George Herbert Skinner

George Herbert Skinner (1872–1931) was a British boot and shoe manufacturer, enthusiastic pioneer motorist and inventor of a well-known carburettor which remained in production almost the entire twentieth century until superseded by fuel injection systems.

Biography Herbert Skinner was born in 1872 in Wellingborough, the eldest son of boot and shoe manufacturer William Banks Skinner (1847–1914) and his wife born Jane Lilley. In 1881 Banks Skinner entered into a partnership with his brother-in-law, Thomas Lilley (1845–1916). They built a very successful footwear manufacturing and retailing business Lilley & Skinner.

The eldest son, Herbert Skinner, followed his father in the management of Lilley & Skinner. He brought back Britain's first modern shoe-making machinery from an 1895 visit to USA. In February 1905, Herbert applied for a full patent which was granted in January 1906. The new carburettor was made for the Skinner brothers by G Wailes & Co of Euston Road until the brothers formed a limited liability company in August 1910 to manufacture it themselves. Younger brother, Carl (Thomas Carlisle) Skinner (1882–1958) sold out of Lilley & Skinner and took over the carburettor business. Herbert remained with Lilley and Skinner and continued to patent improvements to his carburettor.

He was one of the founders and the vice-president of the Institute of Patentees and well known in the City of London as an active member of the Cordwainers' Company. He represented England as a clay bird shot in the 1908 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal.

Herbert was the father of Professor Herbert Skinner. He did not believe in early schooling. His son was nine years old before he entered Durston House School at Ealing.