Uxbridge manufacturing history

 The market in Uxbridge became a vital conduit for London’s food. The town had a great many water mills grinding the grain brought to the market by farmers from as far a field as Aylesbury. Through this, the town was London's main provider of flour. The building of the Grand Junction Canal aided this. It would be many years before the GWR would stop in Uxbridge and so open up the town to industry. In the meantime the town’s clay made bricks for London’s new homes. Later the town would be linked to the London underground system enabling the transport of commuters.

Two companies stand out as the first manufacturers to come to the town:

The Steel Barrel Company was a major producer from steel plate and had a business relationship with Scammell in nearby Watford. It provided parts for Davey Paxman.

The Bell Punch Company made instruments that many of us will remember from childhood. Long before that, they made ticket punching machines. These evolved into the bus ticket machines which conductors would sport on their chests. The technology was developed into ticket machines for the TOTE on first Britain’s and then America’s race courses. From here came the calculating machine sold under the name Sumlock. When I was a young articled clerk, I remember the comptometer operator adding columns of figures at lightning speed on her Sumlock. During the Second World War the company turned its hand to precision instruments for the RAF.

More recent arrivals in Uxbridge are the American General Foods and Coca Cola. Cadbury Schweppes and Bristol-Myers have their head office in Uxbridge.

Further reading:

• Carolynne Hearmon, Uxbridge - A Concise History (Hillingdon Borough Libraries, 1982)
• http://anita-calculators.info/html/origins_of_bell_punch_co_.html

Hayes manufacturing history

 Hayes was, in the early nineteen century, an agricultural town untouched by industrialisation except for the Grand Union Canal along the banks of which bricks were made to meet the demands of London's builders. The Great Western Railway passed through Hayes in the 1830's, but it would be another thirty years before the town got its own station and a further thirty years before the factories arrived.

The industrial development was to the south of the town with the Grand Union Canal to the north and the GWR running across it. Unlike the New Towns or even Letchworth, which was broadly comtemporary, Hayes industry grew with little regard to infrastructure. By 1915 the working population was 7,000, 4,000 of whom came daily by train from as far afield as Paddington and Windsor.

J.A. King and their fireproof partitions were the first manufacturers on site, followed by the British Transformer Company which moved from Paddington; Arthur Lee with slate, marble and granite working moved from Bristol. The Gos Printing Company of Chicago made newspaper printing machines.

The most significant arrival was the Gramophone and Typewriter Company which took an eleven acre site for a factory because their German factory couldn't keep pace with demand for gramophone records; the company adopted the 'His Master's Voice' HMV label. Hayes was to be a place of music, for HMV was joined by manufacturer of pianolas, the Orchestrelle Company. A pianola was a piano operated by a music roll; these were also made in Hayes by the Universal Music Company. A further link to HMV came through the printers Harrison & Sons who not only printed postage stamps but also the sleeves for records.

Food manufacturing came to Hayes in the shape of Scott's Preserves which grew strawberries in the Clyde valley. R&W Scott prospered as a family company for five generations before selling to Hero. A management buyout returned them to independence in 2022 with a plant back in Scotland.

The First World War saw factories turned over to the war effort and with three significant additions. Army Motor Lorries and Wagons employed largely Belgian refugees and made the bodies with chassis provided by motor manufacturers. Part of their premises was taken by Fairey Aviation which during the war assembled Short Model 827 planes. The other wartime addition was shell filling factory No 7. In my book Ordnance I write in detail about the shell filling factory at Chilwell just outside Nottingham. In Hayes the factory comprised 397 buildings giving a floor area of 14 acres in a site amounting to 200 acres allowing enough space between huts to avoid explosions spreading.

After the war, Fairey continued to expand and built an aerodrome near Harmondsworth; this site would become part of Heathrow Airport. In terms of music, pianolas declined in popularity as records and record players found their way into more and more homes. HMV merged with the UK arm of Columbia Gramophone Company to become Electric and Musical Industries. EMI set up their Central Research Laboratory here and produced remarkable discoveries in television but of most enduring importance the CAT Scanner which enabled doctors to examine internal tissue.

A great deal of much needed housing was built.

