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Description: | Records of the The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, Wednesfield, and its subsidiary companies; James Bridge Copper Works Ltd, Walsall; F W Parsons, Birmingham; Barton Williams & Co (Birmingham) Ltd; N L Hayes (Metals), Gloucester; Wolverhampton Metal Co (Australia) Pty Ltd. Also includes a substantial series of records of the salvaging of HMS Warspite. ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY Henry B Summerhill began business as a metal merchant late in the 19th century when he set up 'The Wolverhampton Metal Company' on the site of a Wednesfield firm which had been trading in lead and gone into liquidation. The works were bought for 1,250 and formed the nucleus of the works at Wednesfield with land adjoining the canal and railway station. In 1903, the six grandsons of Henry B Summerhill, Messrs James, became engaged in the business. Walter R James [Wal], qualified as an Analytical Chemist and became mainly responsible for the extensive business built up in zinc residues; P A James [Arch], looked after the financial interests of the company, was secretary and vice-chairman; Harold V James, known as being 'most efficient on the commercial side', was especially interested in the development of the Aluminium Section; Fred A James, was largely responsible for the copper residues side of business which eventually led to the acquisition of the James Bridge Copper Works; and the youngest grandson, T C James, became Managing Director and eventually passed on the company to his son and nephew. In 1903 The Wolverhampton Metal Company was floated with a capital of 2000 in Ordinary shares of 1 each and in 1906 moved from Wednesfield Road to Well Lane, Wednesfield, where it produced non-ferrous ingots and billets from non-ferrous scrap, supplying foundries with a whole range of copper and aluminium alloys. By 1912 the yearly turnover was approx 100,000 and continued to grow until the outbreak of the 1914-1918 war. All six James brothers registered for Military Service but as the business was considered of vital national importance, only Harold and Walter were accepted for the Army. The company was given a Government contract for 'Casting Rods' used for making fuses. Later, at the request of the Ministry, an extruded rod plant was installed which proved profitable in the longer term. The company lost its zinc residues department - "practically overnight" - by the decision of the Ministry to eliminate merchants by putting producers into direct touch with consumers. The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd had been almost solely responsible for total supplies of zinc ashes. Some manufacturing associates supplied The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd with Fatty Copper Residues. The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd separated the copper residues in a concentrated form and also recovered the impure fat. This was refined again and sold as a good colour tallow product. In 1919 their first reverbatory furnace with a capacity of 5 tons was built to produce gunmetal and copper. An 8-ton capacity open-hearth reverbatory furnace was added later. A simple washing plant was the next installation. As cheap water was needed, a local well sinkers company was employed who, at 28ft, struck a small stream. To meet demand, in 1919 The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, bought a factory at James Bridge in Walsall. At that time it was mainly a washing plant of the old jig type with relatively small furnaces. This subsidiary was named James Bridge Copper Works Ltd and was to be used as a copper-smelting works where copper would be reclaimed and refined. Owing to financial difficulties copper production was intermittent until c1930, but was continuous from that time. 'Wolverhampton Metal (Holdings)' was set up as the parent company of The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd and James Bridge Copper Works Ltd, Walsall. The main supplies of raw materials for both works were non-ferrous scrap and residues, which were collected from all corners of the country and processed under strict laboratory supervision into ingots, billets and cathode copper to British Standards and similar specifications. In 1921 The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd sold 50% of its shares to secure the smelting of a lot of munitions scrap. The parent company [Wolverhampton Metal (Holdings)] provided necessary finances to enable the copper works to be re-started on an independent basis once more. Around the same time The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd purchased a furnace bottom weighing 75 tons. This was transported from Birmingham to The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd by what was at the time the largest transport lorry in the country, traveling under police escort. It posed many problems in terms of how best to smelt it down to produce copper fit for re-use. To meet increased demand and to keep up with developments The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd attempted the production of bell metal and when aluminium was becoming more known in commerce, they decided to manufacture this relatively new alloy. Further enlargement of the plant was necessary to meet increased demand. After the purchase of James Bridge Copper Works in 1919 there is no evidence of acquisitions and mergers until in 1945 when The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd acquired the metal concentrating business formerly known as 'F W Parsons' of Birmingham. This company, with its unique way of smelting, made a valuable contribution to the supplies of The James Bridge Copper Works. In 1946 The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd was floated and became a public company with a capital of 152,856. Imperial Metal Industries [IMI] bought a 29 % stake. In 1948 a half share of the capital of Barton Williams & Co (Birmingham) Limited was acquired. By 1949 The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd had also bought from a Mr N L Hayes his non-ferrous and iron and steel scrap merchants, 'Hayes (Metals), Gloucester'. In 1950 The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, in conjunction with the British Metal Corporation Ltd, purchased land and built a factory in Botany Bay, Sydney, with a view to starting business on the same lines as in Wednesfield. In 1951 the remaining shares of Barton Williams & Co (Birmingham) Limited were taken over and the concern became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd. 1951 saw a depot in Newcastle-On-Tyne opened and in 1952 a Glasgow depot was also open. Both depots served as a place for the collection of scrap at a time when raw materials were becoming scarce. They were also used as stores from which ingots could be dispatched from stock. As an extra source of scrap the company undertook the breaking up of the battleship HMS Warspite, the work finally being completed in 1956. In 1964 an arrangement was made between and The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd whereby IMI agreed to inject 1.3m against its 29 % holding. By May 1967, due to expansion of its refining capacity, The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd had bought metal merchants 'Garnham Harris and Elton' [no records of this company exist in this collection] from owners Strauss (Holdings). In buying Garnham Harris and Elton, The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd also secured a 37 % interest in 'Lead and Alloys', a refiner and producer of lead and alloys. It was hoped that this would ensure adequate supplies of scrap metal at a time of scrap shortages. Finding the cash did not prove a problem since 1,150,000 still remained to be called up under the 1964 arrangement with IMI. In 1967, hoping to strengthen its position in the non-ferrous metals field, IMI launched a 15m takeover bid for The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd, who at the time were the largest UK producer of non-ferrous ingots for the foundry and engineering industry. IMI offered 35s a share for the remaining 8,443,600 ordinary shares, valuing the company at a little over 21m. At the time of the takeover bid The Wolverhampton Metal Company Ltd had a 3m development project in progress at its James Bridge Copper Works, Walsall, In 1967 Wolverhampton Metal was taken over by IMI and became IMI Refinery Holdings Ltd. As a result of extensions to the plant from the mid 1960s the refinery was, in 1974, the largest works in Britain producing copper from scrap and residues. The principal products were electrolytic copper cathodes and shapes; other metals refined as by-products included nickel, zinc, tin, lead, gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Walsall Archives / Local History Centre | Rights holder: | Walsall Archives / Local History Centre | Subjects: | Manuscript | Temporal: | 20th cent | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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