Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
ROLLS-ROYCE ‘MAKERS OF THE MARQUE’: CLAUDE GOODMAN JOHNSON
22.10.2024 Press Release
The sixth in the ‘Makers of the Marque’ series profiles Claude Goodman Johnson, celebrated as ‘the hyphen in Rolls-Royce’ but known to all simply as ‘CJ’. A natural showman with an unrivalled talent for generating publicity, he brought an extraordinary mix of skill, dedication and experience to his role as the company’s first Commercial Managing Director; a fascinating, larger-than-life character and a pivotal figure in the Rolls-Royce foundation story.
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Andrew Ball
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
CLAUDE GOODMAN JOHNSON: 24 OCTOBER 1864 - 11 APRIL 1926
- A brief overview of the life and career of Claude Goodman Johnson, born 24 October 1864
- The self-styled ‘hyphen in Rolls-Royce’ and the marque’s first Commercial Managing Director
- A larger-than-life character, Henry Royce once said of him, “He was the captain; we were only the crew”
- Indelibly shaped the marque’s development and legacy
- Dedicated to upholding Rolls-Royce’s status as ‘the best car in the world’
- Sixth in a series profiling the principal characters in the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ story
- Published in recognition of the marque’s 120th anniversary in 2024
“Claude Johnson is celebrated by posterity as ‘the hyphen in
Rolls-Royce’; it is typical of the man that this is a title he gave
himself. But if anything, it understates the importance and
influence of ‘CJ’, as he was universally known, in the marque’s
first two decades and beyond. A natural showman with a genius for
generating publicity – for himself, as well as the company – his
ideas, energy and personality matched his imposing physical stature.
He brought an extraordinary mix of skills, talents, experience and
personal qualities to his role as the company’s first Commercial
Managing Director: a truly fascinating, larger-than-life character
with a colourful background who achieved remarkable things.”
Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage,
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Claude Goodman Johnson – known to all simply as ‘CJ’
– was born in Buckinghamshire on 24 October 1864, one of seven children.
From London’s St Paul’s School, Claude progressed to the Royal
College of Art. Here, he met Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, Deputy General
Superintendent of the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria &
Albert Museum), where Claude’s father worked. Through him, CJ secured
his first job, as a clerk at the Imperial Institute (now Imperial
College London). There, he was put to work arranging exhibitions. His
debut effort, the Fisheries Exhibition, was described in W.
J. Oldham’s book The Hyphen in Rolls-Royce as the
‘fashionable haunt of London for the summer of 1883’. He followed this
triumph with events dedicated to Health in 1884
and Inventions the following year; by the time
his Colonial and Indian Exhibition opened in 1886, CJ was
managing a workforce of around 200.
But if his professional life was a model of sober industry, CJ’s
personal circumstances were already somewhat more colourful. Soon
after starting work at the Institute, he eloped with his girlfriend,
Fanny Mary Morrison, much to the distress of both sets of parents.
They had eight children, but tragically only the seventh child, Betty,
survived. Eventually, the marriage failed, whereupon CJ married his
long-time mistress, whom he always called ‘Mrs. Wiggs’; they had a
daughter known as Tink.
ON WITH THE SHOW
His private life had no discernible effect on CJ’s career
trajectory. In 1895, the leading scientific author and road transport
pioneer, Sir David Salomons, organised England’s first ‘Motor
Exhibition’ at his home in Tunbridge Wells. The event proved only
moderately successful, but caught the eye of the Prince of Wales, an
enthusiast for the ‘new’ motor cars. His Royal Highness was keen to
try a similar exhibition – and where better than at the Imperial
Institute, which he had long championed, and who better to arrange it
than the Chief Clerk, Claude Johnson?
That 1896 event, rather quaintly entitled Motors and their
Appliances, proved a turning point for CJ. By July 1897, a group
of enthusiasts had founded the Automobile Club of Great Britain &
Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club, or RAC), but were still
looking for a full-time Secretary. Aware of his success in organising
the Imperial Institute exhibition, they offered CJ the job, which he
eagerly accepted.
