Thos. W. Ward

Thos. W. Ward Ltd was a Sheffield, Yorkshire, business primarily working steel, engineering and cement. It began as coal and coke merchants. It expanded into recycling metal for Sheffield's steel industry, and then the supply and manufacture of machinery.

In 1894, as part of the scrap metal operation, Ward began to set up substantial shipbreaking yards in different parts of England, and in Scotland and Wales. By 1953, Thos. W. Ward employed 11,500 people.

Ward's business was reorganised at the end of the 1970s, when it moved from being an engineering group with a motley assortment of subsidiaries to being principally dependent on cement. In 1982, it was bought by Rio Tinto Zinc.

History

This business was founded by Thomas William Ward in 1878 with the name Thos. W. Ward. Ward's provided coal and coke, and very soon recycling or scrap metal services. It added dealing in new and used machinery related to the iron, steel, coal, engineering and allied industries, and manufacturing that machinery.Thos. W. Ward, Limited. The Times, Wednesday, 18 April 1928; pg. 23; Issue 44870

Ward's Constructional Engineering Department manufactured and erected steel-framed buildings, bridges, collieries, steel works equipment and furnaces. The Rail Department supplied light and heavy rails, sleepers, switches and crossings, and equipped complete sidings. De Lank Quarries produced the granite for Tower Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge, as well as major lighthouses and prestige buildings in London and elsewhere.Thos. W. Ward Limited Albion Works. Sheffield. The Times, Wednesday, 9 May 1928; pg. 22; Issue 44888

In 1894, Ward's moved into shipbreaking at many different locations. On 19 May 1904, a limited liability company was formed and registered, to manage all the businesses operating under the name Thos. W. Ward.Thos. W. Ward Limited, Albion Works, Sheffield. The Times, Monday, 19 November 1934; pg. 20; Issue 46915 By 1920, when raising further capital from the public, the prospectus claimed these notable aspects of Thos. W. Ward: "Premier shipbreaking firm in the world, largest stockholders to the iron, steel and machinery trades, constructional engineers, merchants, etc."Thos. W. Ward Limited. The Times, Thursday, 22 January 1920; pg. 19; Issue 42314

=Portland cement=

New capital was raised from the public in 1928 to establish a new greenfield Portland cement business at Ketton in Rutland, on 1,170 acres of freehold land, containing oolitic limestone and clays suitable for the production of the highest quality, rapid-hardening Portland cement. It was a particular project of new chairman Joseph Ward (1865–1941), brother of Thomas Ward (1853–1926). Ketton Cement Works became the core activity of Ward's in the late 1970s.

After 55 years, in 1934, when the employees numbered in excess of 4,000 people, the principal businesses were:

Construction, mechanical and electrical engineering manufacturers
Coal coke iron steel metal and machinery factors and merchants
Ship and works dismantlers, owners and brokers
Wharf owners
Machinery and plant valuers
Nut and bolt manufacturers
Horn handle manufacturers for cutlery
Brick manufacturers
Dry slag and tar macadam manufacturers
Quarrying

File:Albion Works reflection (geograph 3669975).jpg

Freehold Premises:

:Albion Works, Tinsley and Millhouses, Sheffield

:and at Silvertown, Grays (Essex), Inverkeithing, Glasgow, Wishaw, Birmingham, Briton Ferry, Milford Haven, Lelant, Silverdale, Low Moor (Bradford), Albion (Mansfield) sand quarries etc and Brickworks at Longton, Newark and Apedale

Leasehold Premises:

:Charlton Works and Effingham Road, Sheffield

:Liverpool, Dublin, Cornish Granite Quarries (De Lank), Denny, Preston, Barrow-in-Furness, Pembroke Dock, Hayle and Scunthorpe.

Subsidiaries:

Milford Haven Dock & Railway Company, Low Moor Best Yorkshire Iron, The Midland Iron Co, Pengwern and Gwydir Quarries, The Drybrook Quarries, North Lonsdale Tar Macadam.
The Ketton Portland Cement Co (controlling interest)

=W. S. Laycock=

This old-established business was bought in 1934. Laycock's made railway carriage and steamship fittings, underframes for locomotives and railway coaches, and automobile axles, gearboxes, propeller shafts and Laycock's own Layrub flexible drive joints. Two years later, Laycock Engineering was sold to some investors.The Laycock Engineering Company, Limited. The Times, Wednesday, 8 January 1936; pg. 16; Issue 47266.

=1970s=

By 1969, the Ward group was believed to be primarily in metal supply, particularly from ship breaking, but also producing cement, supplying roadstone, constructing rail sidings, and building new industrial works and equipping them with the necessary plant and machinery.Tools to finish all jobs. The Times, Monday, 10 November 1969; pg. V; Issue 57713.

