Scope and Content
The reason I think it is worth telling the history of the firm is that it does indicate to some extent how we got where we are and may give some indications of where we can go in the future. the company has passed through a variety of phases and three different ownerships.
It was formed in 1815 by a certain William Russell who was a pupil of Joseph Bramah the inventor of hydraulic presses, continuous carbonation and the valve closet.
In 1814 Bramah died. William Russell then started his own firm making some of the same products that Bramah had invented, amongst them continuous carbonation and other soda water machines, in which we are quite certainly the oldest the oldest closet makers in the world because we have been at it for 130 years uninterruptedly.
Fortunately, for the firm in 1827 a certain John Briggs was taken on as a foreman. It was fortunate because he stayed on with the firm until 1869 and tided over the death of William Russell and the death of Hayward Tyler, and the archives said quite emphatically that the firm may not have been likely to survive without him, because he ensured the continuity. John Briggs was a good designer of hydraulicmachinery and laid the foundation of a lot of designs which lasted almost into the present century.
In 1835 Russell died and Mr Hayward Tyler took it over, and, by the way, Hayward is a Christian name and not some other fellow. Mr Hayward Tyler moved the factory from St John Street to Milton Street. That I think is interesting because in 1920 we got a letter asking for spare parts for a press with the name "Hayward Tyler, Milton Street" on it.
In 1840 we moved to Whitecross Street, which some of the older members of the staff will remember as the London Office quite within living memory.
It is recorded that one house dated back to the 16th century and another was before the Fire of London, so that the housing of the firm in those days was pretty old.
Mr Tyler is on record as having developed the Brass Foundry side of the business to the maximum of his capacity, and the records are incidentally are a bit "sniffy" about early steps not always being wise, but were most enterprising for Whitecross Street. Mr Tyler developed the early screw-down cocks and a whole variety of plumbers' brass work which used to figure in our catalogues until recently.
Mr Hayward Tyler was brother-in-law to Theodore Lloyd Senior who was uncle to Robert Luke Howard, so that when in 1855 Mr Tyler died, Robert Luke Howard bought it, and the first extract we have here gives a nice description of life in those days:-
"It is interesting to recall the conditions of manufacture in the brass foundry industry sixty years ago when Mr Howard took over the business of Hayward Tyler & Co., which was then already old.
There were of course, none of the self-acting machines which turn out complicated pieces as if endowed with a brain of their own. As a rule, each brass fitting was made throughout from the castings by the same workman, with machinery of the simplest description. Some of the lathes were of the "Pole" type - an interesting relic of antiquity, doubtless far older than any form of wheel lathe. The whole system of division of labour, on which all manufactoring is now based, was then new, and its introduction into an old factory was often faced with established prejudices. The discipline of a factory in those days would seem strange to modern ideas also. Many of the men were engaged entirely on piece work, and considered their time as very much their own. At eleven o' clock a man came in from the public house with cans of beer; the factory bell was rung and the piece-workers trooped down to get their for lunch. It took both time and tact to get rid of this ancient custom!".
In 1863 Mr Eliot Howard joined his brother as partner in the firm, and we have some quite interesting wage and other particulars that may be interesting - dated 1865.
They seem to have done their machining almost entirely by files judging by the cost.
The depreciation is instructive. Depreciation at the present time is somewhere in the neighbourhood of £8000 - of course, there is no depreciation on a file.
In 1866 the Whitecross street works were enlarged by the purchase of some cow sheds. It is quite an interesting point that even in 1866 there were cow sheds in Whitecross Street. They pulled them down and built a new erecting shop.
The next date I think that is memorable is 1869 when the universal pump was first introduced. Some of you will know the Universal very well. It is a single cylinder steam pump with internal valve gear, normally seen in something like a 12" x 1" x 12" used for hydraulic water supplied for tunnel driving, and very often operated on compressed air. We had a few back just before the war for overhaul. Very temperamental and make a loud noise when running.
