General Refractories
of Genefax House, Sheffield, 10. Telephone: 31113 (6 lines). Telegraphic Address: "Genefax, Sheffield"
1900 The company was registered as Worksop Brick Co Ltd.
1920 The General Refractories Company of Kelham Island Firebrick Works, Sheffield, were exhibitors of high class refractory materials and bricks for lining soaking pits, silica bricks for steel melting furnaces etc. at the 1922 Foundry Trades Exhibition.[1]
1929 Changed its name to General Refractories.
It owned factories at Sheffield, Worksop, Bawtry, Middlesbrough and King's Lynn together with the Mayers Lane mine, Bradfield and the Wharncliffe Chase Mine, Deepcar.
1936 The Glenboig Union Fireclay Co was purchased.
1937 British Industries Fair Advert as Manufacturers of Heat Resisting and Heat Insulating Materials of Every Description. Saxpyre, the improved Basic Refractory. Moulding and silica Sands of every type. Insulating Bricks which reduce full costs by as much as 20 per cent. (Engineering/Metals/Quarry, Roads and Mining/Transport Section - Stand Nos. D.913 and D.810)
1963 GRL merged with British Industrial Sand under the holding company General Refractories Group Ltd (GRG).
1969 Discussions with Hepworth Iron Co about a merger; would create a large clay-using group from the 2 largely complementary companies[2].
1970 GR-Stein Refractories Ltd was formed by merger of John G. Stein and Co and General Refractories of Sheffield. GR-Stein became a subsidiary of Hepworth Ceramic Holdings Ltd.
1970 GRG merged with Hepworth Iron Co Ltd, of Sheffield, to form Hepworth Ceramic Holdings Plc, subsequently renamed Hepworth Plc.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] The Share Gallery
- 1937 British Industries Fair Advert p626; and p367