Shavings for Breakfast: The History of the Morris Furniture Company, Glasgow

• Morris developed the British helicopter with Weir and Cierva including the Flying Jeep and the single-seat rotorcraft called the Rotachute. They also manufactured the interiors for the Beardmore taxi and the Bennie Railplane. They supplied the blades for the Bristol Sycamore and the Bristol 192. The helicopter development by Morris is covered in "The Sycamore Seeds," ISBN-10: 0957344333 ISBN-13: 978-0957344334
• During World War 2 the company became part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment doing model work on such aircraft as the SRA1 jet flying boat. They produced 77 Highball casings (Bouncing bomb for 618 Squadron) and worked with the Americans in producing heavy bombs such as Tallboy, Grand slam and the biggest of all the giant 44000lb. Morris completing all the model work. They were involved with the production of Upkeep and the Dambuster raid. For the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, Helensburgh, they produced models and a catapult. The company also furnished the crack King George V battleship, H.M.S. Duke of York, the cruiser HMS Fiji and the Polish destroyer Piorun. The Duke of York's furniture was passed to the USS Missouri and used as part of the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay in 1945. The company also manufactured models for the Brabazon Committee.
• In addition to working on the Spitfire and Hurricane, the company worked on the Mosquito producing the balsa plywood for the airframe, Morris held the patent for the Balsa plywood. Morris also producing a batch of "Queen Bee" drones for Scottish Aviation. The Queen Bee flying in the United Kingdom is one of this batch.

Morris also produced aircraft wood and the wings and tail for the group built Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle bomber/transport. Nearly a million Lee-Enfield rifles were produced in conjunction with Singers and Albion Motors. They also produced a wooden engine for Frank Whittle's Power Jets.

• After the war Morris was involved in all displays including Britain Can Make It, the Scottish Furniture Fair, the Festival of Britain 1951 and the annual Modern Homes Exhibition.
• After the crash of the Cierva Air Horse heavy lift helicopter the company left aircraft manufacturing to concentrate on volume furniture. They did produce a final of 5V3 Aeroply for Scottish Aviation in 1951 for the Dakota aircraft. The company has never been owned by Scottish Aviation and such reports are historically very inaccurate.
• The Royal Yacht Britannia was also furnished by Morris as was the battleship HMS Vanguard and the substitute Royal Yacht SS Gothic for visits by the Royal Family to South Africa and Australia. Their most famous set of furniture is the Cumbrae Range which swept away Utility furniture. The company also refurbished Clarence House for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on the occasion of their wedding.
• The Cloud Table, designed by Neil B. Morris, created a sensation due to its distinctive shape and size in the post-war era.
• Shavings for Breakfast takes the company from 1914 to 1975 and is profusely illustrated with many pictures never before published and shows the production process for the Lee Enfield Rifle, the Vickers Transonic Missile progenitor of Blue Steel, the company completed the model work for the MAEE and the wooden aircraft propellers for the Rolls-Royce Merlin and Griffon.
• Shavings for Breakfast is probably the first modern furniture book to combine furnishing of ships and hotels, the Russian furniture industry, plywood manufacture and government policy towards the industry. Shavings for Breakfast is highly recommended giving an authoritive insight into the British furniture industry

Profusely illustrated with black and white illustrations with drawings and diagrams. Most never before published such as an image of the SS Empress of Britain on fire and the shipbuilder James Lithgow. There are also diagrams of the American Bouncing Bomb, the production cycle of manufacturing the Lee Enfield rifle wooden parts, Women making furniture and glider parts, assembly of Hurricane PZ865, "The last of the Many," etc

A fuller investigation of Morris and the development of the British helicopter covers the Bristol Sycamore, Sikorsky Hoverfly, the Cierva types and such types as the German Focke-Achgelis, Doblehoff helicopters and Hanna Reitsch.

This is an historical document, the company has ceased making all furniture and this is now the only source book for furniture manufacturing in print from 1884 to 1975.

"......However he also gives an account of much outfitting of hotels, among them Gleneagles and the Strand Palace, and ocean liners, including the Queens Mary and Elizabeth, a major contribution to the Utility scheme, and, after the war, a design collaboration between Neil Morris, who had himself designed the 'Cumbrae' range in 1948, and Basil Spence on the 'Allegro' range in 1949, and many other innovatory initiatives. Although there is neither index, bibliography nor references, Mac Kay supplies a useful survey of his sources, and historians of twentieth century British furniture will find many clues among his Shavings worth following up." THE FURNITURE HISTORY SOCIETY - In fourth reprint

This is not a compilation of internet articles or a print on demand book. Shavings for Breakfast has been originally researched and printed in the United Kingdom and comes highly recommended for the student and general reader alike.