| AdminHistory | Newton, Chambers & Co. was established in 1789 through the partnership of George Newton and Thomas Chambers.
In 1792 they bought the mining rights to the Thorncliffe valley from the Earl Fitzwilliam and set up their works on the Thorncliffe site near Chapeltown.
By the end of the nineteenth century the company were not only mining coal and ironstone but building blast furnaces, coke ovens and chemical plant. Heavy section iron, cast in the foundry was used in two iconic structures: Tower Bridge, crossing the river Thames in London and the Eddystone Lighthouse.
During World War Two the company became the largest manufacturer of Churchill tanks for the war effort.
The nationalization of the coal and steel industries in 1948 saw the group sell off its interests in these fields but many others remained, in particular tar distillates, the basis of many products manufactured by its Izal subsidiary. The engineering part of the group designed and supplied coal-gas and chemical plant and with the take over of Ransomes & Rapier, in 1958, to add to its portfolio became a major maker of excavators, drag-lines and other construction equipment. The group also set up Redfyre as a marketing company for coal-burning grates which were made in its foundry. Changes, in particular the Clean Air Act saw the company move into light fabrications and oil-fired central heating equipment, however, the oil-fired boiler market collapsed in autumn 1973 with the increase in prices.
In 1972 the group was taken over by industrial holding company Central & Sheerwood. |