Industrial holding company, of Cleveland Row, St James, London.
General
1947 British Lead Mills acquired Firth Co, wire makers
1950 On 1 November British Lead Mills changed its name to Firth Cleveland. A new company British Lead Mills was formed on the same date to carry on the business of the old one.[1]. Included in the new group was Firth Co.
1952 Simmonds Aerocessories, a private company, purchased 90% of the ordinary shares in Firth Cleveland; name changed to Firland Metals[2].
1953 Formed as a private company which owned Simmonds Aerocessories, Firth Co of Warrington, British Lead Mills and Stenor; converted into a public company.[3].
1954 Public offer of shares - an industrial holding company, with interests in metals and engineering but having the intention to broaden its scope.[4]. Owned, amongst others, Firth Cleveland (Machine Tools) Ltd of Wolverhampton, successor to a company formed in 1939.
1955 Acquired Charles Cooper (Tipton).[5].
1955 Acquired Richard Hill and Co as result of its denationalization. Also owned Keeton, Sons and Co, R. E. Roberts and Son, Landmaster of Hucknall, Notts, and retailers Max Stone and Wolfe and Hollander.[6].
1957 Firth Cleveland Instruments Ltd formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of Simmonds Aerocessories to represent the growing range of instruments in the group.
1958 The Steel Strip Company (Charles Tipton) was renamed Firth Cleveland Steel Strip, the company expanded to become the UK's leading producer of hardened and tempered steel strip.[7].
1958 Firth Cleveland Instruments was expanding in electronics for fluid flow measurement; licensed Gilbarco deep tank electric contents gauge from Gilbert and Barker Manufacturing Co, of Springfield USA, a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company[8]
1959 Industrial holding company with 27% of investments in engineering, 12% in electronics and instruments, 27% in steel, 5% in lead and 29% in retail. 25% of the ordinary shares offered to the public[9]. Also owned Firth Cleveland Pumps Ltd. Acquired Sheffield Wire Rope Co.
1960 Acquired the Broadmead Group (retail chain) and 53% of Solartron Electronic Group. Acquired J. J. Habershon and Sons from the denationalisation of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain[10]; Firth Cleveland Steel Strip was a customer of Habershon for its high carbon strip[11]..
- Engineering included Simmonds Aerocessories Ltd, Firth Cleveland Tools Ltd, Keeton, Sons and Co, Landmaster, Firth Cleveland Pumps
- Electronics included Solartron Electronic Group, Firth Cleveland Instruments, and Solartron-John Brown Automation.
- Steel Division included Richard Hill and Co and Richard Hill Rolling Mills Ltd, the Firth Co, Firth Cleveland Steel Strip, the Tenuous Steel Co, J. J. Habershon and Sons, the Sheffield Wire Rope Co.
- Lead Division included British Lead Mills Ltd and R. E. Roberts and Son with products including radiation shielding, paints and alloys.
1960 Licensees of Surform tools from Firth, Brown Tools Ltd. Steel companies J. J. Habershon and Sons, Tenuous Steel Co, and Firth Cleveland Steel Strip collected under new company Firth Cleveland Steel.
Firth Cleveland Tools Ltd of Stornoway House, St. James, London, SW1.
1961 Parent of 20 subsidiaries. Employs 10,000 persons.
1961 Firth Cleveland failed in its attempt to purchase the remaining shares in Solartron Electronic Group. Then sold its shareholding to Schlumberger Inc of USA. In view of poor profits, decided to exit instrumentation and sold Firth Cleveland Instruments to Elliott Automation but the business would continue from the same site under the name Elliott (Treforest).
1962 Purchased Tyne Wire Rope Co and the world patent rights to the Laird Tangential Fan and to a metal extrusion process.[12].
1967 Firth Cleveland had at least 40 subsidiaries in 5 divisions.[13].
1972 GKN acquired Firth Cleveland for its complementary interests in hot and cold rolled strip, sintered products, reinforcements, wire fasteners and garage equipment; GKN had not decided what to do with the retail side of the business[14]
1975 GKN started to dispose of Firth Cleveland's Civic Stores[15]
1985 F. H. Tomkins purchased 6 companies from GKN including Firth Cleveland Engineering but Firth Cleveland Steel Strip and Firth Cleveland Steels in the USA were not included in the deal[16].
1986 Glynwed acquired Firth Cleveland Steel Strip and Firth Cleveland Steels in the USA[17]
Firth Cleveland (Machine Tools) Ltd
of Wolverhampton
1939 Firth Cleveland (Machine Tools) Ltd was successor to a company formed in 1939.
1955 Two separate branches of the business: - one served garages with Wandess servicing equipment; the other supplied intricate tools and equipment to the aircraft industry. As well as supplying equipment that Stenor sold, it also served as the research and development facility for special purpose machine tools for the rest of the group[18].
Firth Cleveland Steel Strip
1949 Charles Cooper (Tipton) Ltd opened for business on 1st of January 1949 with just one customer and an order for 25 tonnes of precision steel strip.
1955 Firth Cleveland acquired Charles Cooper (Tipton) Ltd[19]
1958 The Steel Strip Company (Charles Tipton) was renamed Firth Cleveland Steel Strip, the company expanded to become the UK's leading producer of hardened and tempered steel strip[20].
1960 Firth Cleveland Steel Strip incorporated in new company Firth Cleveland Steel.
1986 Glynwed bought the business of Firth Cleveland Steel Strip and its US sales associate Firth Cleveland Steel from GKN[21]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Friday, 16 March 1951
- ↑ The Times, 19 January 1952
- ↑ The Times, 5 August 1953
- ↑ The Times, 8 February 1954
- ↑ The Times, 13 June 1955
- ↑ The Times 8 August 1955
- ↑ The Times, 16 July 1958
- ↑ The Times, Jul 16, 1958
- ↑ The Times 28 June 1960
- ↑ The Times 28 June 1960
- ↑ The Times, 26 May 1960
- ↑ The Times, 19 July 1962
- ↑ The Times, 24 October 1967
- ↑ The Times, Jun 21, 1972
- ↑ The Times, Feb 05, 1975
- ↑ The Times, 14 August 1985
- ↑ The Times, August 05, 1986
- ↑ The Times, 8 August 1955
- ↑ The Times, 13 June 1955
- ↑ The Times, 16 July 1958
- ↑ The Times, August 05, 1986