My books on manufacturing

My books on manufacturing
My books on manufacturing history

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World is now available to pre-order

Phil Hamlyn Williams has completed his sixth book beginning an exploration of British manufacturing. His great-grandfather exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and it is through the prism of the exhibition catalogue that he explores the story back to its origins and then forward to the Festival of Britain, one century later. He found that in the late eighteenth century, a remarkable combination of factors and circumstances combined to give birth to Britain as the first manufacturing nation. Further factors allowed it to remain top manufacturing dog well into the twentieth century whilst other countries were busy playing catch up. Through two world wars and the surrounding years, British manufacturing remained strong, albeit whilst ceding the lead to the United States.

He writes of the inventors and the engineers but also the marketeers, managers and entrepreneurs. Looking back through history, there is a grubby British thumb-print on many of the world’s manufacturing industries.

The book is at the printers for publication on 30 June 2022. It is available to pre-order from Pen & Sword by following this link.



Wednesday, February 23, 2022

How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World - images

 We now have a dust cover with images

Now I am making the final choice for the sixteen pages of images in the book.  Here are just some:
This was taken on Shetland - the lighthouse on Bressay
A toy tank spotted in a stately home near Wolverhampton. I couldn't pick it up to see who made it.
Taken in Lincoln Cathedral during the Celebration of Lincoln Engineering. It is, of course, the Lincoln Imp and it is on the motor car that Ruston & Hornsby produced. I love the reflection of the stained glass windows.

The Rootes Archive Trust have made available some lovely images, some of which were in my father's archive. I guess I shouldn't post them on social media!


Friday, January 7, 2022

How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World - my starting point

 Today it seems a brave, or even reckless, assertion to suggest that Britain might have shaped the manufacturing world. Yet, looking back through history, there is a grubby British thumb-print on many of the world’s manufacturing industries. In this book I try to explore the assertion by unfolding what is quite a remarkable story. 

I am not saying that Britain alone created the manufacturing world, but, as I will explain, it almost certainly started a process that would continue over many decades. The role played by Britain diminished as that played by other nations increased, but it didn’t disappear; indeed, it remained strongly influential. 

My interest in the subject was sparked by research I carried out for my books on how the British army was supplied in the two world wars (War on Wheels, Ordnance and Dunkirk to D Day). 

I was bowled over by the wholehearted commitment of all manner of businesses of Britain in support of the war effort. I had to discover who was behind these companies, where they had come from, but also where they went. It soon became clear that the questions, although related, could not be accommodated in the same volume, so this volume began by research into the first two: whence they had come. 



Manufacturing places - the art of re-invention

My exploration of British manufacturing has been sector by sector and chronological. I am now beginning to join up the dots and explore thos...