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Vickers was formed in
Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller 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 life 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 Albert (la) 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. 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 the 20th
of January 1912. In 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical
company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical
Company; Metrovick. At the same time they came into Metropolitan's
railway interests. 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 to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon
(MCCW); Metro Cammell. Nationalisation in 1960 the aircraft interests
were merged with those of the Bristol, English Electric Company
and Hunting Aircraft to form the British Aircraft Corporation.
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. |
