Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 146,692 pages of information and 232,163 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Taylor Brothers and Co
From Graces Guide
of Clarence Iron and Steel Works, Leeds and later in Trafford Park, Manchester
1857 Brothers George, James and Samuel Taylor established the Clarence Iron Works in Leeds.
1861 Mention of Taylor Brothers and Co making railway tires [1]
1876 Members of the Iron and Steel Institute visited their ironworks. [2]
1879 Herbert Taylor retired from the partnership with Thomas Albert Oakes Taylor as Ironmasters, under the firm of Taylor Brothers and Co., at the Clarence Ironworks, Hunslet, Taylor[3]
1891 Advert. Iron and steel. [4]
1905 The company was registered on 26 August, to acquire the business of the firm of the same name, iron and steel manufacturers. [5]
1919 Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Co arranged to take-over the company, which would supply materials to Metropolitan's railway works at Manchester but Metropolitan was then acquired by Vickers Ltd who also acquired Taylor Brothers.
1920 New works were built at Trafford Park, Manchester [6] and a plant was installed for the production of railway carriage and wagon wheels, tyres and axles. This plant included seven Siemens Open-Hearth Furnaces, fifteen puddling furnaces and three bar mills.
1921 Business moved to Manchester; factory in Leeds closed[7]. See also Taylors Forge
1923 Three Lamberton and Co horizontal compound steam engines, each rated at 2000 HP maximum at 120 rpm installed, driving three successive railway tyre rolling mills [8]
1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.
1928 Merger of companies in the steel industry announced, involving parts of Vickers, Vickers-Armstrongs and Cammell, Laird and Co[9]. This would involve all of the steel interests of the 3 contributing groups, except for interests in guns, ammunition and tanks. A new company would be created to take over these interests: the English Steel Corporation Ltd. The contribution from Vickers was Taylor Brothers and Co.
1932 Davy Brothers received an order worth £202,000 from the Russian Government for a complete plant for producing railway wheels on a patent process of the Edgewater Steel Co of Pittsburgh. Work to be carried out in conjunction with Taylor Brothers of Manchester[10]
1935 See Taylor Brothers and Co:1935 Review
1941 Death of two employees - Clifford Stubbs of Sale and James Devenport of Patricroft - following an explosion in the powerhouse[11]
1951 Nationalised under the Iron and Steel Act; became part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain[12]
Became part of British Steel
Sold to a ABB
Subsequently became part of ADtranz. They closed down the forging and heat treatment activities at Trafford Park c.1999.
2000 Business purchased by Lucchini, for machining and assembly of wheel and axle forgings imported from Italy.
2014 Became Lucchini/Unipart Rail Ltd (LUR)[13][14]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Tuesday, Feb 05, 1861
- ↑ The Engineer of 15th August 1876 p180
- ↑ London Gazette 5 December 1879
- ↑ 1891 Post Office London Trades Directory
- ↑ 1908 The Stock Exchange Year Book
- ↑ Aberconway
- ↑ The Times, 25 November 1921
- ↑ 'The Steam Engine in Industry: The Mining and Metal Trades' by George Watkins, Moorland Publishing
- ↑ The Times, 18 December 1928
- ↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Friday 30 September 1932
- ↑ Daily Herald - Thursday 2 January 1941
- ↑ Hansard 19 February 1951
- ↑ [1] Lucchini website, LUR webpage
- ↑ [2] LUR website