His talents for organisation and promotion made him perfect for
the role. Under his auspices, the Club held numerous motoring events
for its members, including the 1000 Mile Trial run during
April and May 1900, and won by a certain Charles Stewart Rolls in his
Parisian-made 12 H.P. Panhard.
IN GOOD COMPANY
By 1903, CJ had almost single-handedly built the Club’s
membership to around 2,000. But his restless mind was ready for a
change, and when Club member Paris Singer, son of sewing machine
magnate Isaac Singer, offered him a job with his City &
Suburban Electric Car Company, CJ jumped at it. This, too, was
only a stepping stone to what would become his life’s work. After just
a few months with Singer, he joined another Club member in his
fledgling car-sales business, a certain C.S. Rolls & Co., thus
changing the course of history.
As business partners, the two men were ideally matched. The
urbane, well-connected, Cambridge-educated engineer Rolls looked after
the technical side of things (and dealt with the nobility), while CJ
handled publicity and sales to less exalted patrons.
The company flourished, but Rolls was desperate to find a
British-made motor car as good as the Continental models they were
selling. In 1904 he found it, in a new 10 H.P. car made by Henry
Royce. Following their historic first meeting in Manchester on 4 May,
Rolls returned to London and informed CJ he had agreed to sell every
car Royce could make under a new name, Rolls-Royce. CJ was instantly
captivated by the project, and when the Rolls-Royce company was
formally established in 1906, he assumed the role of Commercial
Managing Director.
SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS
CJ’s talent and enthusiasm for publicity stunts had found its
perfect outlet. In 1906, Rolls-Royce won the Scottish Reliability
Trials with a 30 H.P. motor car. At CJ’s urging, Royce developed a
larger, more powerful model, the 40/50 H.P. capable of carrying larger
bodywork. In an inspired move, CJ dubbed the 12th example, with its
silver-plated brightwork and silver paint, ‘The Silver Ghost’ and
entered it in the 1907 event, which it won convincingly. A lesser
person might have been satisfied, but not CJ. To underline the motor
car’s reliability, he immediately arranged for it to participate in a
‘non-stop’ run – a drive without an involuntary stop on the road,
apart from punctures, during a set period in the day. Travelling back
and forth between London and Edinburgh (except on Sundays), they
amassed nearly 15,000 miles and set a new world endurance record.
Characteristically, CJ drove the first 4,000 miles himself, yet found
time every day to send a postcard to his four-year-old daughter.
Less arduous but equally noteworthy PR efforts followed: placing
a brimming glass of water on a running engine without spilling a drop
and balancing a coin on the edge of the radiator cap without it
falling over. CJ also wrote and published a successful series of
guidebooks with Lord John Montagu entitled ‘Roads Made Easy’, which
included the charming direction ‘FTW’, meaning ‘follow the telegraph
wire by the roadside’.
It was through Montagu that CJ met the illustrator and sculptor
Charles Sykes. Rightly concerned that the fad among motor car owners
for fitting comical mascots to their radiator caps was spoiling the
cars’ classical lines, he commissioned Sykes to design an official
one. What we know today as the Spirit of Ecstasy was unveiled in 1911,
and it remains one of CJ’s most important and enduring legacies. Still
adorning the prow of Rolls-Royce motor cars to this day, CJ’s
commission has gone on to become the marque’s timeless muse and an
inspiration for countless masterpieces, including its recent Phantom
Scintilla Private Collection.
A FRIEND INDEED
It would be easy to assume that the ebullient, outgoing CJ would
have little in common with the serious, rather austere engineer Royce.
In fact, the two were close friends, respectful of each other’s
integrity; Royce’s unending desire to design the best motor car
possible was perfectly complemented by CJ’s ability to keep the
Rolls-Royce name firmly in the public consciousness, and the operation
running smoothly.
Indeed, it’s little exaggeration to say that CJ saved Royce’s life.
By 1911, years of overwork and poor diet had taken a severe toll on
Royce’s health, and he fell seriously ill; after an operation, he was
given just three months to live. The Derby factory was too stressful
an environment, so CJ found Royce a house, at Crowborough in East Sussex.
