Richardsons Westgarth & Company

Richardsons Westgarth & Company
Public
Industry Marine engineering
Fate Acquired
Successor Klöckner
Founded 1832
Defunct 2000
Headquarters Hartlepool, UK

Richardsons Westgarth & Company was a leading British shipbuilding and marine engineering business. The Company was based in Hartlepool and was a major employer in the area.

History

The Company was established in 1832 by Thomas Richardson as a marine engineering concern based in Hartlepool under the name of T Richardson & Sons.[1] In 1900 it merged with Sir C. Furness Westgarth and Company of Middlesbrough and W. Allen and Company of Sunderland to form Richardsons Westgarth.[2] As part of the merger Furness Withy, a shipping business, took a controlling interest in the Company.[3]

The Company was at the forefront of the development of steam engines and diesel engines for large ships throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[4] It built engines for many ships including SS Empire Amethyst. In 1927, the company began manufacturing Brown Boveri designed turbo-alternators under licence.[5] It acquired the firm of George Clark in Sunderland in 1938.[2] In 1962 its marine activities were merged with that of Weir Group[6] and it began focussing on engineering for power stations such as Trawsfynydd[7] and Dungeness B. It ceased operations in Hartlepool in 1982.[2]

The Company then diversified into steel processing and was acquired by Klöckner, one of the world's largest steel stockholders, in 2000.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Port Cities: T. Richardson
  2. 1 2 3 Port Cities: Richardsons Westgarth
  3. ↑ Christopher Furness, Obituary The Times, 11 November 1912
  4. ↑ British Marine Industry and the Diesel Engine
  5. ↑ "Richardsons, Westgarth's Swiss Deal.". Dundee Courier. British Newspaper Archive. 22 July 1927. p. 2. (subscription required)
  6. ↑ VWS Westgarth: History
  7. ↑ Nuclear Power Plants in the UK - Scotland and Wales
  8. ↑ Klöckner & Co expands business in the UK

Further reading


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