1911

YORKSHIRE COPPER WORKS

CIBSE Heritage Group

PASCOE GRENFELL & SONS Thomas Williams (1737-1802) was a successful Welsh copper magnate. Pascoe Grenfell (1761-1838) acted as his agent and went on to become a shareholder in Williams’ business and by the late 1780’s was running Williams’ new London office. In 1794, Grenfell entered into partnership with Owen Williams (son of Thomas) buying ores for the Williams’ smelting works in Swansea. The partnership continued until 1829 when Owen Williams withdrew from the business and the family firm of Pascoe Grenfell & Sons was formed. Around 1837, Muntz’s Patent Metal Company was formed by the partnership of Pascoe Grenfell & Sons with George Frederick Muntz. (Muntz metal, an alloy of copper and zinc was set to undercut the price of copper for lining the hulls of ships.)

1848

1872

Business continued until 1892 when their Swansea works were sold to Williams, Foster & Company. In 1924, British Copper Manufacturers was formed by the amalgamation of the major copper smelting firms in Swansea: Pascoe Grenfell & Sons, Williams, Foster & Company and Vivian & Sons. In 1928, the Company was taken over by ICI.

1897

YORKSHIRE COPPER WORKS In 1909, Yorkshire Copper Works was established as sucessors to the Leeds Copper Works (founded around 1894).

1908

1911

In 1927, the Company “developed a patent fitting for light gauge copper tubes in which solder was included in the body of the fitting, so that tubes could be joined simply by the application of heat, when the solder flowed between the fitting and the tube by capillary action.” Demand for these new fittings grew so rapidly that a new mill was built in the 1930’s for their manufacture. In 1958, Yorkshire Imperial Metals was incorporated as a joint venture between ICI and Yorkshire Copper Works. In 1969, it became part of the IMI Group but was closed in 1980. Yorkshire Copper Tube continues to operate from a modern factory in Kirby, Liverpool.

1921

1932

1938

1947

1947

1950

1951

PEGLER YORKSHIRE Pegler Brothers & Company was founded in 1899 by Frank Pegler becoming a limited company in 1932 and a public company in 1935. In 1968 it merged with a valve manufacturer to become Pegler-Hattersley. (The history of this merged company is available on the CIBSE Heritage Group website).

REFERENCES A history of “Yorkshire” companies dating back to the late 1780’s, traced by internet entries in Grace’s Guide, as organisations were taken over, merged or their names changed. More detailed information is available from the listed sources. ------ Thomas Williams ------ Pascoe Grenfell and Sons ------ Williams, Foster & Company ------ Patent Metal Company ------ Muntz’s Metal Company ------ British Copper Manufacturers ------ Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) ------ British Copper Manufacturers ------ Yorkshire Imperial Metals ------ Yorkshire Fittings Ltd ------ Peglers Limited ------ Pegler ------ IMI Yorkshire

APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE YORKSHIRE COPPER WORKS LETTERS FROM THE 1950’s

APPENDIX 2: VIDEO TOUR OF YORKSHIRE COPPER FACTORY This is available on YouTube under title Yorkshire Factory.

Below are screen grabs from the video.