Vickers

Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding.

In 1911, the company expanded into aircraft manufacture and opened a flying school. They expanded even further into electrical and railway manufacturing, and in 1928 acquired an interest in the Supermarine.

Beginning in the 1960s, various parts of the company were nationalised, and in 1999 the rest of the company was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc, which sold the defence arm to Alvis plc. The Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers, until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems.

Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers' brother William owned a steel rolling operation. Edward's investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began by making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells. In 1854 Vickers' sons Thomas (a militia officer known familiarly as 'Colonel Tom') and Albert [la] joined the business and their considerable talents – Tom Vickers as a metallurgist and Albert as a team-builder and salesman – were key to its subsequent rapid development. "Its great architects," the historian Clive Trebilcock writes, "Colonel T.E. (1833–1915) and Albert (1838–1919) Vickers... provided both inspired technical leadership... and equally astute commercial direction. Both men were autocrats by temperament, but neither shunned advice or avoided delegation; each, but particularly Albert, had a marked gift for the selection of talented subordinates."

In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside.

The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press. They were also supplying steel forgings for gun barrel manufacturers, including their future main competitor Armstrong, as early as 1870.

After a decline in lucrative tool steel demand in the US during the first half of 1880s, the stockholders logically decided in spring 1887 to diversify into large-scale armaments production and approved £1.5 million (1887, equivalent to £172.83 million in 2023) capital increase. By the end of 1888 Vickers produced and tested both their first artillery piece and first armour plate. The time could have never been more fortunate, with the Naval Defence Act 1889 significantly increasing the domestic demand and the invention of nickel steel armour rendering obsolete and worthless the investments of established producers into compound armour.

Vickers bought out the Barrow-in-Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company at the same time, to become Vickers, Sons & Maxim.