Joseph Bamford the National Portrait Gallery. Joseph Bamford Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE (21 June 1916 – 1 March 2001) was a British businessman, who was the founder of the JCB company, manufacturing heavy plant. Joseph Bamford was born into a recusant Catholic family in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, which owned Bamfords Ltd, an agricultural engineering business. His great grandfather Henry Bamford was born in Yoxall, and had built up his own ironmongers business, which by 1881 employed 50 men, 10 boys and 3 women. Bamfords International Farm Machinery became one of the country's major agricultural equipment suppliers, famous for its balers, rakes, hay turners,
Harry Bamford and supporters alike, to play the ball out of defence even in the tightest of situations, he never lost the attacking instincts of the forward he had been in his younger days, and operated very much in the style of a modern wing-back. Bamford was an integral part of the Rovers' side which won promotion from Division Three (South) to Division Two in 1953 under manager Bert Tann. Bamford joined Rovers in December 1945, having been spotted while playing for St. Silas School Old Boys. Before his call-up in 1939 to the First Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment where he