A HISTORY OF GKN By the same author ACCOUNTANCY AND THE BRITISH ECONOMY 1840-1980: The Evolution of Ernst & Whinney *A HISTORY OF GKN: Volume 1, Innovation and Enterprise, 1759-1918 INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN, 1750-1939 THE MEMOIRS OF EDWIN WATERHOUSE (editor) *Also published by Macmillan A HISTORY OF GKN Volume 2 The Growth of a Business, 1918-45 Edgar Jones Foreword by M David Lees MACMILLAN © GKN plc 1990 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990 978-0-333-44578-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1990 Published by MACMILLAN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Footnote Graphics, Warminster, Wilts British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Jones, Edgar, 1953- A history of GKN. Vol. 2, The growth of a business, 1918-1945 1. Great Britain. Engineering industries I. Title 338.7'62'000941 ISBN 978-1-349-09666-4 ISBN 978-1-349-09664-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-09664-0 Contents List of Maps and Figures ix List of Tables xi List of Illustrations xiii List of Colour Plates xvii List of Abbreviations xix Foreword by David Lees xxi Acknowledgements xxiii Chronology of Events xxv Introduction xxix PART I STEEL AND COAL IN SOUTH WALES, 1919-39 1 1 GKN and the Post-War Boom, Merger and Acquisitions, 1919-23 3 Merger with John Lysaght 4 Acquisitions in Engineering 7 Profits and Performance: 1918-23 8 Summary 9 2 John Lysaght Ltd 13 Part1,1857-1918 13 John Lysaght: Foundations of the Business 14 Profits and Performance: the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s 17 Changes in Management 21 St Vincent's Works and Netham, Bristol 25 Orb Rolling Mills, Newport 26 Normanby Park Steelworks, Scunthorpe 31 Overseas Sales to the Empire 34 The Great War 38 Summary 39 Part2,1919-45 40 Post-War Recovery 40 v vi CONTENTS Orb Works, Newport 43 St Vincent's Works, Bristol 48 Normanby Park Steelworks, Scunthorpe 51 Overseas Ventures: France and Ireland 54 Managers and Management 56 The Second World War 61 Summary 62 3 Coal: Rise and Fall, 1919-35 73 The Post-War Boom: Berry and Llewellyn 74 Colliery Acquisitions 84 Welsh Associated Collieries and Sale to Powell Duffryn 96 Reasons for Failure: Technical Innovation and Labour Relations 100 Summary 105 4 Steel and GKN, 1919-39 113 Into Adversity: Dowlais and Dowlais-Cardiff East Moors, 1919-29 113 Guest, Keen Baldwins Iron & Steel Co.: the re-building of Dowlais-Cardiff 129 Castle Works: transfer from Rogerstone to Cardiff 133 Cwmbran Works 149 Exors. of James Mills: acquisition and operation 151 Management and its Policies 154 Summary 157 PARTII ENGINEERINGINTHEMIDLANDS, 1919-45 165 5 Nettlefolds and the Woodscrew Trade, 1918-39 167 The Difficult Years, 1919-31 167 Recovery and Growth, 1932-39 177 The International Woodscrew Union 182 Subsidiary Acquisitions 187 The Acquisition of Aug. Stenman AB 194 Nettlefolds in Australia 196 Management 197 Summary 200 6 Fasteners and Forgings, 1918-45 207 Decline of London Works and Closure of Stour Valley 207 F. W. Cotterill of Darlaston 208 John Garrington & Sons ofDarlaston 217 Bayliss, Jones & Bayliss ofWolverhampton 220 GKN in South Africa 225 Summary 228 CONTENTS vii 7 Joseph Sankey & Sons 235 Part 1, 1854-1918 235 Joseph Sankey founds the Business 235 Joseph Sankey & Sons: electrical laminations 240 Suppliers to the Automotive Trade 245 Profits and Performance 250 The Great War 251 Summary 252 Part II, 1919-45 253 Takeover by Lysaghts 253 Albert Street Works 254 Bankfield and Manor Rolling Mills 256 Hadley Castle Works 258 Profits and Performance 262 Managers and Management 262 The Second World War 265 India: Sankey Electrical Stampings Ltd 267 Summary 268 8 The Management and Organisation of GKN 275 The Dynastic Succession 275 Directors of Influence 284 Organisational Structure 291 Accounting Policies 295 Summary 297 9 GKN at War, 1939-45 301 The War Effort 301 Government Controls 306 The Impact of War 309 Summary 315 PART III GKN OVERSEAS TO 1945 319 10 John Lysaght (Australia) Pty, 1919-45 321 The Pre-Manufacturing Phase 321 Lysaghts' First Venture: the Newcastle Works 324 The Springhill Works and the C.R.M. Works, Port Kembla 333 Managers and Management 335 The Second World War 337 Summary 339 11 Guest, Keen, Williams in India 345 Henry Williams India 346 Guest, Keen, Williams 351 viii CONTENTS Managers and Management 354 The Second World War 359 Labour and Conditions of Employment 360 Summary 362 12 Conclusions