 | |
| Company type | Machine Tool Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Engineering |
| Predecessor | None |
| Founded | 1901; separate company from 1906 |
| Founder | Charles Churchill |
| Fate | Taken over, liquidated, name re-used |
| Successor | Alfred Herbert |
| Headquarters | Manchester, lastly Coventry , |
Number of locations | Factories in Manchester & later Coventry, England; various sales offices/agencies |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Charles Churchill, H. H. Asbridge, Sir Greville Maginness |
| Products | Machine tools |
| Parent | Charles Churchill & Co Ltd, then BSA and lastly Alfred Herbert |
| Website | www |
The Churchill Machine Tool Company Limited began as the manufacturing subsidiary[1] of the machine tool importers Charles Churchill & Company Limited founded in the early 1900s by US-born Charles Churchill (1837–1916).[2] Created out of the personal bankruptcy of Charles Churchill, the company developed to become one of the largest British importers of machine tools from the United States and a major manufacturer of such tools, initially under licence and later of its own development.
The original business importing American machine tools into Britain began with Charles Churchill as sole proprietor and later as a partnership with two others. It became a limited company in 1889. In 1906 a separate company, The Churchill Machine Tool Co Ltd, was established with the purpose of adapting tools imported by Charles Churchill & Co. The former expanded, producing American tools under licence and then manufactured tools of its own design, in particular precision surface grinders and similar engineering machinery. In 1918 The Churchill Machine Tool Co relocated its factories onto a single site at Broadheath, near Altrincham.
The two companies initially remained closely linked, with common a chairman and board members, including Arthur Chamberlain. In the early 1930s a series of board disagreements within Charles Churchill & Co led to Arthur Chamberlain resigning as chairman of that company. He remained chairman of The Churchill Machine Tool Co, and the two companies diverged. Charles Churchill & Co changed from a sales organisation to become a manufacturer. Thereafter, both companies manufactured machine tooling, and Charles Churchill & Co became a group of companies. By the 1960s significant rationalisation took place in British manufacturing, with companies merging or being taken over in an attempt to achieve benefits from economies of scale and pooled resources. The Churchill Machine Tool Co was taken over by the Birmingham Small Arms Company, which merged with Alfred Herbert Ltd, with production moving to Coventry. Coincidentally, Charles Churchill & Co was taken over by Tube Investments (TI).
The Churchill Machine Tool Co ceased trading in the early 1970s along with several other companies in the Alfred Herbert group, during a period of huge contraction of the manufacturing sector in Britain's economy. A part of the Charles Churchill & Co group became Matrix Churchill through a convoluted corporate process.
A company using The Churchill Machine Tool Co name still trades; but Charles Churchill & Co no longer exists.
- ^ Lloyd Jones & Lewis p. 85.
- ^ Rolt p. 177.