Lloyds, Fosters and Co

of Monway Fields Forge, Wednesbury

of Old Park Iron Works, Wednesbury (1862)

c.1818 Samuel Lloyd went to live in Wednesbury in order to exploit the family’s land for coal and iron production.

The Lloyds, Fosters firm was formed to oversee mining operations at Wednesbury.

1819 'The partners in the Old Park Colliery Co. were Samuel Lloyd’s eldest sons, George and Samuel, Joseph Foster’s sons, Joseph Talwin Foster and Sampson Foster, and a great-nephew of the widow Pemberton named John Rooth. The first four were all young men in their twenties. At a meeting of the Heirs of Parkes held at Birmingham on the day after the Harford business had been formally completed these young men made proposals which resulted in their obtaining a fresh lease for forty-two years. They also re-named their partnership ‘Lloyds Fosters and Company’, under which style the mines and lands were thereafter operated. Of the partners, George Lloyd was located at Birmingham, one Foster was a merchant in London and the other a banker at Norwich, while Rooth resided in Wednesbury but does not appear to emerge as an executive. The partner designated for the management of the concern was Samuel Lloyd junior.'

1824 Lloyds, Fosters and Co, of Wednesbury Old Park Colliery

1828 Lloyds, Fosters and Co, of Wednesbury Old Park, were ironfounders

1835 Lloyds, Fosters and Co was established; Mr Sampson Lloyd held a quarter share. The object of the company was to develop a colliery owned by the Lloyd family, by building blast furnaces and introducing improved winding and pumping machinery. There was also a small foundry and engineering establishment, of which Mr. Sampson Lloyd undertook the management.

1837 George Braithwaite Lloyd retired from the partnership and the trade; Samuel Lloyd the younger, Joseph Talwin Foster, Sampson Foster, and John Rooth, of the Old Park Works, in Wednesbury, Iron and Coal Masters, carried on the firm of Lloyds, Fosters, and Co.

Sampson Lloyd, with the help of Mr. John Joseph Bramah, addressed the needs of the developing railway system for suitable materials.

The Old Park Ironworks became one of the first establishments in Britain manufacturing of wheels and axles, as well as other railway material.

1856 large rolling mills were erected for the manufacture of tires and axles, and this for many years was a most successful branch of the company’s business

1862 Mr. Samuel Lloyd died; his son Wilson Lloyd became a partner.

c.1864 P. A. Thorn and Co, contractors for the replacement Blackfriars Bridge, ordered the necessary ironwork from Lloyds, Fosters, agreeing to pay cash monthly for each delivery. However payments were not received and Samuel Lloyd, junior strongly advised the company to cease deliveries at once, but the other shareholders, who at the time owned three-quarters of the shares, ignored his plea, and decided to finance the contractor. But problems persisted and much delayed the construction of the bridge.

1866 Manufacturers of railway rolling stock with 3,000 persons employed. Also make wrought iron girders and bridges including those for Blackfriars Bridge due for delivery in 1868. No women or children employed.

1866 Threatened strike of 400 to 500 puddlers

1866 Members of the Lloyd family working at the Old Park Works included:

• Sampson Lloyd
• Sampson Zachary Lloyd
• Samuel Lloyd, Junior

as well as Sampson Lloyd Foster.

c.1867 The Bessemer process was installed in the Old Park Works of Lloyds, Foster and Co.

By 1867 Lloyds, Fosters & Company had lost a quarter of a million pounds on the Blackfriars Bridge contract and were forced into liquidation. The company was sold to the Patent Shaft and Axletree Co, which did so well on the deal that in seven years the profits were sufficient to pay the whole of the purchase money in dividends. Mr. Sampson Lloyd became vice-chairman of the new company.

1870 Advert: Patent Shaft and Axletree Co (Lloyds, Fosters and Co's department).

See Also

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Sources of Information

• [1] Generations of Lloyds