The British Motor Syndicate Limited (BMS) was a company formed in November 1895 by company promoter and entrepreneur Harry John Lawson. Lawson's aim was to use BMS to raise funds from the public to establish a business with a monopoly on petrol-driven cars by acquiring as many patents as possible related to such vehicles from Gottlieb Daimler, his business associates, and other sources.[2] It was never the company's intention to produce motor cars, but rather to exploit the patents it had purchased by charging substantial royalties to automobile manufacturers for the right to manufacture cars using those patents.
Patentees
By the time of the first public issue, twelve months after incorporation, the following patent holders had committed themselves to BMS:
and BMS had received more than £200,000 from English motor car manufacturers, leading names were Lawson's Daimler and Great Horseless.[2]