Brecknell, Munro and Rogers
of Bristol
Starting as a small non-ferrous foundry the company has become precision engineers.
1877 Henry Brecknell became sole proprietor of the family firm under the name of H. Brecknell and Son.
1896 Brecknell was joined in partnership by Edward May Munro and Hugh Innes Rogers, carrying on the business under the style of Brecknell, Munro and Rogers, Ltd., first at Lawrence Hill and later at Thrissell Street, Bristol, as mechanical, electrical, and tramway engineers.
Arnold Morley Willis, having started as a pupil with the firm, worked in many parts of the world on power stations, electric traction systems, and overhead lines.
1913 Reduction in capital authorised[1]
Manufactured Standard cigarette making machines under licence from the American Machine and Foundry Co
1920 The main business was the manufacture of machinery for the tobacco industry. Imperial Tobacco Co and British American Tobacco together acquired a majority of the shares in the company.
Subsequently the firm also produced specialised machines for food packing, egg-grading, laundry-marking and printing-machines of the stop cylinder type, as well as the ticket-issuing and change-giving machines used on London Underground stations.
1928 Brecknell, Willis and Co was separated from Brecknell, Munro and Rogers to take over the company's electrical engineering activities.
Brecknell, Munro and Rogers became a wholly owned subsidiary of Molins and changed its name to the Thrissell Engineering Co. Ltd[2], formed to develop coin-operated machinery.
Brecknell, Dolman and Rogers was formed as a Private company but not clear about its connection to the others.
1943 Became public company.
1945 Brecknell, Munro and Rogers applied for an extension of the 1928 Patent granted to Henry Dolman and Thrissell Engineering Co[3]
1954 The name of Brecknell, Munro and Rogers was changed to Brecknell, Dolman and Rogers[4]