Guest and Chrimes
Foundry and Brass Works, Rotherham
Represented by Thomas Beggs of 37 Southampton Street, Strand, London, WC.
1839 'MRS. ASHALL, PLUMBER, GLAZIER, AND GAS FITTER, SOUTH STREET, SHEFFIELD, RESPECTFULLY informs her Friends and the Public of Sheffield and its Vicinity, that she has given up the above Business to Messrs. P, and E. CHRIMES, Plumbers, &c., of Rotherham, whom she has great pleasure in recommending as her successors.
Mrs. A. cannot take leave of her numerous Friends without expression of her very sincere thanks for the liberal encouragement with which she has for a long time been honoured.'[1]
1843 Company established by Chrimes Brothers. Later became Chrimes, Neatby and Co.
1845 Partnership dissolved: Peter Chrimes, Edward Chrimes, and Richard Chrimes, of Rotherham, Yorkshire, plumbers. [2]
1847 Taken over (it is thought) by Guest and Chrimes
1856 Manufactured water meter to William Siemens's design
1857 Richard Chrimes, of Brass Works, Rotherham, was elected to membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, proposed by C. W. Siemens and seconded by W. Fairbairn; he remained a member until 1889[3]
1859 Meeting of the I.C.E., 29 March: 'After the meeting, Mr. Siemens (Assoc. Inst. C. E.) exhibited a machine of his invention, manufactured by Messrs. Guest and Chrimes, for joining lead and other pipes, by pressure only. The machine consisted of a strap of wrought iron, in the shape of the letter V, and of three dies, two of which were to slide upon the inclined planes, while the third was pressed down upon them by means of a screw, passing through a moveable cross-head, embracing the sides of the open strap. The pipes to be joined were placed end to end, and a collar of lead was slipped over them. The collar was then: placed between the three dies, and the pressure was applied by means of a screw-key, until the annular beads or rings projecting from the internal surface of the dies were imbedded into the lead collar. The machine was then removed, and a joint was formed capable of resisting n hydraulic pressure of 1,100 ft. The security of the joint was increased by coating the surfaces, previously to their being joined, with white or red lead. The advantages claimed for this method of joining lead or other pipes, over the ordinary plumber's joint, were the comparative facility and cheapness of execution, as the cost of a joint of this description was said to be only about one-third or one-fourth that of the plumber's joint. A machine of a similar description was also used for joining telegraphic line wires, a specimen of which was likewise exhibited by Mr. Siemens.'[4]
1862 Most of the station gas meters used by the London gas companies were made by Mr Parkinson or by Mr Crosley[5]
1862 Guest and Chrimes acquired the gas apparatus and meter manufactory of William Crosley in London.
1871 Richard Chrimes employed 400 hands
1873 After a lengthy dispute with the Birmingham brass workers union, the union proposed to set up a co-operative at Masbro in direct competition with the company[6]
1879 The town boundary was to be extended and would include the works, which would increase the rates paid and prevent the company draining into the river. Mr Eckholme, the general manager of the company, suggested he could devise a cheaper drainage scheme[7]
1914 Foundry and General Brass Works. Specialities: Chrimes' High-Pressure Loose Valve Cocks, Guest and Chrimes' Improved Sluice Valves (body cast in one piece), Siemens and Adamson's Water Meter, Reservoir Valves and Fittings, Fire-Extinguishing Apparatus, General Plumbers' Goods, Gas Fittings including High-Power Lamps, Wet and Dry Gas Meters. Employees 400. [8]
1917 Private limited company incorporated to acquire the business Guest and Chrimes carried on in Rotherham.
1922 Their secretary, Mr. T. W. Bottoms, retired after forty-two years' service with the firm and was succeeded by Mr A. L. Guilmant.[9]
1924 1924 British Empire Exhibition: 'Messrs. Guest and Chrimes are the licensees and sole manufacturers of Blackett’s Aerophor of the Brown Mills type, an appliance which is officially sanctioned by the Department of Mines and which is in use at nine of the most important rescue stations in this country. The apparatus uses liquid air in distinction from other types using compressed oxygen, and this offers considerable advantages in some directions as, for instance, in obviating regulation devices and hand-manipulated valves. ....'[10]
1961 Hydraulic engineers, producing sluice valves, water meters, penstocks and brasswork required in waterworks construction. 500 employees. [11]
By 1965 Hattersley (Ormskirk) held a substantial interest in the company.
By 1993 Tomkins plc was a major shareholder
1999 Acquired by Stanton plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain UK Ltd
1999 Product line rationalised in line with those of its parent; manufacturing and administration moved to Stanton-by-Dale, the factory of the parent[12]
2002 Name changed to Stanton Ltd
2008 Appointment of liquidators to Stanton Ltd (together with a number of other dormant companies)[13]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Sheffield Independent - Saturday 14 September 1839
- ↑ Sheffield Independent - 8 November 1845
- ↑ UK Mechanical Engineers, via Ancestry
- ↑ The Engineer 1859/04/08
- ↑ The Engineer 1862/04/04
- ↑ The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, April 26, 1873
- ↑ The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, June 28, 1879
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer 1922/08/04
- ↑ Engineering 1924/05/09
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 1999 Annual report
- ↑ London Gazette 11 January 2008