British Ropes
British Ropes was a company established on 6 June 1924 through the merger of eight companies.
The companies were:
Gateshead
- Haggie Brothers, Gateshead
- Tyne Wire Drawing Co (a subsidiary of the above)
Liverpool:
- R. S. Newall and Son
London:
- Bullivant and Co
Newcastle upon Tyne:
- Thomas and William Smith
Sunderland:
- Craven and Speeding and Co,
- D. H. and G. Haggie
Wakefield:
- George Craddock and Co
All but one of these companies were
By the mid-1940s, the company had rationalised its manufacturing business by reducing wire rope manufacture to seven sites:[2]
- Cardiff (formerly Excelsior Wire rope Co.)
- Doncaster North Ropery (established 1935)
- Doncaster South Ropery (established 1938)
- Gateshead (formerly Haggie Bros.)
- Retford (established 1935)
- Rutherglen (formerly Allan, Whyte and Co)
- Wakefield (formerly George Craddock and Co)
and fibre rope making to four sites:
- Cardiff (formerly South Wales Rope Work Co)
- Charlton (formerly Charlton Ropeworks)
- Leith (formerly the Edinburgh Roperie and Sail Cloth Co)
- Sunderland (formerly Craven and Speeding)
Over a dozen more companies were acquired subsequently (several of which included multiple subsidiary companies). By the late 1960s British Ropes owned or part-owned rope manufacturers and distributors across five continents. In 1972 the name of the parent company was changed to Bridon Ropes, with 'British Ropes' being retained as the name of a UK subsidiary.[2]
See also
- British Ropes F.C., a works team of the British Ropes factory in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
- Bridon Ropes F.C., a football club that started as the works team of the British Ropes factory in Charlton, London