Grace's Guide

BSA

From GracesGuide

BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) of Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham

Contents 1 General 2 Bicycles 3 Motorcycles 4 Cars 5 Guns 6 Radio 7 See Also 8 Sources of Information

[edit] General

• Possibly founded in 1854 as an association of 14 (24?) Gunsmiths in order to to sell arms for the Crimean War effort.

• 1861 Incorporated as a Limited Company. Founded as a company to make mass-produced guns, signed the papers in 1862, and found a 25 acre site on Small Heath for their factory, opening in 1863. The initials stood for Birmingham Small Arms.

• 1866. Government order to convert 100,000 muzzle-loading Enfield rifles

• 1871 The government adopted the Martini-Henry Rifle and BSA started producing these from 1874.

• 1873 They acquired the Adderley Park Rolling Mills for the production of ammunition shells.

• 1880 Commenced making cycles

• From 1893-1908 made bicycle components and not complete bikes.

• In 1896 the entire business of manufacturing ammunition, together with the property used for this purpose at Adderley Park and Streetly, was disposed of to the Directors of the Nobel-Dynamite Trust Limited, who formed a new company to take over the works in question, under the title of the Birmingham Metal and Munitions Co. Henceforward the Small Arms Company, which for the previous twenty-three years had been known as The Birmingham Small Arms and Metal Company, reverted to its earlier name, which it has held ever since, namely, The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited.

• 1907 Bought Eadie Manufacturing Co. The company was engaged in the manufacture of military and sporting rifles and components. ^[1]

• 1908. Commenced again the manufacture of complete cycles

• 1909. Commenced making motorcycles

• 1910 Acquired the Daimler Motor Co (1904) Ltd.

• 1919 BSA Guns became a private company. ^[2]

• 1920? Purchased the then bankrupt Aircraft Manufacturing Co (Airco).

• 1920 BSA Tools became a private company.

• 1925 BSA Motor Cycles became a private company.

• 1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.

• 1961 Listed as Birmingham Small Arms Co and parent of 32 subsidiaries. The group employed 17,000 persons. ^[3]

[edit] Bicycles

• See BSA: Bicycles

[edit] Motorcycles

• See BSA: Motorcycles

[edit] Cars

• See BSA: Cars

[edit] Guns

• See BSA: Guns

[edit] Radio

• See BSA: Radio

[edit] See Also

[edit] Sources of Information

1. ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
2. ↑ BSA Guns
3. ↑ 1961 Guide to Key British Enterprises

• [1] Wikipedia
• The Engineer of 10th November 1911 p487
• The Engineer of 26th April 1968 p650
• Birmingham’s Industrial Heritage by Ray Shill. Published by Sutton Publishing 2002. ISBN 0-7509-2593-0
• Birmingham Engineering and Mining Journal Volume 9 for 1910-11