Brothers Thomas and Joseph Hampson built an experimental car in Bolton in 1899, and in 1902 set up a factory in Yellow House Lane, Southport, where they built the first Vulcan, a single-cylinder belt-driven car. The range grew quickly to twins, fours and large sixes, and in 1907 the company moved to larger premises at Crossens, on the edge of Southport. Before the First World War Vulcan also built commercial vehicles, and its 30 cwt lorry served as an ambulance in Britain, India, Belgium, Russia and Portugal.
In 1919 the Harper Bean group, which also owned Swift and part of Bean, bought 75% of Vulcan. Its 12 hp car was the mainstay from 1920 to 1927, and it was also sold as the Lea-Francis Kirkstone, since the two companies shared manufacturing and dealers from 1922. More than 6,000 Vulcans were sold between the Armistice and 1923, but car production ended in 1928.
From then on Vulcan built lorries, buses and municipal vehicles such as road sweepers and dustcarts. It went into liquidation in 1931 but kept trading, and in 1938 the remaining business passed to Tilling-Stevens of Maidstone, where six-ton Vulcan lorries were built in large numbers during the Second World War. The Rootes Group bought Tilling-Stevens in 1951, and the Vulcan name disappeared in 1953.
