British Paints
of Britannic Works, Newcastle Upon Tyne 2. Factories also at Dunston and Blaydon.
also of London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Sydney, Toronto, Calcutta, Trinidad, Cape Town and New York.
1898 Company established as J. Dampney and Co
1930 Private company incorporated to acquire British Paints Ltd (formerly J. Dampney and Co Ltd) and the British Anti-Fouling Composition and Paint Co Ltd of Barking[1].
Later acquired other paint companies J. and W. Wilson Ltd of Liverpool, North British Plastics Ltd of Blaydon-on-Tyne, Joseph Hill and Son Ltd of North Shields, Charles Credland Ltd of Sheffield, as well as establishing subsidiaries in India and Australia and South Africa.
1945 Public company - dealing in shares began
1955 New block of research laboratory opened[2]
1957 Was the last of the major manufacturers to advertise nationally; featured Luxol a one-coat enamel paint; also Panax melamine sheet[3]
1961 Merger proposed with International Paints[4] but later abandonned.
1964 New research laboratories opened; elastomers business expanding into new areas[5]
1964 Tried and failed to acquire Wailes Dove and Co[6]
1965 Again offered to buy Wailes Dove, in conjunction with National Coal Board in a new venture Coalpaint, but failed to gain sufficient acceptances from shareholders[7]. Coalpaint retained the shares in Wailes Dove that it had acquired.
1965 Take-over bid by Celanese Corporation of America[8].
1969 Needing funds for expansion at home, Celanese sold its paints interests to Berger, Jenson and Nicholson in exchange for Berger shares and debt[9], leaving it as the largest shareholder.
1969 Hoechst and Albert E. Reed and Co acquired Berger[10]
1970 Berger-Hall Paints was formed from the decorative businesses of John Hall and Sons (Bristol and London), British Paints and Berger J. and N. Paints[11]