Back in the 19th century, 1895 to be precise, a little bundle of joy was delivered in to the arms of Bertha Davies of Balsall Heath, Birmingham, England. She and her husband, Frank, named their new son ‘Howard Raymond’. We know him best by his initials.
After leaving school, Howard served as an apprentice with AJS before moving on to Sunbeam where they had an interest in racing. In 1914 Howard joined their racing team and took part in the Scottish Six Days Trial on a 6hp AJS, retiring with a damaged the frame on day four. He stayed for the rest of the event but his employer was unimpressed with young Davies’ lackadaisical attitude to work and sacked him. Harsh.
Bygones were soon to be bygones and Howard was back at Sunbeam to take part in the 1914 Isle of Man TT. He came second in the senior race, helping Sunbeam to take the team title.
The Sunbeam team of 1914. Left to right: Tommy de la Hay, Vernon Busby, Howard Davies, and Charlie Noakes.
War broke out later that year, curtailing Howard’s racing ambitions and instead sending him out as a dispatch rider in France. Later, he joined the Royal Flying Corps, gained his pilot’s licence and was posted back to France, where he was shot down. Twice. The second time put an end to his flying when he became a prisoner of war and listed as missing, then dead. The Motor Cycle ran his obituary, which came as a surprise to Howard who was still alive.
After the war, Davies went back to racing with some success. He broke four world records at Brooklands: 50 miles at 66.5 mph; 1 hour at 66.09 mph; 100 miles at 64.68 mph; and 2 hours at 65.3 mph. He also claimed the Senior TT victory on a 350cc AJS.
With a wealth of racing and engineering experience, Howard set up HRD Motors Limited in 1924 with the slogan,"Produced by a Rider’.
HRD made bikes with a JAP engine, Burman gearbox, Webb forks and other components from AMAC, Renold, BTH and KLG Sparking Plugs. There was a range of models, all had three speeds, a saddle tank, looked good and performed well. They were the ohv 350cc D70 and D80, 488cc D90, D70S and a 488cc sv model, with or without a sidecar.
In 1925, Howard entered the TT on his own HRD machines, winning the Senior race and placing second in the Junior.
By 1928 the company was in financial trouble. Despite their quality, the bikes were expensive, so Davies tried to make lower-cost models, but he went bankrupt. Early in the year the firm was bought by Ernie Humphries of OK-Supreme who then sold it on to Philip C. Vincent, for £500, who moved production to Stevenage and produced Vincent-HRD machines.
Howard’s career and love of bikes continued although he didn’t manufacture his own after that. He died in 1973 aged 77.