 BTH logo on an electric motor access plate | |
| Industry | Heavy industrial |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1886 as Laing, Wharton and Down |
| Headquarters | Rugby, Warwickshire |
| Parent | General Electric |
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Originally founded to sell products from the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, it soon became a manufacturer using licences from the American company. They were known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines.
BTH merged with the Metropolitan-Vickers company in 1928 to form Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), but the two brand identities were maintained until 1960. The holding company, AEI, was bought by GEC in 1967.
In the 1960s AEI's apprenticeships were highly thought-of, both by the apprentices themselves and by their future employers, because they gave the participants valuable experience in the design, production and overall industrial management of a very wide range of electrical products. Over a hundred of the apprentices - who came to Rugby from all over the UK, and a few from abroad - lodged in the nearby Apprentices' Hostel at Coton House which was uphill from Rugby on the road to Lutterworth and Leicester.
Each year in Rugby there was a big parade of floats run by the apprentices.
In 1980, G.E.C. Turbine Generators Ltd, on the Rugby site, was awarded a Queen's Awards for Enterprise.[citation needed]