In 1878 the Rider hot air engine was produced - I think probably introduced by a Mr. Benson, a very dynamic American with whom the firm became associated, and who introduced a variety of products, including I suspect the duplex pump though that is not recorded.
In 1872 we started building in Luton because the Whitecross factory was quite insufficient, and they could not get any more ground. There is one note of historic amusement:-
"It was also expected that as the Straw manufacture which was then the standard trade of the town, employed the women, but gave little occupation for the men, it would be easy to get male labour, but this did not prove to be the case to any great extent, (as it was found that the women paid the men to live with them), and we had to build up our body of workmen chiefly from outside".
The buildings were very much as they are now, except that a lot of them were of timber construction. In 1875 there is an extract from the Luton Advertiser - "The new chapel at messrs Hayward Tyler's foundry was formally opened on Monday, this being provided by the firm for the holding of morning service for the men employed at the Works", and they presented the vicar with a handsome timepiece for one year's work. It is interesting that the custom of holding a service in the works is as old as that. We have no record of it at Whitecross Street before, but the firm has certainly had services held in the works premises since 1875.
In 1877 Robert Samuel Lloyd joined the firm and here is a description of his times, to the time of his death in 1915:-
"Robert Samuel Lloyd was born at Castle Donnington, Leicestershire, on 2nd March 1856; he was descended from the family which founded Lloyds Bank, his grandfather having been head of the bank in Birmingham in the early part of the nineteenth century. After learning the elements of Engineering Science in switzerland, he spent some time in works at Wednesbury. In 1877 he joined ther firm of Hayward Tyler & Co., in which the only partners at that time were Mr Robert L. Howard and Mr Eliot Howard, both of whom are still directors of the company. He there obtained accurate knowledge of hydraulic engineering and studied electrical engineering on its constructural side. Some years later he became Managing Partner of the company works at Luton, which were greatly extended under his supervision. he assisted in designing and carrying out the first experimental installation of Edison's electric light on Holborn Viaduct, from which much valuable experiences were gained; and Hayward Tyler & Co's workshops in London are believed to have been the earliest in England to be lighted in this way. Mr Lloyd also designed and constructed the electrically-driven pumping machinery for many of the most important mines and waterworks in South Africa, as well as large pumping plants for the Argentine Republic and other foreign countries. In England he directed the construction of many important waterworks installations. As the carrying industry for petroleum developed, he gave special attention to the pumps for pipelines and tank-vessels; some of the largest of these vessels afloat carry pumps for the construction of which he was responsible. He also invented numerous improvements in machinery for the manufacture of aerated waters. He subsequently became a Director of the Company, and remained in that position until his death, which took place at St Albans on the 23rd September 1915, at the age of 59. He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1882; he was also a member of the Institutions of Civil Engineers and Water Engineers."
In 1880 we seemed to have taken up the system of electric light invented by Mr Edison. Very modern in those days it was, to put wire into pipes, and we were original pioneers in this country of conduit wiring.
You saw the Holborn Viaduct mentioned in that extract, and we did, I believe, also wire up the Embankment - all the Dolphin lights were our wiring originally.We also pioneered in ship lighting, and as you see took our own medicine and had our first machine shop lit by electricity. We abandoned the electrical contracting in 1905 when the competition had become pretty fierce, and it was no longer a paying line.
In 1887 we fitted electric light and tanker pumps to the first tanker so fitted - the "Robert Dickinson".
