Laycock Engineering

The Laycock Engineering Company Limited of Archer Road, Millhouses, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England was an engineering business established in 1884 by W S Laycock which made small and major components for railway rolling stock.

Laycock died in 1916, and in 1917 the business passed into the hands of Charron, a French automobile manufacturer,[1] then later into receivership[2] from where it was bought by Sheffield engineer and shipbreaker Thos. W. Ward in 1934. Two years later Laycock was bought from Ward by a group of investors[3] and put into the ownership of a new holding company, Birfield Limited, along with Hardy Spicer. Both Laycock and Hardy Spicer made transmission or driveline components for the automotive industry.

In 1966 Birfield, with Laycock and Hardy Spicer, were bought by the GKN group which was entering the automotive components field following government's announcement of the intended nationalisation of its GKN Steel.[4][5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Times1919May was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference TimesLaw1924May was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ The Laycock Engineering Company, Limited. The Times, Wednesday, 8 January 1936; pg. 16; Issue 47266.
  4. ^ "International Sense Behind £22M. Birfield Bid." The Times, 10 June 1966; pg. 19; Issue 56654.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Times1966Aug was invoked but never defined (see the help page).