The Little brothers and their bus outside the A.E. Roberts Coachworks – Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich

Horse-drawn buses were used early in the 1900s by Ipswich residents to travel between Ipswich and Blackstone. Public motor transport first made an appearance in Ipswich around the 1920s when Messrs J.J. and J.R. Little tried in 1919 to purchase the horse bus company then in operation. Their efforts were unsuccessful but the brothers purchased two Ford buses and set up in opposition. Slow to start, the Little and Co Bus Company perservered and before long added another bus to their “fleet”. After a management split a few years later the company became the Pioneer Bus Company, and by 1926 had 23 buses on the road.