A New Year’s visit to a National Trust property prompts questions about industry, philanthropy and British innovation. Nuffield Place in Oxfordshire was the home of Lord Nuffield (1877-1963), born William Morris, the British car-maker (and not to be confused with William Morris of the Arts and Crafts movement, some forty years his senior). Nuffield was the name of the local village and Morris took it as his name when he was made a peer in 1934. The house, near Henley-on-Thames, is sizeable but modest for a self-made multi-millionaire. Originally called Merrow Mount, it was completed in 1914 for a shipping maganate, Sir John Bowring Wimble. Nuffield added a large billiard room on the end. It was frosty yesterday, but the gardens must be lovely in summer with the wisteria out. Nuffield began his working life repairing bicycles before he began to manufacture them. He was a contemporary and competitor of Henry Ford, who had established the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and by 1911 had opened...