Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004.
Early history
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 aquisitions, 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 occured 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 aquired 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
In 1927, Vickers merged with the
Tyneside based engineering company
Armstrong Whitworth, founded by
W. G. Armstrong, to become
Vickers-Armstrong, 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 Deparment became
Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and soon after aquired
Supermarine, which became the "Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd". In 1938, both companies were re-organised as
Vickers Armstrong (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 divsion 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
With their steelworking operations also nationalised into
British Steel the remnants of Vickers became
Vickers plc. In 1986, Vickers aquired the armaments manufacturer
Royal Ordnance Factory,
Leeds, which became
Vickers Defence Systems. Other aquisitions 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.
End 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
[Rolls-Royce plc. The "Principal subsidiary undertakings" Retrieved 12 June, 2006]. This Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form
BAE Systems Land Systems, ending the famous Vickers name after 176 years.
*
Companies House accessed 22 June 2006
* Anon (1898),
Vickers, Sons and Maxim Limited: Their Works and Manufactures, "Engineering", London
* Scott, J.D. (1962),
Vickers: A History, Weidenfield and Nicolson, London
*
Vickers Photographic Archive*
Biography of Thomas and Albert Vickers
