He was apprenticed to the
Great Western Railway at
Swindon Works and became a locomotive engineer but Searle soon recognized that the new
petrol engines offering a higher
power-to-weight ratio would be better than steam power.
Consultant motor engineer Having seen that mechanized road transport would present better prospects for making money Searle entered business as a consultant motor engineer located in the West End of
London. In 1905 he was in
Paris,
France where he represented the
Turgan and
Lacoste et Battman companies. He sold several Lacoste et Battman chassis to the London and District Motor Omnibus Company, which traded as "Arrow". The Lacoste et Battman buses were unreliable, and suffered frequent breakdowns. Searle was forced to abandon his consultancy when the final part of the order was cancelled due to the unreliability of the vehicles. Arrow took Searle on as a mechanic to keep the fleet of buses on the road.
Omnibuses entered service 18 October 1910 " troop transport In 1907, the
London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) employed Searle as Superintendent at its
Mortlake garage at an annual salary of £350. He was soon transferred to
Cricklewood and on 18 May 1907 was appointed as Chief Motor Engineer at a salary of £450, later rising to £500. At the time, LGOC had a varied fleet of some 600 motor-buses all of which proved unable to cope with the stresses of operating in London's traffic. Searle persuaded LGOC to allow him to design a vehicle that was fit for the job. The best features of existing vehicles were taken and incorporated into the new design named the
X-type bus. This company, ultimately established without Searle or any tie to Daimler and later known as The London Premier Bus Company was wound up in 1917 having had a probable maximum fleet of six De Dion Boutons.
BSA group – Daimler Omnibuses and commercial vehicles In May 1911
Daimler announced the flotation of shares in a new subsidiary to operate a London bus service, The Premier Motor Omnibus Company, with Searle "who has resigned his position with London General Omnibus for the purpose" as General Manager.
World War I Searle served in the
First World War with the
Machine Gun Corps (Heavy) which used Daimler-powered artillery tractors and in 1917 became
the Tank Corps with Daimler-powered tanks. He was temporarily promoted to major in November 1916. He reached the rank of
lieutenant colonel. He was
mentioned in despatches. In 1918 Colonel Searle was awarded a
Distinguished Service Order and he was made a
CBE the following year. In January 1921 debt-swamped AT&T was liquidated and its assets, bought by Daimler Hire, were put with Daimler Air Hire to make
Daimler Airway. Searle also became the managing director of Daimler Airway.
Imperial Airways In 1924, Daimler Airway was merged with three other airlines, Handley Page Transport, Instone Airline and British Marine Air Navigation, to form
Imperial Airways. Searle was appointed managing director Searle had been appointed managing director of
Rover in May 1928 and soon achieved some success in restoring Rover's fortunes. On his recommendation
Spencer Wilks was brought in from
Hillman as general manager and appointed to the board in 1929. Spencer and Maurice Wilks were to stay with Rover into the 1960s. January 1930 saw the
Blue Train Races, Rover against Bentley then regular winners at the Le Mans 24 hours endurance race. Next Searle split Midland Light Car Bodies from Rover in an effort to save money During his time at Rover, the
Rover 10/25 was introduced, with bodies made by the
Pressed Steel Company. This was the same body as used on the
Hillman Minx. The company showed profits in the 1929 and 1930 years but with the economic downturn in 1931 Rover reported a loss of £77,529. Searle left the board near the end of the calendar year, his work finished. leaving management in the control of Maurice Wilks with a new finance director, H E Graham. During the war the company made motor torpedo boats, gunboats and rescue vessels. == Notes ==