Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Limited of Hubert Street, Leeds Road,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, electrical engineers, manufactured small and large motors, alternators and generators at their Thornbury works. They briefly manufactured major aircraft components during the later half of World War I. Their London offices were at 17 Victoria Street,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

SW. The business was operating from the Hubert Street Bradford address in late 1895 making arc lamps and electrical instruments. By 1900 they were on record for the manufacture of small rotating electric machinery for the textile industry. A limited liability company was incorporated to own the business in June 1903 under the same name. The company itself was voluntarily wound up 11 June 1923 following the 1921 transfer of all its assets to post-1918 owner

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

where its operations continued.

History

A Phoenix dynamo was a type of

dynamo file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...

designed by W B Esson when he was manager of manufacturer Paterson & Cooper (Edward James Paterson & Charles F Cooper) who were electrical engineers of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

. Paterson & Cooper ceased operating in 1895 and their business was resumed by Paterson Cooper & Co Limited of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Paisley. Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company (an unincorporated firm or partnership) of Hubert Street, Leeds Road was active by 1895 manufacturing arc lamps and electrical instruments. By 1900 Phoenix Dynamo were manufacturing small motors and dynamos for driving machinery and providing lighting specifically for the textile industry but they soon found wider markets and manufactured large motors, turbines, turbo-generators etc. and were also engaged on Admiralty and War Office assignments. In February 1903 Phoenix Dynamo purchased the whole of the works, business and patent rights of Bradford's Rosling & Fynn Limited (in liquidation) and announced that after some extensions to the buildings were complete those operations would be consolidated at Thornbury. In June 1903 it was announced that a limited liability company had been incorporated, Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company Limited, with a capital of £60,000 to acquire the business of electrical engineers and contractors carried on by the firm known as Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company (Charles Brooke Crawshaw, Herbert Alexander Jones (manager)) at Thornbury Works, Bradford.C B Crawshaw 1855-1929 of

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

, West Yorkshire and Crawshaw & Warburton owned a number of collieries, H A Jones ran Phoenix Dynamo for him
Durham Mining Museum
/ref> The lack of information on this business's activities could be attributed to its pre-war Admiralty and War Office contracts. On page 102 of a 1917 report of an inquiry into Works Committees the ''Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics'' reported that Phoenix Dynamo was a firm employing about 4,000 employees and was now in addition to its ordinary product producing "miscellaneous munitions supplies". During the war Phoenix Dynamo contracted to the Admiralty to build Short seaplanes. It produced millions of shells, a large quantity of machine tools and the fastest and biggest sea planes and flying boats. After the Armistice in November 1918 Phoenix Dynamo merged with four other businesses to form

and Phoenix Dynamo became English Electric's centre for electric motor and generator design.

Products

* Small and large electric motors, alternators and generators

Wartime

Phoenix P.5 Cork The English Electric P.5 Kingston was a British twin-engined biplane flying boat built by English Electric. When the English Electric Company was formed in 1918 from several companies, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company brought with it ...

, a twin-engined biplane flying boat, designed in-house by William Oke Manning and built by Phoenix late in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Manning resumed its development in 1922 as the English Electric P.5 Kingston :Aircraft manufactured under licence: :

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

Felixstowe F.3 The Felixstowe F.3 was a British First World War flying boat, successor to the Felixstowe F.2 designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air station, Felixstowe. Design and development In February 1917, the first pro ...

Felixstowe F.5 The Felixstowe F.5 was a British First World War flying boat designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte RN of the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe. Design and development Porte designed a better hull for the larger Curtiss H-12 ...

Fairey N.4 The Fairey N.4 was a 1920s British five-seat long range reconnaissance flying boat. Designed and built by the Fairey Aviation Company to meet an Admiralty requirement for a very large four-engined reconnaissance aircraft, it was the world's bigg ...

Notable employees

* Robert Pohl (1879–1956) joined from Germany in 1904 and was Chief Engineer from 1907 until 1919 when he returned to Germany at AEG Turbine Works in Berlin. After nearly 20 years he returned to teach at Birmingham University. One of the originators of the ''Interpole''. Early advocate for alternating current traction. * John Pybus (1880–1935) after his apprenticeship to a firm of engineers joined Phoenix Dynamo in 1906. He became managing director during the war. He was appointed chairman of

and was a director of many companies and Minister of Transport between 1931 and 1933. He had been elected Liberal MP for Harwich in 1929.Sir John Pybus, native of Hull, ''The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer'', page 5, Thursday 24 October 1935 * W.O. Manning (1879–1958) chief designer of aircraft 1916–1926.

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Women's Canteen at Phoenix Works, Bradford 1918 by Flora Lion

Advertising 1905

Ad on page 4 in Page's Weekly, 7 April 1905

Corporate records 1903-1922 archived in Bradford's Industrial Museum

Road to the Thornbury works circa 1900Building Britain's WW1 flying boat fleet

Thornbury works 1961
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defence companies of the United Kingdom Electrical engineering companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing plants in England Buildings and structures in Bradford Manufacturing companies based in Bradford Manufacturing companies established in 1895 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1923 1895 establishments in England 1923 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1923 British companies established in 1895