Triumph
Siegfried Bettmann
Born in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1863, Siegfried Bettmann moved to Coventry in 1885 and started a company making bicycles. A few years later, Moritz Schulte, also from Nuremberg, joined the Triumph Cycle Company as a partner.
In 1902, Triumph made its first motorbike – a strengthened bicycle with a small Minerva engine attached. They proved such a hit that Triumph soon began making its own engines.
Bettmann became a naturalised British citizen and a pillar of the local community. Triumph was a major supplier of motorbikes to the British army during World War One and, by 1918, had grown into the country’s largest motorbike manufacturer. However, Bettmann was forced to resign as Lord Mayor of Coventry when war broke out in 1914 due to rising anti-German sentiment.
Image: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
