Marshall & Company of Clayton Lane in Manchester built its first car in 1897, a copy of the French Hurtu, itself based on the Benz. The Marshall won a gold medal for efficiency at the 1899 London exhibition, and in 1901 a new twin-cylinder model became the first to carry the Belsize name, taken from the bicycle works where the company had started. The firm became Belsize Motors and Engineering in 1903 and Belsize Motors Ltd in 1906.
Before the First World War Belsize was a major force in the British motor industry, employing 1,200 people and building up to 50 vehicles a week. Its bewildering range included taxis, commercial vehicles and fire engines, with engines of up to 14.5 litres.
After the war Belsize tried a single-model policy with a 15 hp car, then added the Belsize-Bradshaw, a light car with a partly oil-cooled V-twin engine designed by Granville Bradshaw, which proved unreliable and was dropped in 1924. Its successors, including an up-to-date 14/30 six with overhead valves and four-wheel brakes, were too expensive and too late. The company had been in receivership since 1923 and ceased trading in late 1925.