The Second World War saw an ICI plant in Hayes producing for the war effort as well as a Royal Ordnance Factory. Fairie manufactured many aircraft most notably the Swordfish bi-plane which proved itself especially effective in attacking enemy shipping.

After the war, the Smith Crisps factory, which had been built in the twenties, was moved to Corby with associated job losses. Fairey merged with Westland eventually moving to Taunton. EMI merged with Thorn but then de-merged and focused on music publishing rather than the associated hardware. I write more about Thorn and EMI in Vehicles to Vaccines. As was the case elsewhere, distribution and service industries gradually took the place of manufacturers.

Further reading:

Catherine Kelter, Hayes Past (London: Historical Publications, 1996)

Watford manufacturing history

 Dating from Anglo-Saxon times, Watford was probably originally a crossing place traversing the marshy Coln Valley and it was this valley that gave birth to the industry for which Watford became famous: printing. At one time at was known as the printing capital of the world.

The printing companies to be found in the town included Waterlow and the Sun Engraving Company. Odhams arrived in 1938 and dominated the town until it closed in 1983. The Coln Valley had been a centre of paper making since the eighteenth century. John Dickinson made Croxley Script nearby.

I write about the development of printing and paper making in my book Charlotte Bronte's Devotee about William Smith Williams the Reader at Smith Elder who first recognised her genius.

Watford is very much on the cusp between London and Hertfordshire. It is well connected to London being both on the LMS London to Birmingham line and also is on the London Tube map. historically its presence on the Grand Junction canal gave it access to both raw materials and markets.

Scammell trucks, which did so much heavy lifting in the Second World War with the Pioneer, tank transporters and recovery vehicles, relocated to Watford from near Liverpool Street in London.

Furniture makers Hille moved to Watford in the fifties and now manufacture in Ebbw Vale. de Havilland manufactured at what became Leavesden aerodrome.

Smith + Nephew has its headquarters in Watford.

Further reading:

Dennis F. Edwards, Watford: A Pictorial History. (Chichester: Phillimore, 1992

Ware and Hertford manufacturing history

The traditional industry of this Hertfordshire town was malting and Ware’s maltings supplied most of London’s breweries. The maltings, principally Henry Ward’s, and Henry Page & Company, attracted supporting industries.

With the availability of water and local labour, the pharmaceutical company Allen and Hanbury, which had been founded in the city of London in 1715, acquired a former mill in Ware in 1898 and there built itself into one of the major manufacturers of surgical instruments and medicines. The company became part of Glaxo and then GSK which still manufactures in the town. The Ware and Hertford website has an image of the factory from the twenties.

Another significant company was the railway passenger car builders D. Wickham & Co. The company had started as motor engineers and then moved into bottling equipment before identifying the opportunities in worldwide railways. They sent their rail cars as far afield as Peru and Zimbabwe. In the Second World War they repaired tanks.

Hertford had a history of paper making with Sele Mill, thought to be Britain's first.

William Addis is credited with inventing the modern toothbrush and he set up in business manufacturing these in 1780 in East London. The company provided toothbrushes to the forces in the First World War and this is thought to have introduced the habit of regular teeth cleaning. Demand grew and the company moved to premises in Hertford. Plastic brushes with nylon bristles were introduced under the Wisdom brand after the Second World War and the company expanded into household brushes and products. A factory in Swansea was added and later moved to Bridgend where it now carries on its business. The Hertford Museum holds the Addis archive. The factory was a 1930s icon.

Further reading:

Maurice Edwards, Ware’s Past in Pictures (Ware: The Rockingham Press, 1992)

Basildon manufacturing history

 The new town of Basildon was only eight miles from Tilbury Docks with good road links to the east of London. This location clearly attracted the Ford Motor Company, which was outgrowing its Dagenham site, to move its tractor manufacture to Basildon. The proximity to the docks also attracted cigarette makers, Carreras. In 1964 New Holland completed their first tractor factory in the town, followed by Standard Telephones, MK Electric and Yardley.

The development corporation produced a promotional brochure encouraging other businesses to the town. Highlighted were the availability of good housing and community facilities for employees and their families. The businesses mentioned in the brochure were not only the big names although Marconi was highlighted a building a factory for the ‘meticulously accurate construction of delicate precisions equipment’ for radio, radar and other electronics.

