The story
In December 1918, aiming to turn their employees and other assets to peaceful productive purposes, the owners of a series of businesses merged to form The English Electric Company Limited.
Components
English Electric was formed to acquire ownership of:
Coventry Ordnance Works of Coventry, which retained a separate identity, and their ordnance works at Scotstoun which was later sold to Harland and Wolff in April 1920.
Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Bradford
Dick, Kerr & Co. of Preston founded 1880 and its subsidiaries:
United Electric Car Company of Preston
Willans & Robinson of Rugby which retained a separate identity—not wholly owned.
The owners of the component companies took up the shares in English Electric.
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Planned activities of the combined businesses
John Pybus was appointed managing director in March 1921 and chairman in April 1926. Initially J H Mansell of Coventry Ordnance Works, John Pybus of Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing and W Rutherford of Dick, Kerr were joint managing directors.The five previously independent major operations under their control had these principal capabilities:
Coventry Ordnance Works: built for the production of heavy armaments but was suitable for the manufacture of large generating units.
Phoenix Dynamo Works: during the war production was shells and aeroplanes but by July 1919 had been returned to electric motors.
Dick, Kerr and United Electric Car: special war work munitions, aeroplanes and metallic filament lamps, prior to the war locomotives and tram cars
Willans & Robinson: made steam turbines, condensers and diesel motors, there was a foundry.
Together these businesses covered the whole field of electrical machinery from the smallest fan motor to the largest turbo-generator.
In November 1919, English Electric bought the Stafford works of Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works Ltd. In 1931 Stafford became English Electric's centre.
There was no post-war boom in electrical generation. Though English Electric products were in heavy demand, potential buyers were unable to raise the necessary capital funds. In 1922, a drastic reorganisation of the works halved overheads. The Coventry Ordnance Works was practically closed down.
Cables, lamps and wireless equipment were then in buoyant demand, but that would have been a new field for the company to enter. English Electric's business was in heavy electrical and mechanical plant. Both the 1926 general strike and the miners strike caused heavy losses. In 1929, part of the Coventry Ordnance Works was sold and the pattern shop at Preston, neither of which was required.
By the end of 1929, it was clear the only solution to English Electric's financial difficulties was a financial restructure. The restructure acknowledged the loss of much of the shareholders' capital and brought in new capital to re-equip with new plant and machinery. An American syndicate fronted by Lazard Brothers and Co. bankers came up with the new capital, but left control in the hands of the previous shareholders.
In June 1930, four fresh directors were appointed, filling four new vacancies.
Ten days later, there was a formal announcement of an American arrangement. "English Electric, with works at Preston, Stafford, Rugby, Bradford and Coventry, had entered into a comprehensive arrangement" with Westinghouse Electric International Company of New York and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company of East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania US, to exchange of technical information between the two organisations on steam turbines and electrical apparatus. It was made clear that this technical and manufacturing link did not carry with it any control from America. In recognition of the exchange arrangement, Westinghouse offered to provide further capital, which would be less than 10% of the total, including that new capital organised earlier by Lazard Brothers.
From Wikipedia’s article on English Electric, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4