Mann Egerton of Norwich. As neither of them had ever driven a four-wheeled vehicle before, they hired a driver to help them on the way back. By the time they reached Lincoln, he considered that their driving was good enough for them to finish the journey alone and asked them to drop him at his sister’s house.
A local joiner built a new cover for the bus, using ash from Brumby Wood. It was painted primrose yellow as he had paint left over from a previous order. The bus was named Primrose, both after the colour of the paint and because there was a fashion in the area at the time for naming buses after flowers. The name was painted in script on one side of the bus and block capitals on the other so that Arthur and Joseph could choose which one they preferred. However, they didn’t notice until about a year afterwards.
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Expansion
Hornsby’s first garage was a brick building on Oxford Street in Ashby. In 1915, Arthur Hornsby bought Smith’s Farm and land in front of his cycle shop at 6 High Street. The farm buildings were converted into garages and the company still stands on the site today. In the early 1920s Arthur bought a second-hand wooden and corrugated iron structure and rebuilt it on the Hornsby site. It lasted until the 1950s, when heavy snowfall caused the roof to collapse and squashed one of the buses inside.
Hornsby’s expanded in 1959, taking over W.K. Harsley’s Scotter to Scunthorpe service and acquiring vehicles from Central Motors. The company expanded still further when Raymond Hornsby took over in 1966.
When motor buses first started running, the steelworkers often lived close to their work so that they could walk or cycle. As buses and networks improved, commuting from further away was possible and services increased as the population grew.
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On the Buses
The first Hornsby bus services ran between Ashby and Scunthorpe and this route soon became popular. There were no official timetables and buses often ran too frequently. In the 1920s, buses arrived every five minutes and ran until 11pm. The fare was three pence.
The number of bus companies had increased considerably by the 1920s. TO deal with this, the Council Highways Committee introduced the licensing of drivers, conductors, vehicles and services in 1926. Vehicles were licensed every March and had their brakes tested on Doncaster Hill, timetables had to be submitted for approval and drivers and conductors were issued with numbered badges.
During the 1930s, Hornsby’s shared the Ashby route with several other bus companies, including Enterprise and Silver Dawn and the Lincolnshire Road Car Company. From the 1950s they ran an extended daily town service jointly with the Lincolnshire Road Car Company and Central Motors. Additions to bus services in 1965 led to Ashby becoming the area’s second main shopping centre.
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The Staff
Unlike many of their early rivals, Hornsby’s ran more than one vehicle and so needed several drivers. Early drivers included Arthur, Joseph and Frank Hornsby, Mr Skinner and Fred Stones. The nature of the business meant that it was possible for staff to have more than one job and Arthur, Joseph and Frank all worked in the steel industry. Arthur also ran a cycle shop and taxi in Ashby.
Many early buses were one-man operations, but as passenger numbers grew conductors were employed to collect fares and issue tickets. In North Lincolnshire they were known as ‘Duckies’, ‘Clippies’ or ‘Clickies’. In the early 1980s, one-man operation was reintroduced and conductors disappeared from the buses.
Drivers’ hours were not as strictly controlled as they are today and they could often end up working very long days, particularly on excursions. They had to grab snatches of sleep whenever they could, often napping in the bus while the passengers were enjoying their holiday.
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