Newton, Chambers & Co.#History
{{Short description|Defunct UK company combine}}
{{more footnotes|date=September 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name =
| logo =
| image = Newton, Chambers & Co. Helensburgh gas works plaque.jpg
| image_caption = Helensburgh gas works plaque (c. 1928)
| type =
| industry = Manufacturing, arms manufacturing
| fate = Taken over by Central & Sheerwood, which was subsequently acquired by TransTec plc
| predecessor = Ransomes & Rapier
| successor = Central & Sheerwood
| founded = {{Start date and age|1789}} at Chapeltown, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
| founder = George Newton
Thomas Chambers
| defunct = {{end date and age|2001}}
| subsid = {{plainlist|*NCK
}}
}}
Newton, Chambers & Co. was one of England's largest industrial companies. It was founded in 1789 by George Newton and Thomas Chambers.
History
George Newton and Thomas Chambers were partners in the Phoenix foundry at Snow Hill, Sheffield and along with Henry Longden, they signed a lease to extract coal and ironstone from the Thorncliffe valley. The 21-year lease was signed in December 1793 and it gave them mining rights to the Thorncliffe valley from the Earl Fitzwilliam and set up their works on the Thorncliffe site near Chapeltown, to the north of Sheffield. The company built The Thorncliffe Ironworks beside the Blackburn Brook above the wooded valley slopes where the mining was to be carried out.
The first blast furnace was completed in April 1795 and the second in 1796. The first had a capacity of 15 tons of metal a week, while the second could produce 20 tons. The two furnaces were in operation for 78 years before being replaced in the 1870s.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Around this time – for the first ten years' of the partnership's existence – interest paid on capital was limited to five per cent per annum and the working partners drew only "modest" salaries of £80 per annum. This policy was intended to encourage the growth of the business, and it certainly enabled it to survive some periods of poor trading, but by the early 19th century the practice of mostly leaving accrued profits within the business led to disputes with some sleeping partners.{{cite book |title=Economic History of the British Iron and Steel Industry |first=Alan |last=Birch |orig-year=1967 |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-13661-723-2 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XVP-AQAAQBAJ}}
In 1815 the partners met with William Murdoch, the inventor of coal-gas lighting, this being seen as providing a growth in work for their foundry. Coal, from the company's mines, was provided as charge for beehive coke ovens which were built on the site.
By the end of the 19th century the company were not only mining coal and ironstone but building blast furnaces, coke ovens and chemical plant. Heavy section iron, cast in the foundry was used in two iconic structures: Tower Bridge, crossing the river Thames in London, and the Eddystone Lighthouse.
During the 1890s, the company introduced its Izal disinfectant made from distilled coal tar. The name became well known for its use on a best-selling "medicated toilet paper" often found in schools and public lavatories, noted for its abrasive quality.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-izal-toilet-paper-1727294.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-izal-toilet-paper-1727294.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Minor British Institutions - Izal Toilet Paper|work=The Independent|date=4 July 2009}} According to the radio documentary Now Wash Your Hands, the reason for its ubiquity was because local authorities were given it as part of a bulk-purchasing agreement when ordering disinfectant.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nhn21|title=Now Wash Your Hands|work=BBC Radio 4|date=21 May 2010}}
Second World War
In 1939 the Thorncliffe works came under the control of the Admiralty. A new workshop was constructed at Warren Lane, a short distance away from the Thorncliffe works, which was used to build army vehicles and became the largest manufacturer of Churchill tanks for the war effort. One of the tanks used to stand at the side of the road near the factory until recently.
William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw), in one of his radio broadcasts threatened to "dot the I" on the Izal name with a bomb. It was intended to destroy the source of the Churchill tanks. A near miss ensued, but the works remained intact.
Post-war
The nationalisation of the coal mining and steel industries in 1948 saw the group forced to sell off its interests in these fields. However the company remained heavily involved in iron and steel founding and the production of chemicals from tar distillates, the basis of many products manufactured by its Izal subsidiary.{{cite web |last=Guilford |first=Gwynn |date=30 December 2017 |title=The 100-year capitalist experiment that keeps Appalachia poor, sick, and stuck on coal |url=https://qz.com/1167671/the-100-year-capitalist-experiment-that-keeps-appalachia-poor-sick-and-stuck-on-coal/ |access-date=6 July 2022 |website=Quartz }} The engineering part of the group designed and supplied all manner of process plant and equipment for the coal-gas, chemical and steel industries.
