Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd. 1899 - 1949
by John Dummelow M.A., A.M.I.E.E.

Preface to the Digital Edition.

Between the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Technological Revolution of the late 20th Century, there was a period which has justifiably been called "The Machine Age". This was a period when the mechanisms of industrialisation had become well understood, and when perhaps, the more exploitative aspects of the industrialised workplace had been tempered with a little humanity. In that time, for a while, countries like Britain and America reaped the benefits of the first industrial revolution, and great companies grew up to provide the seemingly limitless needs of an expanding technology-dependent society.

One such company was Metropolitan Vickers. Founded at the turn of the 20th century as "British Westinghouse", "Metrovick" as it was affectionately known to its employees, was located in Trafford Park, Manchester, one of the first industrial parks in the world, where it grew to employ over 20,000 people on that and other sites. The diversity of its products would seem astonishing today, ranging from lightbulbs through radio and railway equipment and jet aircraft engines to the largest turbines ever built, with many of its developments based on internal research and development of world-leading quality.

From its inception until the early 1960's Metrovick was led by engineers rather than accountants, many rising from the ranks of its own apprentices, driven not so much by economics as by the technological demands of a modernising industrial society. It was in the sixties when Metrovick lost its individual identity, and the boom of post war reconstruction came to an end, that the company, like many others, faded into history. Nevertheless the company is still remembered proudly by people who once worked there.

This book, however, tells the story of the company from its earliest beginnings to the period of its greatest achievement, celebrating the first fifty years of its life in the expectation of many more to come.

I have digitised this book at my own expense, as a labour of love, so that an important part of Manchester's and Trafford Park's history is made more widely available, and in the knowledge that it will give great pleasure to all those who at one time or another were connected with this great company.

Copyright remains with the original holders. I have written to both Marconi and Trafford Park Estates to determine their interest, and seeking formal permission, but have received no reply.

If anyone still has an interest in this publication, and feels that I should have approached them,I apologise, and invite them to get in touch with me.

Jim Lawton .

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