On a convalescent trip to the South of France – travelling in
CJ’s magnificent green-and-cream Barker-bodied limousine he’d
named The Charmer – they stopped at CJ’s holiday home,
Villa Jaune, at Le Canadel. Royce liked the place and said
he could happily spend the winter months working from there. CJ
immediately bought a nearby plot of land and built three houses,
designed by Royce. Villa Mimosa was for Henry himself,
while Le Bureau served as a design studio, and Le
Rossignol – ‘the nightingale’ – was the house in which the
designers lived. It was very important to Royce that the designers
were close to him, so that they were able to quickly bring their
respective visions to reality. Royce divided his time between England
and France until his death in 1933.
CHANGING TIMES
CJ’s own capacity for work was undiminished. In 1912, he opened
a sales showroom in Paris, decorated in Adam style with Louis
XVI-style furniture. That same year, Silver Ghost owner James Radley
started the gruelling Austrian Alpine Trial, but failed to finish.
Outraged, CJ vowed to avenge this humiliation, and in 1913 entered a
‘works’ team of three cars (plus Radley as a privateer) with
redesigned, four-speed gearboxes. The cars swept the board in what
would be the last competitive event to be arranged by CJ. During this
period, CJ also introduced the first three-year guarantee on
Rolls-Royce motor cars and set up a pension scheme for the workforce.
From 1914 to 1918, Rolls-Royce focused exclusively on aero
engine production – something CJ had insisted upon for both commercial
and patriotic reasons. But even before hostilities ceased, he foresaw
that large, complex and expensive motor cars like Silver Ghost would
have limited appeal in a straitened, post-war world. He therefore
proposed a smaller model that would be suitable for owner-drivers,
which Royce duly delivered with the new 20 H.P. Cannily, CJ spotted
that under the new Road Tax, charged at £1.00 per RAC-rated unit of
horsepower, the Silver Ghost would attract a tax of £47.00 a year, but
the new 20 H.P. only £20.00.
CJ made two further lasting major contributions to Rolls-Royce
motor cars. First, when Royce proposed to abandon the traditional
Pantheon radiator design for something more streamlined, CJ
successfully persuaded him otherwise. Second, when Silver Ghost’s
replacement model was ready in 1925, CJ named it after a pair of
former Trials cars that were both known as Silver Phantom. He called
this model New Phantom; eight generations later, what would become the
most storied nameplate in the marque’s history celebrates its own
centenary in 2025.
“HE WAS THE CAPTAIN; WE WERE ONLY THE CREW.”
On 6 April 1926, CJ went to his Conduit Street office as usual,
despite having felt unwell and losing a noticeable amount of weight
for some time. The following day he felt worse, but forced himself to
attend his niece’s wedding, where he collapsed. He was driven home by
his eldest daughter Betty; on the way, he told her that he felt he
would not pull through, and that he wanted neither fuss nor flowers at
his funeral. His death on Sunday 11 April was reported by national
newspapers and the BBC, reflecting his high public profile and immense
importance to Rolls-Royce. Royce was deeply distressed at his old
friend’s death, saying: “He was the captain; we were only the crew.”
For all his professional elan and showmanship, CJ was personally
modest and highly scrupulous. He never held shares in the company,
lest he should be accused of feathering his own nest, nor did he own a
Rolls-Royce motor car himself, always using a company Trials car
instead. When he was offered a knighthood for Rolls-Royce’s
contribution to the war effort, he declined it, saying it should be
awarded to Royce (who received only an OBE). He was forever reluctant
to accept praise, always directing it towards his co-workers.
A true bon viveur, CJ enjoyed the best he could afford for
himself, his family and close friends. His daughter Tink described him
as: “A big man in every way: 6’2”, equally broad and well-proportioned
with large and most beautiful hands. His size epitomised his ideas,
ideals and generosity, his outlook and enthusiasm. A wonderful father,
always very well dressed.” But perhaps the best summary of this
remarkable man came from his close friend, the English portrait artist
Ambrose McEvoy: “A wise and kindly giant”.