Diversification
Before the Second World War they had started building excavators under licence from the American manufacturer Pawling and Harnischfeger (P&H) and sold them under the NCH brand name. About 1940/41 the connection with P&H was terminated and a licence was taken out with Koehring Co of Milwaukee selling the excavators under the name NCK. In 1958, the company acquired Ransomes & Rapier to become a major producer of excavators, draglines and other construction equipment. A new subsidiary company NCK-Rapier was formed, with production moving to Ipswich.
In 1960, the company acquired Ronuk Ltd, a manufacturer of wax polishes and wood stains based in Portslade, Brighton and with it the Ronseal brand name.{{cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Ronuk|title=Ronuk - Graces Guide|website=gracesguide.co.uk}}
In 1961 the first of an order for 14 Newton Chambers double-deck car carriers was delivered to British Railways (Eastern Region).British Railways: Magazine: Western Region, Vol 12 No 10, page 288 These featured a novel hydraulically operated central well capable of storing two cars below the four cars on the upper deck.
The group also set up Redfyre as a marketing company for coal-burning grates which were made in its foundry. Changes, in particular the Clean Air Act saw the company move into light fabrications and oil-fired central heating equipment, however, the oil-fired boiler market collapsed in autumn 1973 with the increase in prices.
In 1972 the group was taken over by industrial holding company Central & Sheerwood.{{cite book |title=Between the Lines of the Balance Sheet: The Plain Man's Guide to Published Accounts |first=Michael |last=Greener |edition=2nd |publisher=Elsevier |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-48318-899-7 |page=xvi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gB6jBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR16}} Central & Sheerwood was acquired by Robert Maxwell in the 1980s and became TransTec plc in 1991 after merging with Geoffrey Robinson's company Transfer Technology.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/focus-robinson-and-the-seeds-of-fortune-1288779.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/focus-robinson-and-the-seeds-of-fortune-1288779.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Focus: Robinson and the seeds of fortune|first=Chris|last=Blackhurst|newspaper=The Independent|date=14 December 1997|access-date=27 July 2019}} TransTec went into receivership at the end of 1999.{{cite web|url=https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20000110/NEWS/301109972/transtec-enters-receivership|title=TransTec enters receivership|first=Richard|last=Higgs|website=Plastics News|date=10 January 2000|access-date=27 July 2019}} In 2001 Newton, Chambers & Co. had ceased trading and was dissolved; TransTec was dissolved the following year.{{cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00015997/filing-history|title=Newton Chambers & Company Public Limited Company - Filing history|publisher=Companies House|access-date=27 July 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//compdetails|title=Company Details for TransTec plc (company number 00114948)|publisher=Companies House|access-date=27 July 2019}}
References
{{reflist}}
- Official Company handbook and catalogue
- "Turnaround – Managerial recipes for strategic success". (The fall and rise of the Newton Chambers group) by Peter H.Grinyer and J-C Spender. Published by Associated Business Press (1979). {{ISBN|978-0-85227-232-9}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |title=Secret Sheffield |first1=Ian D. |last1=Rotherham |first2=Mel |last2=Jones |first3=Christine |last3=Handley |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-44565-311-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yMZ5DAAAQBAJ}}
- {{cite book |title=The Coalmining Industry: Of Barnsley, Rotherham And Worksop |first=Ken |last=Wain |publisher=Amberley Publishing |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MqelBAAAQBAJ}}
External links
- [http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/thorncliffe-story-enterprise-its-seventh-generation Documentary film made at Thorncliffe Works in 1953]
{{Sheffield companies|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Chambers and Co.}}
Category:1789 establishments in England
Category:Chemical companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Coal companies of England
Category:Defunct engineering companies of England
Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of England
Category:Defunct companies based in Sheffield
Category:Ironworks and steelworks in England
Category:Manufacturing companies based in Sheffield