Vickers
Ltd. - (en)
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through
many companies from 1828 until 2004.
History
Early history
Main article: Vickers Limited
Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller
Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was
a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers' brother
William owned a steel rolling operation. Edward's investments in the
railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at
Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life
making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church
bells. In 1854 Vickers' sons Thomas and Albert joined the business. In
1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in
Brightside. The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons &
Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into
various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts,
in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a
forging press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and
their first artillery piece in 1890.
Vickers bought out the Barrow in Furness shipbuilder The Barrow
Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim
Nordenfelt Guns And Ammunitions Company [1] at the same time, to
become Vickers, Sons & Maxim. The yard at Barrow became the "Naval
Construction Yard". With these acquisitions, Vickers could now
produce a complete selection of products, from ships and marine
fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance. In 1901 the
Royal Navy's first submarine, Holland 1, was launched at the Naval
Construction Yard. In 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous
Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company.
Further diversification occurred with the purchase of the car building
activities of the Wolseley Sheep-Shearing Machine Company in 1905,
which was set up as the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company. In 1911 a
controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, the
torpedo manufacturers. In 1911, the company name was changed to
Vickers Ltd and expanded its operations into aircraft manufacture by
the formation of Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department). In 1919, the
British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the
Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company; Metrovick. At the same time
they came into Metropolitan's railway interests.
Merger with Armstrong
Whitworth
Main article: Vickers Armstrong
In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company
Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become
Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd. Armstrong Whitworth had developed along
similar lines to Vickers, expanding into various military sectors and
was notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and
shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne. Armstrongs
shipbuilding interests became the "Naval Yard", those of
Vickers on the west coast the "Naval Construction Yard". The
aircraft production arm of Armstrong Whitworth was not absorbed by the
new company.
In 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and soon
after acquired Supermarine, which became the "Supermarine
Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd". In 1938, both companies were
re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, although the former
Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under
their former names. 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway
business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell
Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell.
Nationalisation
In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of the Bristol,
English Electric and Hunting Aircraft to form the de facto
nationalised British Aircraft Corporation. This was owned by Vickers,
English Electric and Bristol (holding 40%, 40% and 20% respectively).
BAC in turn owned 70% of Hunting. The Supermarine operation was closed
in 1963 and the Vickers name for aircraft was dropped in 1965. Under
the terms of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act BAC was
officially nationalised in 1977 to become part of the British
Aerospace group, which exists today in the guise of BAE Systems).
The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act also led to the
nationalisation of Vickers' shipbuilding division as part of British
Shipbuilders. These had been renamed Vickers Armstrong Shipbuilders in
1955, changing again to Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group in 1968.
This division was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering
Ltd (VSEL) in 1986, later part of GEC's Marconi Marine. It remains in
operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarines.
Vickers plc
Main article: Vickers plc
With their steelworking operations also nationalised into British
Steel the remnants of Vickers became Vickers plc. In 1986, Vickers
acquired the armaments manufacturer Royal Ordnance Factory, Leeds,
which became Vickers Defence Systems. Other acquisitions included
automotive engineers Cosworth in 1990, waterjet manufacturer Kamewa in
1996 and Norwegian marine propulsion and engineering company Ulstein
in 1998. 1998 also saw the sale of Rolls-Royce Motors and Cosworth to
Volkswagen.
Current Status of Vickers
Vickers remained independent until 1999 when the then Vickers plc was
acquired by Rolls-Royce plc who sold the defense arm to Alvis plc,
which became Alvis Vickers. Vickers plc and the subsidiaries retained
by Rolls-Royce were renamed Vinters in March 2003. This Vickers name
lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE
Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems.
The Vickers name survives to this day, however. One former Vickers
entity was acquired by Eaton Corporation in 1999. Currently, Eaton
Hydraulic's Vickers business provides power and motion control
components including vane pumps, piston pumps, valves, cylinders, and
filtration products to the industrial, aerospace, marine, and defense
industries.
