Page 33 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

88 William LLOYD (1881-1956) (Elected 17.12.23; club treasurer from 21.1.1925; made Senior
Active member 17.12.43 and an Honorary Member 24.11.1952 after 26 years as club Treasurer,
being in poor health but having an excellent past record. He died 1.8.1956 whilst an honorary
member.) Incorporated Accountant & Auditor. Principal of his own accountancy practice in
Priory Chambers, Priory Street, Dudley from around 1910 and also for a time in the 1920s in
Birmingham. His son Donald, a member of the Rotary club (#333) from 1953, became his partner
in William Lloyd & Son, and eventually succeeded him. William was a prominent freemason. His
home was in Grange Road until he moved to Edgbaston c.1926 and to Kinver in the 1950s.

89 Charles William (‘Bill’) GOODYEAR (1890-1957) (Elected 7.1.1924; resigned 3.5.1926. Joined
Wolverhampton Rotary Club and was President 1941-42.) Truck & Trolley manufacturer;
director of W Goodyear & Sons of Churchfield Street, Dudley from 1915. He joined his father’s
file and tool manufacturing company on leaving school and by the age of 20 was Works manager.
From the early 1900s the firm also made car and lorry wheels, one customer being Morris
Motors; during the First World War it made aeroplanes, shell cartridges and grenades; and by
the 1920s it offered a wide range of industrial trucks and trolleys, including ‘Greenbat’ electric
vehicles. Goodyear & Sons was amalgamated (somewhat confusingly) into the Dunlop Rubber
Company in 1927, and continued making vehicle wheels until 1989.
In 1928 Bill Goodyear left Dudley to start a new venture in Wolverhampton: Steelway Limited
grew to national importance in the manufacture of steel flooring, treads and handrails, heaters
and household goods. He registered numerous patents for structural and architectural
metalwork and street furniture, most notably for street barriers. Steelway made the UK’s first
pedestrian guard rails, installed in 1934 in Prince’s Square, Wolverhampton. The following year,
on the instructions of Mr Hore-Belisha, Minister of Transport, they were introduced in London
then soon around the country. Today Steelway Fensecure is one of the UK’s leading fencing
manufacturers.
Bill was a sportsman in his younger days: he was a founder member of the Dudleians Amateur
Football Club in 1910 and for several following years was captain of the team (whose kit was
‘white jersey with blue facings’ and ‘white knickers’). He lived first in Wombourne, then in
Wolverhampton and Codsall, before retiring to Herstmonceux, Sussex. During his time in
Wolverhampton he was a leading member of the Chamber of Commerce and a director of Louis
Connolly, wine and spirit merchants.

90 Bertram BUTLER (1900-1979) (Associate member elected 4.2.1924; membership terminated
8.4.1929 because he had moved to Wolverhampton.) Architect. Son of Albert T Butler, founder
member of the Rotary club and celebrated architect. He joined his father’s practice in Dudley
and remained in partnership with him, trading as AT & Bertram Butler, until his father’s death in
1952. However by 1926 he was also working in his own name from premises in Wolverhampton,
first in Lichfield Street, then Darlington Street, Waterloo Road and finally Tettenhall Road. His
firm eventually became Butler Wones & Partners. Like his father he designed numerous well-
regarded public, commercial and industrial buildings around the region.

91 Elijah Alec COLMAN (1903-1991) (Elected 4.2.1924, aged only 21;
resigned 8.6.1925 on leaving the district.) His classification on joining
Rotary was ‘Cap manufacturer’ but he made his name as a successful real-
estate developer and philanthropist. He was born in Tipton, the son of a
Russian Jew who had emigrated to England as a young man and married
a girl from Birmingham. His father was a ‘clothier’ and ‘outfitter’. Alec’s
biography says that he left school at 13 to work for an estate agent and at
17 branched out on his own, although the 1921 census says he was a
travelling salesman for his father. He left Tipton to set up in business in
Birmingham city centre as an auctioneer and valuer but during the Second World War turned to