William Whitwell and Co
of Thornaby Iron Works, Stockton-on-Tees
1859 Founded by William Whitwell and Thomas Whitwell
1859 The old Quaker firm of W. Whitwell and Co was established for the production of malleable iron and special hematite[1]. Three blast furnaces were erected
1860 Joseph Wright left the partnership of William Whitwell, Thomas Whitwell, Thomas Howard Head, Joseph Wright, and Joseph Ashby of South Stockton, iron manufacturers, under the firm of William Whitwell and Co[2].
Gurney Pease subsequently joined the partnership
1861 Company established.
1862 First iron made
1864 Also owned Thornaby Rolling Mills which started operation this year.
1866 See 1866 Cleveland Blast Furnaces for detail of furnaces
1873 Three new furnaces were built to replace the original ones
Description and drawings of Whitwell's patent hot blast stove [3]
Owned by Sir Joseph Pease and Arthur Pease
1889 Incorporated as a limited company.
1914 Iron manufacturers. Specialities: high-class bar iron and hematite iron for Siemens, Bessemer and other processes. Employees 750. [4]
1919 Amalgamated Industrials acquired William Whitwell and Co[5].
1922 Head, Wrightson and Co acquired the interest in the company previously held by Amalgamated Industrials[6].
1923 Pease and Partners purchased all of the Ordinary shares of the company; arrangement made that Whitwells would purchase a considerable portion of their mineral supplies from Pease[7].
1921 (sic) repurchased by the Whitwell family, with the support of Pease and Partners which wanted the 75 coke ovens connected with the Whitwell plant. The puddling furnaces, forges and rolling mills were closed[8].
1925 Mills closed
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Aberconway
- ↑ London Gazette, Issue 22407 27 July 1860
- ↑ The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics Supplementary Volume, by Edward H Knight, 1881
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Times, 27 June 1919
- ↑ The Times, 26 June 1922
- ↑ The Times, 17 May 1923
- ↑ See Aberconway for information on the company and its history
- The history of Thornaby, by Laurence Ottaway, updated by Colin Appleby