In 1890 we had a year in which there were three important developments. The Gordon Duplex started being manufactured here under the designs of the Gordon Company of America, and that is the origin of our duplex pump. I believe the designs are very little changed since then. We also introduced a lady typist into the London office which was an innovation of extreme seriousness. Mr Lloyd had been to the USA shortly before and had seen them there. It was recorded as "a startling innovation". She was given the top office to herself at Whitecross Street and seems to have had all but a chaperon. Miss Baylis remained with the firm until 1932. She had fher own system of shorthand which nobody could read and her system of fingering for typing. We were, incidently, one of the first firms to instal a typewriter in London, and are one of the oldest customers on Remington's books. The third thing that happened in 1898 is the installation of a private telephone line to Luton. Our London telephone number used to be London 169 when there was only one exchange, and we had a private line to Luton because Robert Howard and his co-directors did not think that telegrams were secret enough. All correspondence with Luton used to be done by telegram, and there was a flow of telegraph boys to and from the London office. It alsoappears that Robert Howard had very strong feelings on the subject of the Government and its policy, and when he disagreed with Government he used to have the next telegraph boy sent in ti his office and would harrangue the telegraph boy on the misdoings of the Government. This reached such a pitch that it is said that when there was a telegram for Hayward Tyler. they used to draw lots as to who should go. To get the private line installed there had to be a special Act of Parliament to get the telephone line run.
In 1891 a new Iron Foundry was built, that is the present down there now, and we have some pictures of the shops at that time.
That is the Light Turnary before the Rough Stores was built on. That is dated 1901.
That is the drawing office in No. 13. Nice gaslighting.
The Fitting Shop before the fire. I believe it was an almost all wood structure with a rope driven crane off the line shaft, I am told by Mr Archer that there was a hand crane and that in those days they had two cranes on the same track.
Up-to-date Iron Foundry, at that time two years old.
That I am told was in 1910 after the fire and after the Accounts Department had built on, though that was the Drawing Office then.
In 1903 we had a fire, and as it is a very memorial event in the Firms history I propose to read the whole record of it:-
"On the evening of October 23rd 1903, after almost everyone had left the Works, some men working late in the large Fitting Shop, noticed smoke coming from the East Gallery where a quantity of wooden patterns were stored. They went up to look and found that a fire had broken out among these patterns with which they were quite unable to deal.
The factory bell was rung to summon help and a messenger was sent to Mr J R Davies, who was then Yard Superintendent. The local Fire Brigade were quickly on the spot and ran lines of hose from the nearest town hydrants. As soon as Mr Davies arrived he started the Steam Pump and the Fire Appliances of the Works, but by this time the fire had taken hold of the wooden roof and all that could be done was to prevent the fire spreading to other parts of the premises.
There was considerable difficulty in keeping it out of the Stores., Offices and Brassworks, but this was accomplished by the help of the Town Fire Brigads, when the Works hose was directed on the roof of the Brass Foundry which had caught fire through the ventilators.
This was also successful, before much damage had been done, but when the roof of the Fitting Shop fell there was a mass of burning timber which it took many hours to extinguish entirely.
The Engineer's Shop was crowded with valuable machinery, some of it only recently fixed, besides the work in hand, and the damage amounted to fully £50,000 which was by no means covered by the amount recovered from the Insurance Companies. The strain on mr Lloyd of conducting this matter, at the same time organising this matter, at the same time organising the carrying on of the work, was so severe that we do not think he ever recovered his health and spirits.
On the morning after the fire it was said that some of the men were seen in tears, fearing they had lost their occupation for a long time. But, as a matter of fact, no man was allowed to lose a day's wages. All set to work with a will to make temporary arrangements for carrying on the work. Fortunately the old iron foundry was easily cleared and machines fitted there, and all other shops were used to their utmost capacity.
By tacit agreement all ordinary trade rules were suspended, and the men turned their hands cheerfully to ant unusual work which was required to get the machines started again.
The anxiety and strain were enormous and in spite of the heartiness with which the work was done there was unavoidably serious interference with business for some time to come.
After such a serious lesson of the danger of inflamable constructions, all subsequent buildings have been in steel and iron as far as possible, and special care has been taken in housing patterns by themselves in galvanised iron sheds.
The fire certainly was a landmark, and it is said that the dates in Luton were computed from that time. The old Kendall & Gent Plane Mill was one of the survivors - machine 160 - and had its bed cracked but went on working. I don't know what other survivors there were. Dony's machine may have been one. I am told they hired a traction engine or steam engine and drove the rest of the works on that.
