Private company
British engine manufacturer
L. Gardner and Sons Limited was a British builder of diesel engines for stationary, marine, road and rail applications. The company was founded in Hulme, Manchester, England in 1868. It started building engines around 1895.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
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L. Gardner and Sons Limited was a British builder of diesel engines for stationary, marine, road and rail applications. The company was founded in Hulme, Manchester, England in 1868. It started building engines around 1895. The firm ceased engine production in the mid-1990s.2
About 1868 Lawrence Gardner set up as a sewing machine maker in Upper Duke Street, Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester. He died in 1890, but the business was continued by his sons under the name L. Gardner & Sons Limited.
From Wikipedia’s article on L. Gardner and Sons, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
In June 1976, Rolls-Royce acquired a 17% shareholding, but, in December 1977, the business was purchased by Hawker Siddeley.
In the summer of 1986, after months of denials, Perkins Engines purchased Gardner to complement their line of lighter diesel engines. Production then ceased until October, because Gardner's truck engine market share had slumped precariously, although Gardner's market for buses and coaches was doing better.
L. Gardner and Sons ceased production of new engines in the early 1990s. The introduction of emissions regulations for road-going Gardner diesels would have required the development of significantly modified, or totally new, engine designs, and in the marine market there was a shift away from big, low-speed, high-torque engines such as Gardners, towards adapted high-speed automotive turbodiesels.
From Wikipedia’s article on L. Gardner and Sons, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
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