The Wolseley Motor Company was a British car manufacturer founded in 1901. After 1935 it was incorporated into larger companies but the Wolseley name remained as an upmarket marque until 1975.
The origin of the brand was in about 1895–96 when Herbert Austin, then employed at the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company, became interested in engines and automobiles. During the winter of 1895–96 he made his own version of a design by Léon Bollée that he had seen in Paris. When he found that another British company had bought the rights to this he cam up with his own design. Austin resigned in 1905 and began his own car manufacturing company.