Albert Mann’s Engineering Company manufactured rolling mills, Nufloor manufactured floor sanders and polishers and Teleflex of Shadwell Heath built a new factory manufacturing conveyors and remote controls. The new town also attracted old skills such as Engineers Patternmaking and Thompson & Foster cardboard boxes and corrugated paper.

Further reading

Industrial Development in Basildon New Town (Basildon Development Corporation)

Harlow manufacturing history

 Harlow was a village to the north of the industrial areas of east London and on the London to Cambridge railway. It was chosen as one of the new towns designed to relieve the pressure on greater London.

As with other new towns, it sought a spread of industry to avoid the concentration that caused problems in Corby. Although it was not thought suitable for heavy industry, two of its early arrivals were on the heavy side : Johnson Matthey the precious metals company and United Glass manufacturer of bottles.

They were followed by Revertex resins, and Schreiber furniture founded by a Polish immigrant, which would compete with Lebus and Hille and become part of GEC Domestic appliances before moving to MFI and finally Sainsbury.

Shenval Press were an early arrival joined in time by book binders Dorstel Press. Publishing later received a major boost when Longman Green arrived in the late sixties.

Standard Telephones became the largest employer in the town with 3,000 at one time. They were joined by the Standard Telecommunications Laboratory. Another electronics business came to the town by default after de Havilland had to cancel a new factory as a result of cuts in defence spending. Cossor was moving out of valves into radar and so needed new premises; they later became a subsidiary of the American Raytheon Corporation. The AEI research division was based in the town but moved to Manchester when AEI joined with GEC.

American office equipment manufacturer Pitney Bowes moved their manufacturing in 1962 and head office a year later. They were joined by Minnesota 3M Research and educational suppliers ESA.

In the sixties, Gilbey's Gin built a striking new factory moving its production from London. The family had a long connection with the former village. Gilbey became part of International Vintners which was bought by Grand Metropolitan. The Gilbey brand is now within Diageo. Rank Hovis McDougal built an administrative headquarters. GSK has a research facility in the town.

Further reading:

Frederick Gibberd, Ben Hyde Harvey, Len White Harlow: The Story of a New Town (Stevenage: Publications for Companies, 1980)

Stevenage manufacturing history

 This agricultural community on the Great North Road just outside London became prosperous from the business generated by coaches stopping for refreshment. The mid nineteenth century saw the arrival of the Great Northern Railway which encouraged the building of homes for those working in London. The late nineteenth century witnessed the arrival of an organisation very much of its time. The time was marked by the spread of education to the population as a whole and this demanded resource in the form of furniture, books, laboratory equipment and the general supplies a school needs in order to function. It was the Educational Supply Association and would remain the town’s most significant employer until after the Second World War. Another old town company was Hertfordshire Knitting known for its provision for the employment of women. Yet another was Vincent HRD Motorcycles.

Stevenage was perfectly placed to become one of the New Towns to be designated under the 1946 Act. The first employer to be tempted to the new town was Geo. W. King from Hitchin. They manufactured cranes and hoists and would later become part of TI plc. Kings were followed in 1952 by Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, ICI and Pye Ether a manufacturer of controls and owned by Pye Radio. Next was a longer term resident of old Stevenage W.H. Saunders an electronics company which later became part of Marconi. There followed ICL, Kodak, Bowater Packaging, English Electric aircraft and Mentmore Manufacturing which came from Hackney and would become Platignum makers of writing implements. English Electric became part of the British Aircraft Corporation which would merge with Hawker Siddeley aircraft to become British Aerospace.

This aviation capability has now become MBDA manufacturer of complex weapon systems and Airbus Defence and Space which manufactures space vehicles, satellites and related equipment giving Stevenage the nickname Space City. The science credentials of the town are underling by GSK R&D Hub, one of only two worldwide.

Further reading :

• Margaret Ashby, Stevenage: History and Guide (Dover: Alan Sutton, 1994)
• Margaret Ashby, Stevenage Past (Chichester: Phillimore, 1995)