Division

In October 1981, Thos. W. Ward's was split into three:

Thos. W. Ward (Raw Materials) the former iron and steel division active in processing and merchanting carbon scrap, special steel scrap, non-ferrous scrap metals and steel stockholding.
Thos. W. Ward (Industrial Supplies)
Thos. W. Ward (Industrial Dismantling)Reorganization at Thos. W. Ward. The Times, Saturday, 26 September 1981; pg. 24; Issue 61043

Within a short time, Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) began to buy a substantial shareholding and the takeover was completed in early 1982.The Times, Saturday, 23 January 1982; pg. 15; Issue 61139 RTZ amalgamated the Ward cement operation with that of Tunnel Holdings, and named the combination RTZ Cement, which then had about one quarter of the UK cement market.Cement cartel resists a shake-up. The Times, Thursday, 16 June 1983; pg. 19; Issue 61560 The Railway Engineers department of Thos. W Ward was bought by Henry Boot.The Times, Thursday, 15 March 1984; pg. 19; Issue 61782 RTZ sold Thos. W. Ward (Roadstone) to Ready Mixed Concrete in June 1988.RTZ in £33m sale of aggregates firm. The Times, Wednesday, 29 June 1988; pg. 26; Issue 63120

Dismantling

Works dismantled before 1926: Abbott's Works, Gateshead; Bowling Ironworks; Kelham Rolling Mills, Sheffield; Derwent Rolling Mills, Workington; Dearne & Dove Works; West Cumberland Whittington Works, Crawshay's Cyfarthfa Works, Bessemer's Works, Bolton; Mars Ironworks, Wolverhampton; Effingham Nut and Bolt Works, Sheffield.Obituary, Mr. T. W. Ward. The Times, Wednesday, 10 February 1926; pg. 16; Issue 44192 Thos W. Ward. also dismantled the Crystal Palace.{{Cite web|url=https://digital.lib.umd.edu/worldsfairs/result/id/umd:768?query=sheffield|title=Dismantling by Thos. W. Ward Ltd., Sheffield & London {{!}} World's Fair Treasury|website=digital.lib.umd.edu|access-date=23 August 2019}}

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{{RMS|Saragossa}}A review of Lloyd's Register, The Times, Wednesday, 11 January 1911; pg. 21; Issue 39479
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Shipbreaking

=At Inverkeithing=

File:Mauretania 2 at the breakers yard.jpg arrives at Inverkeithing ready to be broken for scrap, 1965]]

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{{HMS|Rodney|29|6}} (1949)
{{RMS|Empress of Australia|1919|6}} (1952)Ship Modelling Mailing List (SMML): [http://smmlonline.com/articles/empressaustralia/empressaustralia.html Empress of Australia]
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SS Hilary (1959)
{{HMS|Howe|32|6}}, June 1958 → 1960/61
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{{HMS|Maidstone|1937|6}} (May 1978)
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=At Briton Ferry=

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=At Grays=

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=At Preston=

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=At Barrow-in-Furness=

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=At Morecambe=

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=At Pembroke Dock=

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=At Milford Haven=

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=At Lelant or Hayle=

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Lizzie the elephant

At the outbreak of World War I, 1,235 people were on the payroll of Thomas Ward's company and a thousand tons of scrap metal per day was being fed to the country's steel makers. With demand so high, and many of the horses Ward had previously used to transport his goods around Sheffield requisitioned by the military, he had an increasingly difficult time to match supply with demand. Lizzie the Elephant was brought in as a solution to the problem.{{cite web|url=http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/jungle/index4d3.htmll|title=University of Sheffield project page|website=shef.ac.uk|access-date=15 April 2018}}

After work horses from Thomas Ward's were sent or requisitioned to the front in World War I, Lizzie the Elephant was drafted in from Sedgwick's Menagerie, a travelling circus run by William Sedgwick (1841–1927). The elephant was said to be able to do the work of three of Ward's horses and soon got herself the name "Tommy Ward's Elephant" as she became a familiar sight carrying or hauling goods around Sheffield, controlled by her trainer Richard Sedgwick (1875–1931) (son of the circus ringleader William Sedgwick). Lizzie was said to have inspired other Sheffield firms to creative means with their wartime transport, and a company in the Wicker area of the city was said to have used camels, also from Sedgwick's Menagerie, in place of their own horses.Daily Telegraph Tuesday 18 February 2914, page 6

References

Publications

{{colledge}}
{{cite book |first=John M |last=Ormston |title=The Final Berth: Columbia Wharf: Shipbreaking at Thos. W. Ward Limited, Grays |place=Grays |publisher=JM Ormston |year=1998 |isbn=0953304701}}

External links

[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Thomas_W._Ward Gracesguide.co.uk: Information on Thos W Ward yard]
[http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/exhibitions/muck/ Liverpoolmuseums.org: Information on Thos W Ward company]
[http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/jungle/index4d3.html Sheffield Educated - Lizzie the Elephant]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/makhist10_prog13d.shtml Information on the elephant]

Category:Ship breaking

Category:Defunct companies based in Sheffield

Category:British companies established in 1873

Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1982

Category:Energy companies established in 1873

Category:Waste management companies of the United Kingdom

Category:1982 mergers and acquisitions

Category:1982 disestablishments in England

Category:British companies disestablished in 1982