Joseph Bamford could shoot, fish, swim, and sail. Bamford paid more than fair wages, which rose regularly, and annual bonuses based on reports of individual worth. In 1967 Bamford stood on a farm cart and handed out personal cheques totalling £250,000. This extraordinary focus in return gave unprecedented levels of workforce flexibility, with the average JCB employee through the strike-dominated 1970s and early 1980s being seven times more productive than the average British manufacturing worker. In 1975 Bamford and his wife Marjorie (née Griffin – married 1941) handed over the business to their two sons, and retired to Switzerland as tax exiles.
Fred Bamford Fred Bamford Frederick William "Fred" Bamford (11 February 184910 September 1934) was an Australian politician. Bamford was born in Dubbo, New South Wales and educated at Toowoomba, Queensland. He left school at 14 and worked as a carpenter around the Toowoomba area. In September 1871 he married Mary Ann Miller. He and a partner set up a cabinet-making business in Mackay in 1882 but he went bankrupt in 1884. In 1892 Bamford became a publican in Bowen and ran unsuccessfully for the seat of Bowen in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in December 1895 and March 1899. He was elected