© MMXVI/MMXXII - McGeoch Technology Limited - All Rights Reserved
McGEOCH’S WARWICK
WORKS
William
McGeoch
&
Co
acquired
their
Warwick
Works
in
Birmingham
in
1887
and
almost
immediately
began
manufacturing
lighting
fittings
for
the
new
Atlantic
flyer
–
‘SS
City
of
Paris’
-
being
built
on
the
Thomson
yard
(later
to
become John Brown’s) at Clydebank.
In
the
years
that
followed,
many
improvements
were
made
to
the
factory
(which
totalled
70,000
square
feet)
and
with
plant
continually
being
modernised,
Warwick
Works
quickly
became
completely
self-contained
and
depending
on
outside
suppliers
only
for
raw
materials.
Right
from
the
start,
Warwick
Works
was
devoted
to
the
manufacture
of
electrical
equipment
and
with
the
company
making
a
special
feature
of
ships
fittings,
a
series
of
major
contracts
were
secured
with
the
admiralty
and
principal shipbuilding firms at home and abroad.
The
company’s
early
range
included
some
curious
designs
of
lampholders
which
were
in
common
use
before
the
Edison-
Swann
type
of
lampholder
became
the
industry
standard.
It
was
the
heaviest
and
most
robust
lampholder
on
the
market.
The
brass
tube
used
for
the
body
was
thicker
and
the
binding
rings
more
solid
than
any
other
make.
The
porcelain
used
for
the insulated interior was the best available.
However,
important
as
they
were
in
the
functional
sense,
lampholders
were
not
the
main
priority
for
the
Admiralty
and
McGeoch
cleverly
adapted
Warwick
Works
to
manufacture
a
whole
new
range
of
watertight
electrical
equipment
required
for
the
safe
wiring
of
ships
and
in
particular
for
the
connection
of
electricity
supplies
to
and
from
the
main
switchboard.
These
included
pendants,
brackets,
plugs
&
sockets,
switches,
control
panels
and
many
of
the
original
patterns
designed by the Admiralty.
Some
of
these
fittings
also
found
use
in
railways,
tramcars
and
motor
buses
as
can
be
seen
in
the
archive
poster
above
(click for an enlarged version).
McGeoch’s
Warwick
Works
continued
to
be
the
company
main
manufacturing
base
until
1974
when
operations
were
moved
to
new
premises
in
Electric
Avenue,
well-located
near
the
famous
‘spaghetti
junction’
on
the
north
west
of
Birmingham.
Illustrated
below
are
a
series
of
photographs
of
McGeoch’s
Warwick
Works
taken
in
the
mid-fifties.
They
include
views
of
the
drawing
office,
pattern
shop,
foundry,
plating
shop,
sheet
metal
fabrication
shop,
bakelite
moulding
shop,
fitting
&
assembly
shops
and
lines,
electrical
testing
bay,
packing
department and even the work’s canteen.
Click on any of the thumbnails below to enjoy these images
individually.