 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Engineering |
| Founded | 1864 |
| Headquarters | Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, North East, England, UK |
| Parent | Langley Holdings |
| Website | www.clarkechapman.co.uk |
Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke (1831–1890). [1] In 1865 Clarke took in a partner, Abel Chapman, [1] and the two of them developed the business into one of the largest manufacturers of cranes and other mechanical handling equipment in the world. In 1870 two further partners joined the firm, Joseph Watson and Joseph Gurney. [2] The firm became known as Clarke, Chapman and Gurney. Joseph Gurney retired from the firm in 1882. [3] The firm subsequently formed a partnership with John Furneaux and Charles Parsons, and became known as Clarke, Chapman, Parsons, and Company. Parsons left the firm in 1889. [4]
By 1907 the firm manufactured an extensive range of ship's auxiliary machinery, mining plant, water tube boilers, and pumps. [5] Clarke Chapman became the main supplier of auxiliary equipment to the British shipbuilding industry before the First World War. [6]
In 1969 Clarke Chapman acquired Sir William Arrol & Co., a leading bridge-builder. [7]
In 1970 Clarke Chapman acquired John Thompson, a leading boiler making business based in Wolverhampton. [8]
In 1974 Clarke Chapman acquired the UK interests of International Combustion, a diverse group of heavy engineering businesses. [9]
The company merged with Reyrolle Parsons in 1977 to form Northern Engineering Industries plc [7] which itself was acquired by Rolls-Royce plc in 1989. [7]
The business continues today as part of Langley Holdings Limited which acquired it from Rolls-Royce in 2000. [10]
Ships using Clarke Chapman mechanical handling equipment include the RFA Wave Knight and the RFA Wave Ruler completed in 2000 and 2001 respectively. [11]
The company trades under the names of Cowans Sheldon (railway cranes), RB Cranes (construction cranes), Stothert & Pitt (port cranes) and Wellman Booth (steel plant cranes). [12]
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside. It is bordered by Northumberland to the north and Durham to the south; the county boundary was formerly split between these counties with the border as the River Tyne.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines and has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors.
Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd. was an Edinburgh industrial electrical engineering company.
Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation, shipbuilding and steel. It was purchased by Rolls-Royce plc in 1999, and the Vickers company name became defunct in 2003 as Rolls renamed the company Vinters Engineering.
Clayton Equipment Company Ltd, now known simply as Clayton Equipment Ltd or CEC and CEL, is a locomotive construction company that specialises in rail equipment, design and build, tunnelling, mining, metro, mainline and shunter locomotives.
C. A. Parsons and Company was a British engineering firm which was once one of the largest employers on Tyneside. The company became Reyrolle Parsons in 1968, merged with Clarke Chapman to form Northern Engineering Industries in 1977, and became part of Rolls-Royce in 1989. Today the company is part of Siemens Energy.
A. Reyrolle & Company was a British engineering firm based in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear in the North East of England. For many years the company was one of the largest employers on Tyneside.
Northern Engineering Industries plc (NEI) was a British engineering firm, which for over 10 years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside. Its headquarters were based at the Regent Centre at Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Strachan & Henshaw was a defence and nuclear engineering company based in Ashton Gate in Bristol, England.
Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd was an engineering company established in 1930 and jointly owned by Ruston & Hornsby based in Lincoln, England and Bucyrus-Erie based in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the latter of which had operational control and into which the excavator manufacturing operation of Ruston & Hornsby was transferred. The Bucyrus company proper, from which the Bucyrus component of the Ruston-Bucyrus name was created, was an American company founded in 1880, in Bucyrus, Ohio.
William Clarke (1831–1890) was an important British industrialist. He is best known as the co-founder of Clarke Chapman in Gateshead, once one of the largest employers on Tyneside.
Stothert & Pitt was a British engineering company founded in 1855 in Bath, England. It was the builder of various engineering products ranging from Dock cranes to construction plant and household cast iron items. It went out of business in 1989. The name and intellectual property became part of Clarke Chapman.
International Combustion Limited was a major engineering business based in Derby offering products for the nuclear engineering industry. International Combustion Australia Limited was a separate non-affiliated company.
The Wellman Group is a group of manufacturing companies that make boilers and advanced defence equipment. It is one of the main boilermakers in the UK, if not the most common for large-scale industrial applications, having taken over many well-known boiler companies.
Thomas Smith & Sons manufactured steam, diesel and electric powered cranes in their Old Foundry on a narrow strip of land between Town Street in Rodley near Leeds and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
Joseph Booth & Bros was an English company notable for making cranes used in large construction projects.
Belliss and Morcom is a manufacturer and supplier of oil-free reciprocating compressors, technologies and services. Founded in 1852 in Birmingham, West Midlands, it is now a division of Ingersoll Rand based in Redditch, Worcestershire, England.
Amalgamated Power Engineering was a British engineering holding company, created through the 1968 merger of W.H. Allen, Sons and Co and Belliss and Morcom.
Anthony John Langley is a British billionaire industrialist, the owner of the international engineering and industrial group, Langley Holdings plc, which he founded in 1975.
