F. H. Royce and Co
of Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
of Trafford Park, Manchester
1884 Company formed by Frederick Henry Royce[1] who entered a partnership with Ernest Alexander Claremont, a friend who contributed £50; they started a business making domestic electric fittings in a workshop in Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester called F. H. Royce and Co.
1891 The company was registered on 4 June as F. H. Royce and Co, to take over the business of electrical and mechanical engineers of the firm of the same name.
1894 Became a limited company, "Electrical and mechanical engineers and manufacturers of dynamos, motors and kindred articles."
1895 Listed as "Royce, F. H. and Co Limited. Electricians, electric light engineers and contractors, electric bell and battery makers etc. Cooke Street, Stretford Road, Hulme." [2]
1899 The company was put into voluntary liquidation[3] and reconstructed with an enlarged capital, re-registration taking place under the title of Royce Ltd on 17 October. [4]
1903 Listed as "Royce Limited. Electrical and mechanical engineers, makers of dynamos, meters, electrically driven cranes and hoists, arc lamps etc. Works - Cooke Street, Hulme. Branch works - Trafford Park" [5]
1903 Began experiments with motor car manufacture; in the latter half of the year Royce began producing a 10 hp model with overhead valves and by the spring of 1904 he had produced three cars. [6]
1904 Royce decided to manufacture a car of his own which he did in a corner of the workshop. Two more cars were made. Of the three, which were called Royces and had two-cylinder engines, one was given to Ernest A. Claremont and the other sold to one of the other directors, Henry Edmunds and ultimately to C. S. Rolls. One car was registerd as AX 148.
1904 23rd December. Charles Stewart Rolls and Claude Goodman Johnson trading as C. S. Rolls and Co entered into an agreement to market the total output of the company; Rolls would make the bodywork[7]. The cars ranged from a two-cylinder 10 hp chassis to a six-cylinder 30 hp model. [6]
1906 March. Set up the Rolls-Royce company to produce cars, including acquiring the Cooke Street Works. Royce continued in business making cranes. In December a share issue funded the acquisition of C. S. Rolls and Co and enlargement of the works[8]
1909 Listed as Royce Limited. "Electrical and mechanical engineers, makers of dynamos, meters, electrically driven cranes, hoists, capstans and winches etc. Registered office and works - Trafford Park Road, Trafford Park, Manchester" [9]
1909 Electric 'monorail' jib crane for Hawthorn, Leslie and Co., Forth Bank Works[10]
1911 Listed as Royce Limited. "Electrical and mechanical engineers, makers of dynamos, motors, electrically driven cranes, hoists, capstans and winches etc. Registered office and works - Trafford Park Road, Trafford Park, Manchester" [11]
1922 Manufactured electric cranes, electric capstans, electric winches, electric transporters, D.C. dynamos and motors, electric controllers and switchgear.
1932 Company acquired by Herbert Morris of Loughborough.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Monday, Apr 24, 1933
- ↑ Slater's Manchester & Salford Directory, 1895
- ↑ The London Gazette 27 October 1899
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ Slater's Manchester, Salford & Suburban Directory, 1903
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Early History of Motoring by Claude Johnson
- ↑ The Times (London, England), 1906
- ↑ The Times, Dec 18, 1906
- ↑ Slater's Manchester, Salford & Suburban Directory, 1909
- ↑ The Engineer 1909/03/19
- ↑ Slater's Manchester, Salford & Suburban Directory, 1911