N. Hingley and Sons
of Netherton Ironworks, Netherton, Dudley, Worcs.
Noah Hingley and his father before him had been chain-makers in a small factory on the banks of the Stour.
1820 Company established by Noah Hingley making chains and cables.
1838 Hingley attempted to make anchors but he was not immediately successful. For the first few years no anchors weighing more than 20 cwt. were forged
1848 Thanks to the introduction of the Nasmyth hammer, forgings weighing 74 cwt. were successfully turned out, enabling production of larger-sized anchors, followed by the supply of complete outfits of anchor and chain.
1852 New British Iron Co sold Netherton works to Noah Hingley and Sons.
A few years later Hingleys also acquired Dudley Wood works.
1861 Employing 1,000 men and boys.[3]
1865 Benjamin Hingley entered the management of the firm
1866 Chain cables and anchors' proving establishment. [4]
1877 Benjamin Hingley became head of the business after the death of his father, Noah.
Survived the depression in the shipbuilding industry between 1876 and 1886 to take advantage of the huge expansion in demand for heavy cables and anchors at the end of the nineteenth century
1890 Boiler explosion at the works[5].
1890 The company was registered as a limited company on 9 September, to acquire the business of the firm of the same name. This was one of the family's partnerships - the other subsequently became Hart Hill Iron Co[6].
1893 Purchased Manor Mines, Halesowen, from Viscount Cobham[7].
1894 The company took over the goodwill and trade-marks of the New British Iron Co. [8]
1905 Purchased surface and mines at Netherton from the Earl of Dudley[9]
1907 Acquired G. Hartshorne and Co Marine Works, Netherton
1907 Cyril Edward Lloyd joined the board of the company[10]
1910 Exhibited the largest anchor (15.5 t) in the world at Engineering Exhibition in London[11].
1914 Ironmasters, Chain and Anchor Manufacturers. Production of South Staffordshire Wrought Iron Bars including "Marked Bars" and the "Netherton" Brand. Manufacture of large Cables and Anchors for all the leading Steamship Lines and Navies of the world.[12]
1914 Acquired Samuel Taylor and Sons (Brierley Hill) Ltd
By the beginning of WWI the Black Country chain makers had a virtual monopoly of the world market in ships' cables.
1917 Halesowen Brick and Tile Co was incorporated.
1920 Acquired John Bradley and Co (Stourbridge) Ltd; acquired E. Baylie and Co Ltd., Chain Works, Stourbridge[13].
By 1922 Owned John Bagnall and Sons Ltd., Wednesbury, and Harts Hill Iron Co Ltd
1922/3 Acquired Joseph Wright and Co
c.1926 Owned B. Perkins and Sons Ltd., Audnam Anchor Works, Stourbridge
1926 Acquired Henry Wood and Co, Ltd., Saltney.
1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.
1927 Also see Aberconway for information on the company and its history.
1927 Owned Midland and Coast Canal Carriers, Ltd., Broad Street, Wolverhampton
1930 Owned H. P. Parkes and Co Ltd., Tipton
1932 Wye Foundry Co Ltd was incorporated
1946 Established Midland Research Co
1947 Acquired Wright's Forge and Engineering Co
By 1948 also owned Richard Sykes and Son and International Furnace Equipment Co
1948 Public issue of shares[14]. 24 subsidiary and sub-subsidiary companies. The business was engaged in:
- Production of chains, ships cables, anchors, forgings, davits
- Production of wrought iron and rolling of wrought iron and steel bars and sections.
1953 Acquired Thomas Perrins and Co
1955 Purchased John Bagnall and Sons from the Iron and Steel Holdings and Realisation Agency.
1960 Cyril Edward Lloyd retired from the board
1961 Acquired M. and W. Grazebrook[15].
1963 Death of Cyril Lloyd, age 86, who joined the company more than 50 years before and had risen to be chairman. He was a descendant of the Lloyds banking family, and also contributed his experience in later life to F. H. Lloyd and Co which was run by relatives[16].
1964 Some parts of the business were trading satisfactorily but the Samuel Taylor subsidiary was making serious losses; almost all of the chain making activities would be concentrated in a reconstituted company. Transferred the general engineering and marine deck equipment activities of R. C. Gibbins and Co and Welin-Maclachlan Davits to the Grazebrook Group. The main subsidiaries were[17]:
- Hingley Netherton Group, was suffering from labour shortages
- John Bagnall and Sons, had full order book
- Wright's Forge and Engineering Co, downturn in orders from shipping sources was offset by increased orders for heavy engineering
- Samuel Taylor Group, the new cable making process was not yet working satisfactorily
- Brown Lenox Group, orders to the steel foundry were depressed
- Grazebrook Group, with 3 subsidiaries: M. and W. Grazebrook, Joseph Wright (Fabrications), and Westwood and Wrights, was trading satisfactorily
- Spanner Boiler Group, results had improved.
1966 Acquired by F. H. Lloyd and Co[18]. Proposal to recast that company as the holding company and rename N. Hingley and Sons, Ltd as F. H. Lloyd[19].
1970/71 F. H. Lloyd was reconstructed as a holding company; Hingley's (renamed F. H. Lloyd?) became one of its principal subsidiaries through which various of the old Hingley subsidiaries (and some other businesses) were controlled[20].
A former employee, Benjamin Westwood, left notebooks dating from the late 19th containing useful information on wrought iron production [21]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia. Volume VIII. Engineering. Oxford University Press, 1955.
- ↑ Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia. Volume VIII. Engineering. Oxford University Press, 1955.
- ↑ 1861 Census
- ↑ The Engineer of 11th May 1866 p346
- ↑ The Times, Apr 17, 1890
- ↑ National Archives [1]
- ↑ National Archives [2]
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ National Archives
- ↑ The Times, Jan 02, 1961
- ↑ The Times, Sep 02, 1910
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ National Archives [3]
- ↑ The Times, Jun 29, 1948
- ↑ The Times, Aug 28, 1961
- ↑ The Times, Feb 26, 1963
- ↑ The Times Oct 01, 1964
- ↑ The Times, Jul 09, 1966
- ↑ National Archives [4]
- ↑ National Archives [5]
- ↑ [6] Extra Special Best Best: Black Country iron puddling and wrought iron manufacture in the nineteenth century by Paul Belford
- Obituary of Benjamin Hingley, ODNB