Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    GKL
  • Title
    George Kent Limited, instrument makers of Luton
  • Creator
    George Kent Limited
  • Admin/biog history
    The following is a precis of the information given in GKL1/1/1/3/20. George Kent began in London in 1838 as a one-man business of manufacturer and repairer of window blinds. He expanded through a multiplicity of domestic labour sving devices to become a private limited liability company. Emphasis turned to the measurement of liquids, air, gas and steam and by the 1880s there was a need to split production between the metering products and the domestic machinery, the most famous of which was the Kent Rotary Knife Cleaning machine. Manufacture for the later was retained at High Holborn and a new factory was built on a 7 acre site at Biscot Lane, Luton for the hydraulic engineery business. The Luton Works were formally opened on 30 June 1908. During World War One the Luton factory turned to armament manufacture specialising in fuses and by the end of the war the Biscot Road works and a filling factory on a 28 acre site at Chaul End were given over to muniments. After the war the company rebuilt by introducing new products and exploiting new techniques. In 1932 Kent installed the first automatic boiler control system at Hackney Power Station. In 1936 they introducted the first Kent electrical recorder, the Multelec. By 1938, when the company celebrated its centenary, they were firmly established as leaders in the field of instrumentation and control. In World War Two they made sure that, while they made fuses for munitions again, they continued to make a variety of other products. After the war Kent established a strong Research and Development Department. Three new factories were acquired: Lea Works, Luton, Resolven in South Wales and another at Hitchin. Resolven and Hitchin were mainly concerned with the expanding steering-gear business and were sold to Cam Gears Limited in 1960. The product range expaned rapidly during the 1950s. The company's Mechanical Meter Division incorporated a number of innovations that revolutionised domestic water measurement. 1963 marked the beginning of the expansion into the George Kent group of companies. After multiple acquisitions the culminating point was reached in 1968. 1968-1974 were years of consolidation but the worsening economic climate meant that George Kent would have to merge to survive. On 14 December 1974 the BBC Brown, Boveri/George Kent merger became a fact when Kent merged with the Swiss company. In January 1980 George Kent Limited changed its name to Brown Boveri Kent Limited. Brown Boveri merged with the Swedish company ASEA in 1987 and in 1988 became ABB with Kent maintained as a brand within ABB.
  • Archival history
    Donated to Luton Museum by ABB Kent (successor company of George Kent Limited). Deposited by Luton Museum with Bedfordshire & Luton Archives Service, 2013.
  • Level of description
    fonds
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