John Lloyd was born on 20 October 1888 in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Thomas Lloyd and Elizabeth Lloyd (née Lewis). Moving to Staffordshire, he was educated at Cavour Street Schools and at Hanley High School, leaving school at sixteen. He became an apprentice at Shelton Bar Steel Works and attended evening classes at the Technical School in London Road, Stoke.

Widely known as "Jimmy" Lloyd, on the outbreak of the First World War, he joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as Head of Stress Calculating and Design.

In 1917 he joined the Siddeley Deasy Company in Parkside, near Coventry, as Assistant Chief Designer and was responsible for all their aircraft designs, most notably the Siskin. He retained his position when the company merged with Armstrong-Whitworth, and in 1924 became Chief Designer, a post he held until 1948. As such he led the design of all Armstrong-Whitworth including the Argosy, Atalanta, Ensign and Apollo airliners, the Whitley bomber and the A.W. 52 experimental "flying wing". In 1948 Lloyd became Technical Director of Armstrong-Whitworth, a post he held until his retirement in March, 1955, though he remained on the board until 1959.

John Lloyd FRAeS died in December 1978 in Kingston upon Thames.

1. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Since 1913, Oliver Tapper (Putnam., 1973)
2. Flight 1 Apr 1955
3. http://aircraftdesigners.blogspot.com/2011/12/john-lloyd-1888-1978.html
4. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FJOLD