Manchester Edison and Swan Co
of Broadheath, Manchester
1887 The name of the Manchester and District Edison Electric Light Co Ltd was changed to Manchester Edison and Swan Company Ltd., and a capital reduction was agreed[1]
1892 '.... Edison and Swan lamps can only be obtained wholesale, within the Manchester district, at this company’s stores in St. Ann’s Square and Barton Square, or at the works, Little John Street. Dynamos, holders, &c., under the Edison, Swan, and other patents are constructed only under the licence of the company. ..... When the company commenced operations in 1882, its headquarters were in Victoria Buildings, but shortly afterwards a move was made to St. Mary’s Gate, and about four years ago the present premises in St. Ann’s Square were secured. This establishment is admirably adapted to the requirements of the business, and comprises an extensive and well-appointed show-room, extending through to Barton Square, and having commodious offices on the first floor, with board room, &c. So largely, however, is the business of the company increasing that it is shortly intended to move to much larger premises.
'In the show-room there is a very large and interesting display of the company’s standard specialities for electric lighting, and in surveying these productions we observe that many of them are produced under patents which are the company’s own property, such, for example, as the following:- All kinds of incandescent lamps on the Edison and Edison-Swan patents, the Edison-Hopkinson dynamo, and the Fawcus-Cowan slow-speed dynamo, a great variety of lamps, holders, safety fuses, ceiling roses, main and branch switches, and various other electric light fittings which are indispensable to a complete and effective installation. Besides the above-named articles the company supply a great number of other apparatus for electric lighting, among which we note the excellent Manchester and Lancashire dynamos, accumulators and portable batteries, fancy shades and globes, ship and colliery fittings, brackets, electroliers and standards in polished brass and wrought-iron, ammeters, voltmeters, and other electrical testing instruments, wood casings and coverings, arc lamps, &c. In many cases the fittings show great beauty and elegance of design, and in every instance they are of the highest excellence in material and finish. The company also supply gas, petroleum, and steam engines, boilers, shafting, pulleys, belting, and other mechanical accessories of a character specially adapted for use in electric lighting, and we need hardly say that they have always on hand supplies of electric light wires and cables, of special quality, ready for any demand. In fact, this company maintains a complete emporium of supply for every article required in an electric light installation. They are at all times prepared to give estimates free of charge for complete installations of electric light and motive power.
'The company’s works are situated in Little John Street, where a large staff of skilled mechanics and electricians and a plant of the most improved and effective modern machinery afford superior facilities for the production of the highest class of work. During the past nine years this company have carried out a large number of installations on the premises of leading manufacturers and merchants in the north of England, as well as in theatres, hotels, private houses, ships, yachts, &c., and the trade controlled is constantly increasing as the public more fully recognises the immense usefulness and advantage, as well as the economy and healthfulness of electricity as an illuminating agent. .....'[2]
The Manchester Edison Swan Co., Limited, has an influential directorate, consisting of Mr. V. K. Armitage, Manchester Chairman; Sir J. C. Lee, Bowdon; Mr. F. B. Ross, Alderly; Major Flood Page, London; Mr. J. C. Waterhouse, Prestbury; Mr. W. P. James Fawcus, C.E., Manchester, Managing Director; and the secretarial office is filled by Mr. John E. Sharpies. The company’s telegraphic address is “Edison, Manchester,” and their telephone is No. 532.
1896 Absorbed by the Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co[3]