Private company

Metropolitan-Vickers

Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse.1

Last updated Oct 18, 2026.

Overview

1899Founded1
  • Industryelectrical industry, industrial manufacturing1
  • HeadquartersManchester1
  • Founded inManchester1

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Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam turbines, switchgear, transformers, electronics and railway traction equipment. Metrovick holds a place in history as the builders of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950, and the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2. Its factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, was for most of the 20th century one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain and the world.2

How it started

History

Metrovick started as a way to separate the existing British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company factories from United States control, which had proven to be a hindrance to gaining government contracts during the First World War. In 1917 a holding company was formed to try to find financing to buy the company's properties.

In May 1917, control of the holding company was obtained jointly by the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company, of Birmingham, chaired by Dudley Docker, and Vickers Limited, of Barrow-in-Furness. On 15 March 1919, Docker agreed terms with Vickers, for Vickers to purchase all the shares of the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company for almost £13 million. On 8 September 1919, Vickers changed the name of the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company to Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company.

The immediate post-war era was marked by low investment and continued labour unrest. Fortunes changed in 1926 with the formation of the Central Electricity Board which standardised electrical supply and led to a massive expansion of electrical distribution, installations, and appliance purchases. Sales shot up, and 1927 marked the company's best year to date.

On 15 November 1922 the BBC was registered and the BBC's Manchester station, 2ZY, was officially opened on 375 metres transmitting from the Metropolitan Vickers Electricity works in Old Trafford.

In 1921, they bought a 9-acre (3.6 ha) site at Attercliffe Common in Sheffield, which was used to manufacture traction motors. By 1923, it had its own engineering department, and was making complete locomotives and electric delivery vehicles.

From Wikipedia’s article on Metropolitan-Vickers, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Leadership

Who has led Metropolitan-Vickers, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Timeline

  1. 1960Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1899Founded Founded in Manchester1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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  2. 2