History
Goodmans House and Sir George White (1854 – 1916)
Goodmans House dates back over 700 years but is dominated by its Georgian Extension, which was added around c1800, to the front of the existing house.
The most illustrious previous owner was Sir George Stanley White 2nd Baronet and only son of the Bristol entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir George White 1st Baronet. (1854-1916) who purchased the property in 1919.
The White family had previously formed the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company in 1910 and set up a production line in two bus sheds in Filton. This, at a time when aviation was in its infancy and the only other aeroplane factories in Britain were run by aviators not businessmen.
Within a few months, the factory was building the Bristol biplane, later nicknamed the Boxkite, and by the end of the year Boxkites were being sent on sales missions to Australia and India.
As a salute to Sir George White, Furley Cottages were named after the pioneering aircraft originally built by his aviation company and which is now known worldwide as British Aerospace (BAE Systems).
As a young man Stanley White had exhibited a passion for speed and adventure. When his father set out to pioneer an aircraft industry in Great Britain in 1908, Stanley White was intimately involved. He became a founding director of the British & Colonial Aeroplane Company in 1910. Although his father forbade him to take up flying himself, he was determinedly “hands on” both in the air and on the ground. He frequently flew with the pioneering French pilots they employed, especially Jullerot, Tétard and Tabuteau. The flying schools which he set up with his father at Larkhill and at Brooklands ultimately provided two thirds of the pilots available at the outbreak of war in 1914.
In 1911 Stanley White was appointed Managing Director of the British and Colonial – later to become the Bristol Aeroplane Company – a post he held for over forty years. He had the heavy responsibility of directing the company through two world wars, building the workforce from a few hundred employees to over seventy thousand. His greatest skill was undoubtedly in providing the circumstances in which his great engineers and designers could flourish. Given that he was brought up as a businessman, Sir Stanley regularly surprised his employees by his knowledge of technical engineering.
Given that the production of all Bristol aircraft and engines built over nearly fifty years was ultimately his responsibility, one might ask why Sir Stanley White is not more famous. The answer is simply that he was a modest man, who unlike his aeronautical contemporaries, shunned publicity of all kinds.
We are, therefore, proud to name our cottages - Boxkite, Britannia, Brabazon, Brigand and Beaufort – after this former owner of Goodmans House. A booklet and pictures can be found in each cottage, if you wish to know more about where British aviation began.
SIR GEORGE WHITE (1854 – 1916)
Boxkite
Brigand
Brabazon
Beaufort
Britannia