In 1904 Whitecross Street was abandoned.
In 1905 the Company became a private limited company. That means that from 1855 to 1905 the Company had been run by partners, who are then responsible to the limits of their private fortunes if the firm became bankrupt. All they are allowed to keep is the suit of clothes they are wearing. That, of course, is a very unsatifactory state of affairs. I believe that it is a fact that it was due to my maternal grandfather, who was a solicitor. When the marriage was being arranged between my Father, Mr Francis, and my Mother, my maternal grandfather would not give his consent unless the firm became a limited liability company, which in those days was a very new-fangled device. The original directors were Robert Luke Howard, Eliot Howard, Robert Samuel Lloyd, Henry Fox Howard and Francis Eliot Howard, and George Maurice Gibbins became a Director shortly afterwards. Of that lot Robert Lloyd dies in 1915, Robert Luke in 1919. That is strangely parellel between the last war and this was when Mr Francis died in 1941 and Mr Henry in 1944. Mr Gibbins died in 1933.
In 1937 plant purchases began.
The more recent history I think is of such recent vintage that it is not really worth my keeping you to listen to it. I think a few observations on the history we have gone over will be helpful:-
You will gather that in 1815 William Russell was pioneering. Mr Hayward Tyler in 1835 was doing a little gentle pionering and developed his business. From 1855 to about 1900 the firm was producing all sorts of new products and leading in many lines such as duplex pumps, mineral water machinery, private telephone lines, secretaries, all sorts of modern lines. Some of you will remember J J Gillespi. He reported that in his investigations he kept on coming across as it were appendices of managerial systems so modern that they were right up-to-date when he was here - they had been abandoned so many years before that he could only find a trace of them occasionally.
In the nineteenth century there had been some extremely up-to-date management, but as those directors got old the enterprise became less and less. They had a peculiar system by the way, by which there were senior directors and junior directors. The senior directors took all the cash and paid what they could spare to the junior directors - usually they could not spare very much. That may be one reason why the junior directors did not have much to say in making the firm enterprising in the first twenty-five years of this century. So that right up to the time of the slump in 1930 there was still the back log of the strife that there used to be in the Board Room. It was quite usual practice for directors to have their desks back to back so that they need not look at each other. Very often they used not to be on speaking terms.
We have abandoned almost everything we have pioneered for various reasons. Usually we have got out because the competition was too great and we could not stay in, in others we just got out, but mostly I am afraid because we could not stay in. Plumbers' brass work we got out of wheb everyone was going for hot brass stampings and the latest in automatics. Electric light we abandoned when other people people got in. We were probably using heavy guage steam pipe when other people were putting in simplex conduit
Pioneering and abandoning - I think often because we did not get down to production. Another interesting comparison - Edmondsons Electricity Corporation have a capital of about thirty million and own all the private power stations south of a line between the Wash and the Bristol Channel. They started as electric light contractors in Ireland, worse off than we were, but they pursued it progressively. Our duplex we have gone on making. They were tooled up extremely well about 25 years ago and we are still running with that tooling, but we have new tooling in hand now to prevent this same thing happening and our going out of the small duplex business. The moral is too obvious to allow it to go unchallenged, so that we hope to stay in that trade, of which we are among the cheapest makers. I think we are about 30% under Worthington's, anyway we are usually under their prices on the smaller work.
The other thing that we have fallen down on is thinking that our designs were final, and so when we look on the history of the firm it
does become apparant that if we are to learn the lessons of history we have to maintain the pioneer spirit, we have to keep our designs up to date continually improve designs, we have to keep our manufacturing methods up to date, and the other thing - right down the ages for 130 years we have sold quality. We have never made a cheap line that was not a good line. We make the duplex cheap, but it is equally the best on the market. So that the history of the Company i think when you consider the present state of the firm, does give reason for confidence in the future. We have the productive capacity, we have the plant, we have the technicians - now we have to use them, then I think we shall get somewhere.