Vickers Limited

Early history

The company was founded in 1828 in Sheffield as a steel plant opened by the miller Edward Vickers and his uncle Joe Naylon based on the company Naylor & Sanderson, renamed Naylor Vickers & Co.

In 1854, the company passed to the sons of Vickers - Thomas and Albert.

In 1867, the company changed its name to Vickers, Sons & Company.

1887–1927

In 1897, the company acquired the Barrow Shipbuilding Company and its subsidiary Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company , and changed its name to Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Limited.

In 1901, the company acquired the rights to Herbert Austin’s construction vehicles and began collecting them at the newly formed company Wolseley Motors .

In 1902, the company acquired a shipyard on the Clyde River from John Brown & Company .

In 1911, the company changed its name to Vickers Ltd. and creates an Aviation Department

In the same year, 1911, the company acquired control over the Whitehead & Co company, founded by Robert Whitehead , the inventor of the torpedo.

In 1919, the company acquires and creates on its base a subsidiary of the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company, known as Metrovick

In the same year, 1919, the company acquired the Metropolitan Railway Carriage company engaged in the production of railway vehicles and Mark V tanks and renamed it to the Metropolitan Carriage Wagon and Finance Company.

Also in 1919, the company Petters Limited, a manufacturer of cars and engines, was renamed Vickers-Petters Limited .

1927: Merger with Armstrong Whitworth

In 1927, the company agreed to unite assets for the production of weapons, shipbuilding, aircraft manufacturing and heavy machinery with Armstrong Whitworth, as a result of which Vickers-Armstrong Limited was formed.

The merger was completed on January 1, 1928, while Vickers received two thirds of the new company.

The remaining assets of the company in the new company Vickers-Armstrong Limited are not included:

• Wolseley Motors - car manufacturing - was sold in 1926 to William Morris.
• Vickers-Petters Limited - a car and engine manufacturer - was sold.
• The British Lighting and Ignition Company - the maker of magneto - has been shut down.
• Metropolitan Carriage Wagon and Finance Company - a wagon manufacturer - remained under the control of Vickers and Cammell Laird . (During World War II, the production of Vickers-Armstrong company tanks was organized in the factories of this company).
• Metropolitan-Vickers Company - remained under the control of the Vickers.

Shipbuilding

In 1897, the company, at that time called Vickers & Sons, acquired the company Barrow Shipbuilding Company. The shipyard, formerly owned by Barrow Shipbuilding Company, was named Naval Construction Yard.

In 1927, after the merger with Armstrong Whitworth and the formation of Vickers Armstrongs Ltd , shipbuilding was continued by this company.

Airship

In 1911, the company built the first English hard airship HMA No. 1 (His Majesty's Airship No. 1).

In 1913, Barnes Wallace joined the company. Together with Neville Shute, he designed the R100 dirigible, built in 1930 by Vickers’s subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company, created in 1923 exclusively for this project.

In 1915, the SS class blimp soft airship was developed - to search for submarines, a total of 158 airships of this class were built.

In 1916, the company built the airship HMA No. 9r .

In 1917, four class 23 airship class airships were built: 23r, 24r, 25r and 26r.

In 1920, the R80 airship was built in a single copy.

Aircraft

In 1911, a division of the company (Aviation Department) was created, which in 1915 introduced the Vickers FB5 biplane known as “Gunbus”, which was used during the First World War. A total of 224 biplanes were built.

In 1917, the company introduced the heavy bomber Vickers Vimi , who did not manage to take active part in the hostilities. After the war, Vimy made a number of record flights, the most significant of which were the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic and the flight from England to Australia.

In 1924, the Canadian division of Canadian Vickers Limited began manufacturing aircraft in Canada, producing more than 400 aircraft from 1924 to 1944.

In 1927, after the merger with Armstrong Whitworth and the formation of Vickers-Armstrongs, aviation production was incorporated into the acquired Supermarine , renamed Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd.

The Canadian Vickers Limited Aviation Division was absorbed by Canadair in 1944.

Armament

From 1887, the company launched the QF 2.95 inch Mountain Gun .

Since 1912 produced the Vickers heavy machine gun , the company also produced the Maxim machine gun .

Since 1912, the company’s factory produced 49 naval guns of 15-inch Mk I.

In the years 1922-24, the company produced more than 6 thousand pistols of the Luger system.

From 1923 to 1925, the company launched several dozen Vickers Medium Mark I tanks.

Since 1924, the company began production of the Vickers Medium Mark II tank, later produced by Vickers-Armstrong Limited .

In 1926, the company built in a single copy tank A1E1 "Independent" .