Ilford manufacturing history

 The manufacturer of photographic film that shares the name of the town was founded in 1879 and moved to a larger factory in Basildon in 1976

Plessey had started out in Marylebone in London after the First World War as mechanical engineers exploiting the talents of a German born engineer, William Oscar Heyne. The first products were jigs and tools. In 1919 the company moved to Holloway with investment from American, Bryan Clark.

Marconi, through their Marconiphone company, produced valve receivers, but not many. They subcontracted manufacture to Plessey and the relationship continued successfully until Marconi established their own manufacturing in 1926, and Plessey reverted to component manufacture. In 1923 Plessey had moved to Ilford where they also manufactured telephone equipment and equipment for the RAF and motor manufacturers. In 1929 Plessey made the first television invented by John Logie Baird. They also made the first portable radio. Bryan Clark's son, Allan, introduced mass production of standard components.

Plessey took on licences to produce American aircraft equipment. In the Second World War, Plessey produced many different types of components and equipment for the war effort, including shell cases, aircraft parts, and radio equipment such as the R1155 (receiver) and T1154 (transmitter). Following bombing of their Ilford factory they moved production to unused sections of the Central Underground Line. They also opened a factory in Swindon and took on the management of shadow factories. They set up a research establishment at Caswell House near Towcester. At the end of the war they employed 11,000 people, a workforce which reduced with the coming of peace.

Allan Clark's sons, John and Michael joined the company and senior managers, John Cunningham and Raymond Brown, left Plessey to form Racal. The company made many thousands of television sets for EMI. With the growth of the hydraulics business, the company formed two separate divisions, Fuel Systems which was moved to Titchfield, Hampshire and Industrial Hydraulics which went to Swindon, Wiltshire.

The next break came with telephones. The existing system, Strowger, was ‘hopelessly out of date’ and the development of electronic exchanges still some way off. The answer was the Crossbar system which AT & E had developed. Plessey bought both Automatic Telephone & Electric (with their Liverpool and Bridgnorth factories) and Ericcson, taking over the Beeston factory, and won twenty-six out of the thirty-two orders placed. I write of this in Vehicles to Vaccines.

In 1961 the company had 17,500 employees. Six years later the payroll had grown to 68,000 employees with 6,500 in research and development with R&D labs at Caswell in South Wales, Roke Manor near Romsey, Taplow in Berkshire and Havant and Poole in Hampshire and Dorset.

Plessey were important suppliers to the Ministry of Defence and I write of this in my piece on Kingston upon Thames and Isle of Wight. Plessey made a failed bid for English Electric in 1968. In the eighties they went head to head with GEC over the next generation of telephones. In the event it was Ericcson which won with their System Y as opposed to System X which was developed by Plessey and GEC. Through the machinations of corporate bids, the Plessey telecoms business ended up with Ericcson and its defence related business eventually became part of BAE Systems via its merger with Marconi (the new name of GEC). I also wrote of this in Vehicles to Vaccines.

One part of Plessey did survive intact in Plymouth as Plessey Semiconductors which also took in Marconi Semiconductors.

I am grateful to Graces Guide which supplemented the earlier research I did for my books How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World and Vehicles to Vaccines.