We have heard a lot recently about transport ‘going electric’ in the future and points being installed at garages to top up car batteries.

Those of a certain age will recollect the wonderful trolley buses that passed through Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow, turning at the Wellington junction on the Staines Road.

Of course electric vehicles are nothing new and first appeared in this country in the mid 1800s, leading the world in such a development.

I have just been reading a little book entitled Electric Avenue by Keith Roberts, described as The Story of the Morrison Electricar.

In 1896 a young man Alfred Ernest Morrison, then living in Leicester, was given £22 by his father to set himself up in business.

He was described as a clever individual who was interested in engineering, and set himself up making bicycles, motorcycles and even a sprung wheel for motorcycle side cars.

This was the age of inventiveness and new thought in many aspects of life.

This small company then went into the manufacture of gas-powered engines for generating electricity.

Many owners of large country houses became interested in electric lighting in conjunction with lead acid batteries, and at the celebrations of the relief of Mafeking, many were supplied for illuminations of red, white and blue lights.

During the First World War, AE Morrison and Sons, as Alfred’s company was known, was employed by the War Office on special work, following which the company renewed its normal production of engines until a chance remark made a difference for the future.

Eldest son AC Morrison was playing golf with a local baker, Mr Squires, who asked whether an electric cart could be made so that deliveries of his bread could be made quicker and cheaper than the bakery horse.

A prototype was produced, which was approved, and an official baker’s float was sold to the delighted Mr Squires.

It was fitted with a coach-built body and in 1933 was registered JF 4321.

Other businesses were most impressed with the quiet and clean vehicle now on the roads and the orders poured in from home and overseas.

Other designs were produced, such as three-wheeled units for use by the Midland Railway Company.

Other companies became involved in the manufacture of similar products and a new business, the Associated Electric Vehicle Manufacturers Ltd, was set up with offices in Trafalgar Square, central London.

During the Second World War, again the company continued its production of electric vehicles for the war effort.

In 1946 a new range of models was introduced with a carrying capacity of between 10cwt and three tons.

The company took to having a stand each year at the Dairy Show at Olympia, which became a great social occasion as well as major business opportunity.

Another variation of the electric vehicle was a long-wheel chassis model with a mobile stairway above for boarding and disembarking from aircraft.

It was used extensively at Heathrow, particularly for use by VIPs and members of the royal family, on occasions when the media went to see the persons concerned.

AE Morrison and Sons was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley Group, which was making similar electric vehicles.

When the Pope visited Britain in 1982, two electric vehicles bought by the Leicester Co-operative Society were loaned for the occasion.

For the Mass in Cardiff, the chalices and wafers used in the ceremony were borne to the Pope for his blessing before being driven round the field for distribution by the priests.

In 1982 Hawker Siddeley decided to sell the business. Despite the asking price not being

reached, it was sold and, unhappily, the business closed down after nearly a century of innovation and service.

Copies of this interesting book, Electric Avenue, can be had from the author.

It costs £13. Write to Keith Roberts at 2 The Causeway, Sketty, Swansea, South Wales, SA2 0SX.