Platt Brothers
Industry | machinery industry and plant construction |
---|---|
Founded | 1770 |
Defunct | 1982 |
Headquarters | Werneth, Oldham, England |
Key people | Henry Platt |
Products | Textile-processing machinery |
Number of employees | 15,000 |
Platt Brothers, also known as Platt Bros & Co Ltd, was a British company based at
Companies
Henry Platt was a blacksmith who in 1770 was manufacturing carding equipment, in Dobcross, Saddleworth, to the east of Oldham. His grandson, also Henry founded a similar business in Uppermill. In 1820, the grandson, Henry Platt moved to Huddersfield Road, Oldham and re-established his business there. He and Elijah Hibbert formed a partnership Hibbert and Platt. When his sons, Joseph and John joined the company, it was renamed Hibbert Platt and Sons. Henry Platt died in 1842 and Elijah Hibbert in 1854.
All the shares went to the Platt family and the company became Platt Brothers & Company. In 1844 Platt Brothers acquired the Hartford New Works in the Werneth area of Oldham. In 1868, they moved their headquarters from the 'Old Works' to the 'New Works' and took on limited liability status. When John Platt died in 1872 the company employed 7,000 men and had established itself as the world's largest textile machinery manufacturer.[1][2] In the 1890s it was estimated that the works supported 42% of Oldham's population.[1]
Platts owned the Jubilee Colliery in Crompton and Butterworth Hall Colliery in Milnrow.[3]
During World War I the company produced munitions, but afterwards resumed textile machinery manufacture and continued to expand. 1922 was a year of record profits and the firm became a public limited company. In 1929 Platt Brothers employed 12000 people, and the New Works covered 65 acres (260,000 m2).[1]
In 1931, the company took a controlling interest in Textile Machinery Makers Ltd, which had been formed from other textile machine manufactures including Asa Lees & Co Ltd. The company name changed to Platt Bros.(Holdings) Ltd. Platt Bros.(Sales) Ltd was spun off in 1946, when Sir Kenneth Preston joined the company from J.Stone Ltd.[1]
Platt International was formed in 1970 from the textile division of Stone Platt, and it acquired the Saco Lowell Corporation in 1973 and became Platt-Saco-Lowell in 1975. The Oldham premises closed in the early 1980s. The drawings and rights to the Platt Ginning Machines are owned by HSL Engineering in Leeds West Yorkshire.[1]
Products
After a record year in 1896, the company faced competition from new
History
Shortly before the
The end of its Oldham operations came in 1982 when the company closed its factory. Having been taken over in the 1960s, Platt Saco Lowell had grave financial problems, and was put into administration by its parent company, Hollingsworth.[5] The Platt name (and support for Platt products) continues.[6]
A link between Platt Brothers and the
Politics
Platt's younger brother James Platt (1824–1857), helped build the firm and was active in promoting working-class adult education in Oldham, especially the Oldham Lyceum, he was elected MP for Oldham in 1857, but died the same year.[9]
See also
- Bagley & Wright
- Cotton mill
- Cotton-spinning machinery
- B. Hick and Son
- History of Oldham
- Krenholm Manufacturing Company
- Mather & Platt
- Timeline of clothing and textiles technology
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Platt Collection National Archives
- ^ URBED (April 2004). "Oldham Beyond; A Vision for the Borough of Oldham" (PDF). Oldham.gov.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
- ^ Ashmore 1969, p. 88
- ^ a b Gurr & Hunt 1998, p. 12
- ^ Hollingsworth unit put on block; Platt Saco Lowell has been operating in the red. (John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels)| Daily News Record
- ^ "Platt company history". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ "Company | Toyota Industries Corporation". www.toyota-industries.com. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project Statue[permanent dead link] Statue by Stevenson, David Watson 1878
- ^ a b Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Platt family by D.A. Farnie.
Bibliography
- Ashmore, Owen (1969), Industrial Archaeology of Lancashire, David & Charles, ISBN 0-7153-4339-4
- Gurr, Duncan; Hunt, Julian (1998), The Cotton Mills of Oldham, Oldham Education & Leisure, ISBN 0-902809-46-6
Further reading
- Farnie, D. A., 'The Marketing Strategies of Platt Bros. and Co. Ltd of Oldham, 1906, 1940', Textile History, 24 (2), 1993.
External links
Media related to Platt Brothers at Wikimedia Commons