Moritz Immisch

Moritz Immisch (1838 to 1903) was a German-born watchmaker, electrical engineer and inventor who worked in London and became one of the early builders of electric motors for transport. Born Karl Moritz Immisch in Niederschmon, near Querfurt, he left Germany around 1860 and made his living first in precision clockwork, later turning to electricity. In 1882 he patented an improved electro-motor and formed M. Immisch and Co, with works in Kentish Town. Immisch motors drove some of the earliest electric carriages built in England, including vehicles made with Magnus Volk and others produced for the Sultan of Turkey, and they powered the accumulator tramcars of the Electric Traction Company on the Barking Road line from 1889 to 1892. The firm also ran a fleet of electric launches on the Thames. He became a British citizen in 1896 and died in London in 1903.