Brown, John, & Co Ltd, iron & steel
Other Business Names:
- Clydebank Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd
- Firth, Thos, & Sons Ltd
- Firth, Thos, & John Brown Ltd
- Westland Aircraft Ltd
- Markham & Co Ltd
- Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd
- Atlas Works
- Norfolk Works
Locations city-town / local authority / county1974 / region-state / country:
- Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Yorkshire & the Humber, England
Sectors:
-
Fabricated metal products manufacture
Armour plate production industry
-
Extraction
Coal extraction
-
Basic metals production
Iron, steel & related alloys production
-
Fabricated metal products manufacture
Metal casting
-
Fabricated metal products manufacture
Metal forging, pressing, stamping, rolling, slitting, etc
-
Transport equipment production
Railway track, fittings, etc, production
Notes:
Traced origins to 1838 when (Sir) John Brown, 1816-96, set up in business. By 1844 making steel and steel castings - at Atlas Works from 1850s. Known as John Brown & Co from 1859. Early on produced steel for railways including springs, rails, etc. 1860s, when largest Sheffield business, started to make armour plate for warships and, later, general ship plates, as well as ordnance forgings. Incorporated 1864. 1899 acquired Clydebank Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd and became leading shipbuilders and engine builders at Clydebank. 1903 acquired large interest in Thos Firth & Sons Ltd, steelmakers at Sheffield. These interests were merged in 1930 through creation of Thos Firth & John Brown Ltd which subsequently acquired, inter alia, large interest in Westland Aircraft Ltd of Yeovil and Markham & Co Ltd, mining machinery manufacturers at Chesterfield. As Firth Brown, merged in 1983 with British Steel plant at Sheffield to form Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd. Also had collieries
Publications:
- 100 Years in Steel. Firth Brown Centenary, 1837-1937 by Unknown
- 'Atlas Works, Sheffield' in P Barry, Dockyard Economy and Naval Power by Barry, Patrick
- Brown Firth Research Laboratories by Unknown
- Creators of the Age of Steel by Jeans, William T
- Family Engineers by Mensforth, Eric
- Firth Brown. A Sheffield steel company by Hamilton, Catherine
- Forging the Fleet. Naval armour and the armour makers, 1860-1916 by Boursnell, David
- General description of the works and products of John Brown & Co Ltd, 1864-1924. by Unknown
- Giants of Sheffield. The men who made Sheffield the steel capital of the world by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'John Brown & Co Ltd, 1881-1914' in T J Baldwin et al, Cash Flow and Corporate Finance in Victorian Britain. Cases from the coal industry, 1860-1914 by Baldwin, T J
- John Brown & Co Ltd. Atlas Works, Sheffield. Shipyard and Engineering Works, Clydebank by Unknown
- 'Sir John Brown, 1816-1896. Steel and armour plate manufacturer' in Geoffrey Tweedale, Giants of Sheffield Steel. The men who made Sheffield the steel capital of the world by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'Sir John Brown' in James Hogg (ed), Fortunes Made in Business, Volume 1 by Unknown
- South Yorkshire Pits by Taylor, Warwick
- Steel and Ships. The history of John Brown's by Grant, Allan J
- Steel City. Entrepreneurship, strategy and technology in Sheffield, 1743-1993 by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'Strategy and structure of cotton and steel enterprise in Britain, 1900-1939' in K Nakagawa (ed), Proceedings of the Fuji Conference, 1, 1974. Strategy and structure of big business by Yonekawa, Shin-ichi
- The Business and Technology of the Sheffield Armaments industry, 1900-1930 by Corker, Christopher J
Groups:
Other Business Names:
- Clydebank Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd
- Firth, Thos, & Sons Ltd
- Firth, Thos, & John Brown Ltd
- Westland Aircraft Ltd
- Markham & Co Ltd
- Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd
- Atlas Works
- Norfolk Works
Locations city-town / local authority / county1974 / region-state / country:
- Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, Yorkshire & the Humber, England
Sectors:
- Fabricated metal products manufacture Armour plate production industry
- Extraction Coal extraction
- Basic metals production Iron, steel & related alloys production
- Fabricated metal products manufacture Metal casting
- Fabricated metal products manufacture Metal forging, pressing, stamping, rolling, slitting, etc
- Transport equipment production Railway track, fittings, etc, production
Notes:
Traced origins to 1838 when (Sir) John Brown, 1816-96, set up in business. By 1844 making steel and steel castings - at Atlas Works from 1850s. Known as John Brown & Co from 1859. Early on produced steel for railways including springs, rails, etc. 1860s, when largest Sheffield business, started to make armour plate for warships and, later, general ship plates, as well as ordnance forgings. Incorporated 1864. 1899 acquired Clydebank Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd and became leading shipbuilders and engine builders at Clydebank. 1903 acquired large interest in Thos Firth & Sons Ltd, steelmakers at Sheffield. These interests were merged in 1930 through creation of Thos Firth & John Brown Ltd which subsequently acquired, inter alia, large interest in Westland Aircraft Ltd of Yeovil and Markham & Co Ltd, mining machinery manufacturers at Chesterfield. As Firth Brown, merged in 1983 with British Steel plant at Sheffield to form Sheffield Forgemasters Ltd. Also had collieriesPublications:
- 100 Years in Steel. Firth Brown Centenary, 1837-1937 by Unknown
- 'Atlas Works, Sheffield' in P Barry, Dockyard Economy and Naval Power by Barry, Patrick
- Brown Firth Research Laboratories by Unknown
- Creators of the Age of Steel by Jeans, William T
- Family Engineers by Mensforth, Eric
- Firth Brown. A Sheffield steel company by Hamilton, Catherine
- Forging the Fleet. Naval armour and the armour makers, 1860-1916 by Boursnell, David
- General description of the works and products of John Brown & Co Ltd, 1864-1924. by Unknown
- Giants of Sheffield. The men who made Sheffield the steel capital of the world by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'John Brown & Co Ltd, 1881-1914' in T J Baldwin et al, Cash Flow and Corporate Finance in Victorian Britain. Cases from the coal industry, 1860-1914 by Baldwin, T J
- John Brown & Co Ltd. Atlas Works, Sheffield. Shipyard and Engineering Works, Clydebank by Unknown
- 'Sir John Brown, 1816-1896. Steel and armour plate manufacturer' in Geoffrey Tweedale, Giants of Sheffield Steel. The men who made Sheffield the steel capital of the world by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'Sir John Brown' in James Hogg (ed), Fortunes Made in Business, Volume 1 by Unknown
- South Yorkshire Pits by Taylor, Warwick
- Steel and Ships. The history of John Brown's by Grant, Allan J
- Steel City. Entrepreneurship, strategy and technology in Sheffield, 1743-1993 by Tweedale, Geoffrey
- 'Strategy and structure of cotton and steel enterprise in Britain, 1900-1939' in K Nakagawa (ed), Proceedings of the Fuji Conference, 1, 1974. Strategy and structure of big business by Yonekawa, Shin-ichi
- The Business and Technology of the Sheffield Armaments industry, 1900-1930 by Corker, Christopher J