RJW Appleton

[CaroleW]

It's uncertain exactly what type of info Guy is looking for & what his connection is to the family. 

[DCB]

Strange about the first name of RJW's wife. When the engagement was announced, she was also called Susan Ayloffe Baker to Mr. John Appleton, elder son of Mr. Llewellyn Appleton, of Whitecroft, Beckenham. She was Hylda in Kingswood Hoe, Colchester, 1921 and when she died in 1994.

Llewellyn was also recorded as having been director of the Educational Supply Association, when his will, £31,427 (net personality £24,299), was reported in 1940. He died in a nursing home on 22nd December 1939, younger son of the late Walter P. Appleton

Also reports on driving offences, as was another son, Robert Llewellyn, although all might have been the same person with first name omitted.

David

[Guy Bagnall]

I just wanted to thank everyone that has replied - very generous of you all. My interest is that I am working on a book and modest exhibition about a particular moment in the history of the factory where Appleton was MD - ESA (Educational Supply Association), and together with the ESA designer, they embarked on a most remarkable effort - Project X - as it was known in the factory - the two men's response to the wartime experience of making Mosquito wings at ESA, a radical change for their war effort, and one which made a big mark on the two men. Appleton was the best-known 'amateur' racer of the 30s, but I have not been able to trace if he had children or whether any relatives are still around. He was the third generation to have been MD of ESA - and the circumstances of his sacking and his motoring offences are of great interest! Any further help most gratefully accepted! Appleton raised over $4m at today's prices for Project X, an extraordinary amount in 1945/6 - and the book and show is about the designs for that project - of which one chair went on to sell over a million copies and millions of British bums sat on that chair and some are still in use today.