Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding. In 1911, the company expanded into aircraft manufacture and opened a flying school. They expanded even further into electrical and railway manufacturing, and in 1928 acquired an interest in the Supermarine. Beginning in the 1960s, various parts of the company were nationalised, and in 1999 the rest of the company was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc, who sold the defence arm to

Alvis plc Alvis PLC was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc ...

. The Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form

BAE Systems Land Systems BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, ad ...

History

Early history

Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by 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 by making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells. In 1854 Vickers' sons Thomas (a militia officer known familiarly as 'Colonel Tom') and joined the business and their considerable talents – Tom Vickers as a metallurgist and Albert as a team-builder and salesman – were key to its subsequent rapid development. "Its great architects," the historian Clive Trebilcock writes, "Colonel T.E. (1833–1915) and Albert (1838–1919) Vickers... provided ''both'' inspired technical leadership... and equally astute commercial direction. Both men were autocrats by temperament, but neither shunned advice or avoided delegation; each, but particularly Albert, had a marked gift for the selection of talented subordinates." In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside.

Vickers, Sons & Company

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

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s and in 1882 they set up a

forging Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which i ...

press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890.

Vickers, Sons & Maxim

Vickers bought out the Barrow-in-Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company at the same time, to become Vickers, Sons & Maxim. Ordnance and ammunition made during this period, including World War I, was stamped V.S.M. The yard at Barrow became the "Construction Yard". With these acquisitions, 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 & Company. Further diversification occurred in 1901 with the acquisition of a proposed business which was incorporated as

The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Ed ...

and in 1905 the goodwill and patent rights of the Siddeley car. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in torpedo manufacturer Whitehead & Company.

Vickers Limited

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) and a Vickers School of Flying was opened at Brooklands, Surrey on 20 January 1912. In 1919, the

British Westinghouse British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company was a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh, USA based Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. British Westinghouse would become a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919; and after Metr ...

electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company; Metrovick. At the same time they came into Metropolitan's railway interests.

Reorganisation

A reorganisation during 1926 led to the retention of the rolling stock group: Metropolitan Carriage wagon and Finance Company and The Metropolitan -Vickers Company and the disposal of: Vickers-Petters Limited, British Lighting and Ignition Company, the Plywood department at Crayford Creek, Canadian Vickers, William Beardmore and Co, and Wolseley Motors.City Notes '' The Times'', 30 April 1927; p. 18; issue 44569.

Merger with Armstrong Whitworth

In 1927, Vickers merged with Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth to become Vickers-Armstrongs. 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 The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

. Armstrongs shipbuilding interests became the "Naval Yard", those of Vickers on the west coast the "Naval Construction Yard". Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was not absorbed by the new company. In 1928, the Aviation Department became Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine, which became the "Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd". In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs (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 Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon.

Nationalisation

In 1960, the aircraft interests were merged with those of the Bristol,

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 ...

and Hunting Aircraft to form the

British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...

(BAC). 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 nationalised in 1977 to become part of British Aerospace, which exists today in the guise of

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

. The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act also led to the nationalisation of Vickers' shipbuilding division as part of

British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation was ...

. 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 & Engineering Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construc ...

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 Corporation the remnants of Vickers became Vickers plc. In 1986, Vickers acquired the armaments manufacturer

Royal Ordnance Factory Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Ministr ...

, Leeds, which became Vickers Defence Systems. Other acquisitions included automotive engineers

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

in 1990, waterjet manufacturer Kamewa in 1986 and Norwegian marine propulsion and engineering company Ulstein in 1998. 1998 also saw the sale of Rolls-Royce Motors and Cosworth to Volkswagen Group for £430 million, beating out BMW's offer of £340 million.

Current status of Vickers

In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside-based engineering firm Armstrong Whitworth to form Vickers-Armstrongs. Armstrong Whitworth developed in a similar way to Vickers, expanding into various military fields and became famous for its artillery construction at Elswick and shipbuilding at its yard at High Walker upon Tyne. In 1928, the Aviation Department changed its name to Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and shortly afterwards acquired Supermarine, which became 'Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd'. In 1938, the two companies were reorganised as Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names. In 1929, the acquired railway business was merged with that of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon. 1.6 Fifth change of the company After the Second World War Vickers-Armstrongs manufactured commercial aircraft. In 1959 it introduced the VC10 jet aircraft, which is still in service with the Royal Air Force. In the same year the government forced a merger with Bristol Aeroplane Company, English Electric and Hunting Aircraft to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Alongside the achievements of BAC, the Hawker Siddeley Group were also experiencing success with the likes of the Hawker Harrier 'Jump Jet' and Hawker Siddeley Trident passenger aircraft. The two companies competed side by side for contracts throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, until the British Government expressed a desire for the two entities to merge. Finally, on 29 April 1977, the two companies were finally nationalised and a new company, British Aerospace Plc, emerged. The rail business acquired by Vickers was sold to Alstom in 1989.

Citations

External links

Companies House
accessed 22 June 2006
Vickers Air-raid Shelter

Vickers Photographic Archive

The Vickers company canteen at Crayford, Kent, expected to become a restaurant with flats above
{{Sheffield companies, state=collapsed Companies disestablished in 2004 Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom Former defence companies of the United Kingdom History of the tank Manufacturing companies established in 1828 Marine engine manufacturers