Centenarian Ken Harrison Attends as Guest of Honor at JCB's 1 MillionthBackhoe LoaderProductionCelebration

Recently, centenarian Ken Harrison attended as guest of honor the celebration marking the production of JCB's 1 millionth backhoe loader. Ken is the only surviving member of the original production team and helped build the first batch of JCB backhoe loaders.

Ken celebrated his 100th birthday in November 2024. He joined JCB in 1952 as a welder, when the workshop had only 29 employees. His hourly wage was 4 shillings and 6 pence, equivalent to 22.5 pence today. He worked at JCB for 36 years until his retirement in 1988.

Today, he returned to the place where the first JCB backhoe loader rolled off the line 72 years ago — JCB's global headquarters in Rocester. This time, instead of clocking in for work, he arrived elegantly in a chauffeured Jaguar to attend the celebration.

After Ken joined JCB, he started a family tradition of working there that continues to this day. Thirteen of his relatives followed in his footsteps and joined JCB, and to date Ken's family has accumulated more than 350 years of service to the company. Ken grew up in Barrow Hill, the eldest of eight children, from where the JCB factory can be seen half a mile away. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ken also did JCB sales and marketing promotion in Europe. He worked in the demonstration team for six years, driving machines to show customers and dealers the outstanding performance of JCB equipment.

Ken recalled: "In those days we worked very long hours at the factory, almost living there. I remember one Sunday at 5 p.m. I was still working. I was the only one there when Joe Bamford (JCB's founder) walked in and shouted at me: 'Harrison, I'm relying on you!' In those days everyone called each other by their surnames. Joe was a good man, and I really liked him. Everyone was happy and friendly, and everyone took responsibility. Back then you might be doing welding work today and tomorrow you might be driving a concretemixer truckIn the early days of the business, you would do all sorts of jobs, completely different from today."

"I also remember when the factory was being expanded, it was so windy that you simply couldn't do normal welding work because the welding material would be blown away. At the time, we only had a huge tarpaulin around us. We did every kind of job back then. When I went out to drive atruck, Anthony Bamford (JCB's current Group Chairman) often came with me to deliver to local customers. He was only about 11 then, and it was a novelty for him."

Ed Farnley, 24, from Uttoxeter, is Ken's great-nephew. Six years ago he joined JCB as an apprentice and now works as a product specialist at JCB Attachments in Uttoxeter.

"I am the fourth generation of my family to work here. When I learned how much our family has contributed to JCB, I felt very proud. My great-grandfather John Harrison and my grandfather Colin Farnley both worked here, and my father Alan also worked here. We are all honored to be part of JCB's 80 years of success." said Ed Farnley.

Group photo