Vickers. A history

Notes:

History commissioned by the business from an historian who had participated in the Official History of the Second World War focusing in this on production issues. It is a history of the business of Vickers Ltd but also of its major historical constituent, Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd and its predecessor, Sir W G Armstrong & Co Ltd. The central theme is the relationship between a private sector armaments manufacturer and government and contains comparatively little about its civil business. Appendix provides capital and profits, 1867-1960 [pp389-91]. Other businesses covered include English Steel Corp Ltd. Structured in seven parts: 1] 'From the origins to 1888' - 'Beginnings' / 'Early growth, 1828-67' / 'Vickers Sons & Co Ltd'; 2] '188-1914' - ' British armaments and their makers from the Crimea to 1888'# / 'The company, 1888-97 ' armaments and imperial defence' / 'The submarine' / 'Entry into the aircraft industry' / The business and the company, 1897-1914'; 3] 'The First World War' - 'Guns and shells' / 'Naval ships and weapons' / 'War in the air' / 'Under government control'; 4] 'After the war to end wars' - 'Armament firms and the post war world / 'Vickers and Armstrongs' / 'Aviation in the twenties' / 'End of disarmament'; 5] 'Rearmament' - 'Rearmament in the air' / 'Naval rearmament, 1934-39' / '... in the field' / 'Pacifism and isolationists' / 'Domestic affairs during reamament'; 6] 'The Second World War' - 'The air weapons' / 'War on land' / 'End of a revolution'; 7] 'Post war' - 'The question marks of peace' / 'Shipbuilding' / 'En gineering' / 'A l;arge measure of public ownership' / 'Aircraft, 1945-60' / 'The pattern of defence'; 'An anatomy of Vickers Ltd'