George Ellison (1873-1955)

George Ellison (c1873-1955) of George Ellison Ltd and Tufnol Ltd

son of Thomas Wilson Ellison

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1955 Obituary

We have learned with regret that Mr. George Ellison, who was in his eighty-third year, has died at Rheinfelden, Switzerland.

Mr. Ellison was chairman of the switchgear works of George Ellison, Ltd., of Tufnol, Ltd., and of the iron foundry of Alfred Ellison, Ltd.

George Ellison was educated at Manchester Grammar School. After serving an apprenticeship with the Oerlikon Engineering Company at Oerlikon, Switzerland, he completed a course of study at Winterthur University.

In 1893 he went to America and worked with the Westinghouse Company as designer and chief draughtsman and later with the Western Electric Company in Pittsburgh, New York and Chicago.

On returning to Europe in 1898 he set up in business in Paris on his own account, making and selling electric switchgear, with the help and encouragement of his father, Thomas Wilson Ellison, who had established his own machine tool business in Paris. The new switchgear business in Paris prospered and grew rapidly. Then in 1906 the business was transferred to Birmingham, where it quickly outgrew its accommodation, and in 1916 the original buildings of the present factory were built at Perry Barr.

In 1929 Mr. Ellison founded the associated company, Ellison Insulations Ltd., which later became Tufnol, Ltd., and in 1946 the foundry of Alfred Ellison, Ltd., was brought into the Ellison group of companies. Mr. Ellison took a keen interest in industrial welfare, and was a life governor of the University of Birmingham.

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See the Tufnol company history, starting here..

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