and Perspective 367 Sources 375 Manuscript Sources 375 Journals 375 Select Bibliography 376 Index 379 List of Maps and Figures 1 A simplified genealogical table of GKN, 1918-45 xxxvi 2 GKN profits and equity interest, 1902-47 10 3 A simplified family tree of the Lysaghts 22 4 The principal coal holdings of GKN, c. 1925 86 5 Coal mining by longwall advancing method 101 6 Castle Works, Rogerstone, c. 1910 136 7 Plan of Castle Works, Cardiff, 1939 144 8 Dowlais-Cardiff Steelworks, East Moors (c. 1968) 156 9 Woodscrew sales by Nettlefolds, 1920-45 178 10 A plan of Heath Street Mills, c. 1930 183 11 GKN Works in the Black Country, c. 1920 209 12 A simplified genealogical table of the Sankeys 240 13 GKNin 1935 287 14 Newcastle and Port Kembla Works, annual coated sheet production compared with imports, 1920-45 329 ix List of Tables 1.1 GKN profits, 1918-30 7 1.2 The Profitability of GKN by constituent parts, 1918-20 9 2.1 Reported pre-tax profits by John Lysaght Ltd, 1885-1918 19 2.2 Total output of galvanised sheet from St Vincent's Works Bristol, 1869-1941 26 2.3 Exports of galvanised sheet by Lysaghts to Australia, 1880-1905 37 2.4 John Lysaght sales of galvanised sheet to Australia, 1900-18 38 2.5 Annual ingot production at Normanby Park Steelworks, 1913-45 42 2.6 Reported profits of John Lysaght Ltd, 1919-45 44 3.1 UK coal production, 1919-38 92 3.2 Output per manshift of saleable coal, 1913, 1925-36 92 3.3 Output of coal in South Wales and Monmouthshire, 1913-39 94 3.4 The use of coal-cutting machines in South Wales, 1930-36 103 3.5 Coal conveyed by machinery in South Wales, 1930-36 104 4.1 UK prices of steel products, 1919-22 115 4.2 UK output of iron and steel and total imports, 1922-39 116 4.3 Output from GKN Castle Works, Cardiff, 1939-48 131 4.4 Cwmbran Works: outputs from principal departments, 1906-21 152 4.5 Output of Cwmbran Works, 1922-28 and 1939 152 5.1 Pre-tax profits earned by Nettlefolds, 1901-34 169 5.2 GKN woodscrew sales, 1920-47 172 5.3 Discounts on Nettlefolds steel woodscrews sold in Britain, 1918-45 173 6.1 John Garrington & Sons gross profits, 1932-38 219 6.2 Profits of Bayliss, Jones & Bayliss, 1923-46 228 7.1 Joseph Sankey & Sons net profits, 1902-18 239 7.2 Joseph Sankey & Sons net profits, 1918-43 263 9.1 Output of selected industrial goods in Britain, 1939-45 304 9.2 GKN profits and equity interest, 1938-47 308 xi xii LIST OF TABLES 10.1 Total sales of galvanised sheet in Australia by Lysaghts in 1911 and 1913 323 10.2 Output from Newcastle Works, 1923-43 327 10.3 Galvanised sheet in Australia, 1923-31 330 11.1 Output and sales from 'C' Works, the Bolt Mills, GKW, Howrah 352 11.2 Output from 'D' Works, Rolling Mills, GKW, Howrah 354 12.1 Profits of GKN by constituent company, 1918-45 368 List of Illustrations 1 H. Seymour Berry entertaining GKN directors xxxi 2 The office building at St Vincent's Works, Bristol 15 3 General View of Orb rolling mills, Newport 27 4 The office staff of Orb Works 28 5 No. 25 mill team, Orb Works 29 6 The interior of Orb Works 30 7 Flywheel of No. 10 engine, Orb Works 30 8 No.1 pickle tank dryer, Orb Works 31 9 The staff of the bar mill, Orb Works 32 10 The manufacture of wire netting by Lysaghts 48 11 Galvanised agricultural products made by Lysaghts 50 12 A trade exhibition of Lysaght products 51 13 Visit of the GKN board to Normanby Park Steelworks 52 14 An aerial view of Normanby Park Steelworks 54 15 W.R. Lysaght (1858-1945) 57 16 The three Lysaght brothers 58 17 The Lysaght Institute, Newport 61 18 Abercynon Colliery (c. 1935) 75 19 Nantwen Colliery, Bedlinog (c. 1910) 75 20 Berry and Llewellyn visiting Dowlais in the 1920s 76 21 An aerial view of Dowlais steelworks 117 22 The Dowlais rail bank, 1926 118 23 The rail bank at Dowlais, 1927 118 24 The manufacture of steel sleepers at Dowlais 119 25 Coke ovens and by-product plant, Dowlais 120 26 The Goat Mill, Dowlais, c. 1920-23 121 27 The disused furnaces at Merthyr 124 28 Demolition of the Dowlais steelworks 125 29 Collapsing the hot blast stoves 126 30 View of the derelict by-product plant, 1945 126 31 An aerial view of Dowlais-Cardiff, East Moors, 1929 127 32 An aerial view of Dowlais-Cardiff, late 1930s 131 33 A view ofNettlefolds' Rogerstone Works, 1902 134 34 The wire mill, Coverack Road, Newport, 1936 137 xiii xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 35 The Coverack Road Mills, Newport 138 36 An aerial view of Castle Works, Cardiff 139 37 The general office, Castle Works, c.